54 THE SHUH COUNTRY 



festival which was held on the seventeenth day of the moon,, 

 when the T'ai Sheo dined with the leading military officers r 

 as a recognition of their services in maintaining peace. 



23rd. — On this date Chang Kong-uin {M ^ ft;) held a. 

 gathering and gave a banquet at the Sheng Sheo-si (li!l§#) 

 on the spot where the silk worm fair used to be held, and 

 where the farmers gathered to purchase the necessary farming 

 implements for the coming year's operations. The T'ai Sheo 

 first offered sacrifice before the image of the Tu An Wang 

 (fjJ^cEE), after which he went to a feast which was spread 

 in the Loh-suh Yuen (It! f& M) which was situated near the 

 Wan-li K'iao. 



28th. — The legendary belief was that this is the date of 

 the birth of the Pao Sheo-heo (i& m 1& ) , Marquis of longevity ;: 

 therefore the T'ai Sheo proceeded to the temple erected to 

 his memory and sacrificed ; after this he proceeded to the 

 temple erected to the memory of Tu Ch'eng Siang (#t 3£ $3) 

 (of the state of Ping (ffi) (1134 B.C.) and worshipped. After 

 his sacrificial duties were finished he dined at the Wan 

 Y'enTa Chi Yuan m^±®ffi). 



Second Moon. 



2nd day. — This was then observed as the T'ah Ts'ing 

 Tsieh (2& ff tfr) , or the festival on which the people left the 

 city to tread on green grass in the country. Under the in- 

 fluence of Chang Kong Yuin (M & t!;) these scattered units 

 were gathered together at the Wan Li K'iao (IIS) (now 

 large south gate bridge) where a large number of boats were 

 decorated and prepared for the guests to enter and be 

 rowed around for a short time, the boatmen rowing to the 

 music and singing of musicians. This outing was called 

 Siao Iu Kiang ('b$F it) or a small outing on the river. At 

 the Huan Hua K'i (£e IE IU) there were more boats prepared, 

 which did the same as at the south gate bridge, but on a 

 more extended scale, which was called a large outing on the 

 river. At both places large numbers of people congregated 

 to watch the picturesque scene, and the gay crowd. At 

 dusk a feast was held at the Pao Lieh-si (St M^ ) where it 

 is said that Chang Kong Yuin composed the following poem. 



1. In spring a thousand families come out to pla\ . 



Each face beams like a flower. 



2. Like azaleas groups of three's and two's they stand, 



In a whirl of passion they depart like riding a. 

 cloud of smoke. 



i. #a*=pjsi& ^am*d& 



2. HHMMI&&& S'ttgl&ffeJUS 



