EXOGAMY IN CHINA 117 



The given names of persons would have to be used 

 ;at certain rites, when first given for instance, again 

 presumably on marriage and certainly on death : and 

 to pronounce a name which, by itself or in combination 

 was associated with disease or pestilence, would be 

 .calling on the malignant spirit of the plague to appear. 



The prohibition would also be for the public con- 

 venience in an age in which not only the names of the 

 dead, but also, in a lesser degree, of the living were taboo. 



One personal name was given to> a Chinese child 

 after birth ; another personal name was given to a young 

 man when twenty years old at the ceremony of 

 "Capping;" and if at death he was a ruler or of high 

 rank, he received an honorary posthumous title to be 

 used thereafter instead of his name. 



In the "Pattern of the Family," the tenth book of 

 the Li Ki, there is a description of the naming of a 

 child. The description has special reference to the 

 ceremonies on the birth of a son and heir of the Ruler 

 of a State. 



It is distinctly stated however that among the U Ki. Leone, 

 common people there was no difference in the essentials Vol. 27*. 

 of the observances described. pp * 471 el ,e,, • 



It may be convenient in our search for the reason 

 for, or rather the ideas which gave rise to exogamy 

 •amongst the Chinese to next consider the avoidance of 

 the names of the dead and of things offered to the 

 spirits of the dead. 



In the Book of Rites it is said: — 



"When a man dies, there arises a feeling of disgust ^Sl}* Pt - ,,l « 

 (at the corpse). Its impotency goes on to make us 

 revolt from it. On this account there is the wrapping 

 it in the shroud, and there are curtains, plumes (and 

 other ornaments of the coffin), to preserve men from 

 that feeling of disgust." 



We are, however, told that "The intelligent spirit Op. eit. p. 444. 

 returns to Heaven ; the body and the animal soul return 

 to the earth; and hence arose the idea of seeking (for 

 the deceased) in sacrifice and the unseen darkness and 

 in the bright region above." 



Again it is said: "When a ruler went to the Op. eit. p. 172. 

 mourning rites for a minister, he took with him a 

 sorcerer with a peach-wand, an officer of prayer with 

 his reed — (brush), and a lance-bearer — disliking (the 

 presence of death), and to make his appearance different 

 from (what it was at any affair of) life. In the mourn- 

 ing rites it is death that is dealt with, and the ancient 



