ON ITEMS OF CHINESE ETHICS AND ffllLOSOrHY. 49 



from mutual injuries while under "the empire of wine," 

 Avhile worse still the evils affect their Avives and children, and 

 extend among their surroundings. Therefore correct 

 yourself so that hasty action in a moment of anger may not 

 bring remorse in the future. " Know how to bear for a 

 moment," says tlie (Chinese) proverb, and " and so safe- 

 guard your own person." Finall}^, it is added, " Follow these 

 lessons, handed down from ancient sages through thousands 

 of years, that in peace and prosperity you may advance 

 along the path of humanity and of long life." 



These then are examples taken from the code of ethics 

 in accordance with which the teeming millions, which 

 compose the population of China, have lived and flourished, 

 while elsewhere nations and peoples have sprung into 

 history, advanced, culminated, and disappeared; and still 

 the Chinese are active, and in a particular sense "pro- 

 gressive." 



Ancestral Worsbip. 



From a date coeval with and probably anterior to that of 

 the prophet Samuel, B.C. 1139-1061,* Ancestral worship has 

 been looked upon by the Chinese as a sacred rite ; at some of 

 the festivals connected therewith, the dead being per- 

 sonated by a younger relative who was supposed to be taken 

 possession of by the spirit of the departed, and thereby be- 

 come his visible image. A hall of ancestors exists either in 

 or immediately adjoining the house of every member of a 

 family, but more especially in that of the elder son. Tablets 

 to the deceased, bearing suitable inscriptions, are therein 

 arranged in chronological order, incense and papers are 

 daily burned before them, accompanied by a bow or othel- 

 act of homage on the part of the Tvorshiper, forming in fact 

 a sort of family prayer. In the first part of April, one hun* 

 dred and six days after the winter solstice, a general worship 

 of ancestors is observed under the euphonious name of 

 "worshiping on the hills "f or "sweeping the tombs;" .sacri- 

 fices and libations, candles, papers, and incense for burning 

 being then offered, while the people go through a variety of 

 ceremonies, and offer prayers. The graves are at the same 

 time swept and repaired. These observances are described as 

 indicating more nearly than anything else connected with the 

 people an approach to a veritable religious sense among them. 



* Reign of Te-yeh, 27th emperor of 2nd or Shang Dynasty, 

 t The sides of hills being favourite sites of sepulchre. 



