12 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8o 



In ancient China there was a custom, which probably exists in some 

 parts of China to-day, of calling the soul, soon after death, to come 

 back. In Szechuan there are ceremonies by which the soul is enticed 

 into the ancestral tablet, which becomes its dwelling place. After- 

 wards the ancestral tablet is regarded as the ancestor himself, and is 

 treated as such. The writer once offered a poor woman, who was 

 having much difficulty in making ends meet, a good price for her 

 ancestral tablet. She exclaimed in surprise, " Do you think I would 

 sell my parents? " Several years ago an enquirer applied for baptism. 

 The foreign pastor asked, " Have you discarded your housegods? " 

 A Chinese Christian added, " Have you destroyed your ancestral 

 tablets ? " The man was really interested in Christianity. With tears 

 in his eyes he said, " My dear old mother, do you think I would reject 

 her?" He never united with the church. 



The ancestral tablets are carefully preserved either in the homes or 

 in ancestral temples. At the middle of the seventh moon, at the 

 winter solstice, and on the anniversaries of the births and the deaths of 

 both parents, the ancestors are " worshipped." That is, food is offered, 

 money is provided, incense is burnt, and there are the usual prayers 

 and prostrations.* 



There is a tendency in Szechuan to connect snakes with ancestors. 

 If a large snake appears in a Chinese home he is not killed, but incense 

 is burnt to him, and the inmates prostrate themselves before him. 

 They regard him as the ancestor who has returned to visit his 

 descendants. 



A visit to a Chinese graveyard will furnish a probable explanation. 

 Many of the old tombs are open. Into them broken dishes, bones, 

 stones, and other debris have been thrown, so that they become 

 excellent hiding places for the snakes. Serpents of different sizes, and 

 their skins and skeletons, are often seen in and around the tombs, so 

 that it is easy and natural for the primitive mind to regard snakes as 

 souls of the dead. 



2. THE ANCESTRAL CULT 



The Chinese word which is translated as worship is gin. It means 

 to honor, respect, venerate, or worship. It is often used in conjunction 

 with the word bai, which is similar in meaning. These words vary in 

 meaning from common respect paid to a friend or to an object to 

 the idea of worship paid to a deity. What the Chinese think about is 

 reverencing their ancestors. What the typical occidental thinks of 



'West China Alissionary News, September 1917, pp. 22-23. 



