EXOGAMY IN CHINA 119 



By this channel did man in earliest China arise Bamboo Books. 

 and, through his fathers, reach up to God. A step, or Vol. HI, " 

 perchance a stumble, upon the long climb upwards is p " 110 » Pr,fe >- 

 marked by the record in the Bamboo Books that when 

 Hwang-te "went on high," Tso-che, one of his minis- 

 ters, "affected by the thought of the Emperor's virtue, 

 took his clothes, cap, bench and stick, and offered 

 sacrifice to them in a temple. The princes and great 

 officers every year paid their court before them." 



The clothes and near belongings of the dead men Op. oip. p. 114. 

 with his aura still about them may have been thought 

 to be the resting place of the lingering spirit, such as 

 the spirit tablet of later times. One notes that even 

 then, there were "sacrifices" and "a temple," and it 

 is probable that regular ancestral worship had been in 

 settled use long before the days of Yaou who "in the 

 temple of the accomplished ancestor" resigned the 

 charge of the empire to Shun. 



Let us now consider the perils not only of the 

 soul, but of the body, which the "black-haired" race 

 feared and sought to avoid, not only in the beginning, 

 but even in the days of Confucius and Mencius. Perils 

 which have by their avoidance moulded the family life 

 of China. 



The very word death was, if possible, avoided. 



The corpse on the couch is the "laid out;" when Li Ki, _ Le {»je. 

 it is put into the coffin that is called "being in the Vol.27" 

 long home." pp.117.iis. 



The death of the son of Heaven is expressed by 

 "has fallen," of a feudal prince, by "has crashed." 

 Even the death of a winged fowl is expressed by "has 

 fallen down." 



In the same place in the Book of Bites we are 

 told, "While (they are) alive, the names of father, 

 mother and wife are used; when they are dead, those 

 of the "completed one," the "corresponding one," and 

 the "honoured one." 



Death in old age is called "a finished course;" an 

 early death "being unsalaried." 



As to the death of the "son of Heaven" (so-called, Op. oit. p. 108. 

 as Legge points out, as being "Heaven-sonned; con- 

 stituted by Heaven its son, its first born" — and not 

 through courtly exaggeration) we are told his death is 

 announced in the words "The King by (the grace of) 

 Heaven has fallen." In calling back (his spirit) they 

 say, "Eeturn, O Son of Heaven." When announce- 

 ment is made (to all the States) of the mourning for 



