XXVI rNTRODUCTION. 



The 8 is the fourth of the imperfect immbers and the duplication of the 4. The famous 

 diagrams of FuJi-hi were arranged into 8 figures in an oetagonal, as represented on the warrant 

 of the Shan-tung branch. (*) They were called, as we have mentioned already, the eight sus- 

 pended, Pah-hwa, because they were suspended every where for the instruction ofthepeople. 

 The number 8 refers in the Hung-league especially to the 8 salutations or genuflexions men- 

 tioned on page 134. Related to these 8 gennflexions are the common eight gradations of 

 obeisance in Chinese life, commencing with the lowest form of respect called Kung-shau ( 2 ) 

 which is merely joining the hands and raising them before the breast. The next is Tso-yih ( 3 ) 

 bowing low with the hands thus joined. The third is Ta-lsien ( 4 ) ben ding the knee as if 

 about to kneel; and Kwel ( 5 ), an actual kneeling, is the fourth. The fifth is Kati-tau ( 6 ) knee- 

 ling and knocking the head on the ground, which, when thrice repeated, makes the sixth 

 called san-kan ( 7 ) or //thrice knocking." The seventh is luli-lmn ( 8 ), or kneeling and knocking 

 the head thrice upon the ground, then standing upright and again kneeling and knocking 

 the head three times. The climax is closed by the san-Jcwei-Jciu-hav, ( 9 ), or thrice kneeling and 

 nine times knocking the head. ( 10 ) 



The 8 points of the compass are called the 8 faces ( u ) or 8 points ( T2 ). The Pal-yin ( ls ) 

 are the 8 sounds in Chinese music. 



The highest Chinese officers are allowed eight sedan-bearers , and such an official is often 

 distinguished by the number of chair-bearers he has. A Pah-thai-kiao ( u ) , an // eight-borne sedan", 

 is said instead of the Governor-General. Other officers are entitled to 4 or £ bearers. ( 15 ) 



We have seen above that one produced tJiree. In the same way 3 multiplied by itself pro- 

 duces 9. The number 9 is, as such, the last of the perfect numbers. (Compare pag. xvn). 

 The great Emperor Yu — who saw the figure Lo-sJm on the back of a tortoise, divided into nine 

 principal parts, three on each of the sides and three in the middle — terminated in 9 all the 

 operations he made on, and by means of, the numbers. ( 1G ) We have seen also that by 3 

 all was created; with the nine as term, this brings to our mind the masonic sentence on the 

 underpart of the monument of the master: Ternario formalur , novenario dissolvitur. ( 17 ) 



The old Chinese hieroglyph for the number 9 is ^ ( 18 ), and carries with it the signifi- 



cation of the highest. The ninth Heaven is the highest one. Nine times man ought to knock 



I 1 ) See p. 32. ( 2 ) £fc ^ (3) fó ^ (*) fj ^f or fj 



( 5 ) $t c 6 ) pp n o h pp ( 8 > ^ pp 



( 9 ) H $1 % PP ( 10 ) Williams, Middle Kingdom, II, p. 68—69. 



c«) /\ ® ( ]2 ) A 3f ( 13 ) A # ( 14 ) A tm. m 



(15) Williams, Middle Kingdom, I, 404. Tonic dictionary under Tali. 



(ie) Mémoires II, 191. (17) Symbolic d. Freim. , II, 560. 



(]s) Mémoires I, planclie vi. 



