7^ REV. AETHUU ELWlN ON ANCESTRAL WORSHIP. 



will be better treated there than if appearing in a ragged 

 condition. 



3. The next thing is to burn a quantity of paper money. The 

 relatives know that the spirit will be arrested upon arrival in 

 the other world, and at once be taken off to be judged, but if a 

 good present can be given to the policemen, they will go back 

 and say that they could not find the soul. This is what is 

 constantly done in this world, the policemen (or " runners " as 

 they are called) are always ready, " for a consideration," to 

 allow a prisoner to escape, and the relatives conclude that this 

 can be done in tlie spirit world also. When a man hears of 

 the death of a friend, it is the proper thing to send some of 

 this paper money to the house, that it may be sent after the 

 soul of the departed. Sometimes this money is placed in the 

 coffin, but generally it is burnt. In one case I myself saw 

 the bank notes tied into the button holes of a man about to be 

 placed in his coffin, in order that they might be quite handy 

 when, in the other world, the policemen came to arrest him. 



4. The coffin and the grave have to be carefully attended to. 

 If the man be old, the coffin has no doubt been ready for many 

 years. The hrst money which a young man earns when he 

 goes into business, is generally expended in the purchase of a 

 coffin for his father ; this would be considered a most filial act. 



0. The preparation of the Ancestral Tablet. 



6. The regular dispatch of the clothes, money, and food, and 

 various luxuries for the use of the spirit of the departed. The 

 clothes and money are burned before the Ancestral Tablet. 

 The food is exposed on a table for a time, and then eaten by 

 the friends who placed it there. The spirits are supposed to 

 have taken all the strength and goodness out of it, so that 

 those eating it will tell you it has no taste. 



Food, money, and clothes are absolutely necessary, but other 

 things may also be sent : household furniture, sedan chairs, 

 indeed anything that is in use in this world, may be made into 

 paper and dispatched into the next. 



7. The formation of charitable societies to care for the spirits 

 that have no relatives or friends to send tlieni the necessary 

 offerings. There were many charitable societies in the great 

 city of Hangcliow in Central China which cared for the poor, 

 but the most wonderful society of all was one formed to care 

 for poor spirits. Three times every year thousands of suits of 

 clothes and other necessaries were dispatched into the other 

 world, for the use of these destitute spirits. Usually the 

 streets of a Chinese city, after the sun has set, are quite dark, 



