CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF CHLNA 



801 



The Emperor worships no idols, but 

 makes and unmakes the other gods at 

 will. His is the worship of heaven and 

 means that his imperial authority is de- 

 rived from heaven and is responsible to 

 heaven. For 4,000 years this solemn act 

 has been performed by each succeeding 

 emperor. When the imperial family fled 

 at the close of the late Boxer trouble and 

 foreign troops entered the city of Peking, 

 the sad spectacle was seen of this sacred 

 edifice, sanctified by the worship of four 

 millenniums (not of course at this very 

 spot), turned into a barracks. Thus were 

 the feelings of China wantonly outraged, 

 and yet people wonder why they so bit- 

 terly hate us. 



The common people are terrorized by 

 a superstitious belief in devils. 



The ordinary Chinaman knows noth- 

 ing of religious distinctions. His religion 

 is practically an elaborate system of 

 devil worship. 



All their gods are deified historical 

 characters. Practically they have no 

 idea of a heaven as we understand it. 

 There is simply a place of spirits with- 

 out any definite character. Buddhism, 

 of course, describes the tortures of its 

 hell, but Buddhism is only a part of the 

 religion of China. 



Rich men by large gifts of money have 

 become the gods the Chinese worship. 

 There are now being erected five new tem- 

 ples to Li Hung Chang, the great modern 

 statesman, who is said to have paid one 

 million dollars for the honor of being a 

 god. Those who have money or prop- 

 erty use it more or less lavishly, accord- 

 ing to their fears in propitiatory rites, to 

 these gods for favors desired or to 

 purchase freedom from calamity. The 

 Chinese spend yearly untold millions on 

 these rites. It is from these wasteful 

 practices, more than from any other 

 causes, that the miseries of the Chinese 

 come. Their terrors drive them into un- 

 paralleled distress. Chinese religious 

 rites cause absolute waste, because mil- 

 lions of property are consumed to ashes 

 in their observance. Until the cruel 

 bands of this devil-worship are broken, 

 China cannot become a great nation. 



Without money no one has any religious 

 standing. His spirit cannot even reach 

 the spirit world, but becomes a wander- 

 ing ghost or devil. 



They believe that every man has three 

 spirits. These three spirits, in the case 

 of Chinese who are properly cared for 

 at death, have each a distinct place of 

 residence. A fourth order of spirits also 

 exists, consisting of the spirits of the un- 

 cared for and unburied dead. These 

 latter are wandering spirits, ghosts, or 

 devils. 



The first of these spirits, when a man 

 dies, goes into the spirit world. Once a 

 year all such spirits are liberated for a 

 month to revisit their old homes. During 

 this month tables covered with viands ot 

 every description are placed on the street 

 before the door. It is hoped that these 

 spirits, seeing this provision, may be in- 

 duced to bring prosperity to the family. 

 They believe these s])irits partake of the 

 viands. 



THE 1.0GIC the: chinaman and his 



SPIRIT ZOSli 



A shrewd Chinaman, asked as to this 

 by a foreigner, replied, "Well, I imagine 

 our dead can as easily eat these things 

 as )'ours can smell the flowers you pro- 

 vide for them." 



A spirit's comfort and condition are in 

 exact proportion to the provison made 

 for them by the living. Everything is 

 passed over to the spirit world by fire. 

 At death a ceremoii}^ called Hong Tek 

 is observed. A platform, often of silk, 

 is erected, stretched over bamboo poles 

 so as to represent a Chinese homestead. 

 Fields and streams, houses, soldiers, 

 servants, domestic animals, implements, 

 vegetables, grains, fruits, and so forth, 

 all made in miniature, stock it. Before 

 this unique structure, which often costs 

 several thousand dollars, Taoist priests 

 perform the proper ceremonies, lasting 

 three days. The whole structure is then 

 set on fire and passes over for the use 

 and comfort of the dead. 



The second spirit does not go into the 

 spirit world, but takes up its residence 

 in the bones. When the time for burial 



