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THE
CHIi\ESE REPOSITORY.
Vol. XVIII. — Ji’LY, 1849. — No. 7.
Art. I. Life and Times of Confucius : notices of his ancestors,
and of the time, place and circumstances of his birth. Selected from
the Annals and Genealogy of the Sage, and other Chinese works
By way of introduction to the study of the life and times of Con-
fucius, we have already stated some facts designed to show in what
estimation he is now held by the rulers and people of China, and have
drawn the attention of our readers to the Annals and Genealogy of
their “ most holy sage.” We will now proceed to sketch the history
of the Confucian family prior to his birth, and will then add the prin-
cipal facts which we find on record concerning the time, place, and
circumstances of that event. As far as practicable, we shall avoid the
repetition of such details as we have already given, taking care at the
same time not to omit any that are essential to a full exhibition of the
character of this deified mortal. With the vagaries of pagan fancy
we shall have as little to do as we can, restricting ourselves to such
particulars as soberminded Chinese receive as authentic facts. If we
may venture upon the comparison, what we find written by inspired
men, regarding our Savior’s birth and lineage, we know to be true ;
but far otherwise is it with respect to Confucius. We would guard
equally against the two extremes, either of placing too high or too
low an estimate on the Chinese record of facts. In the present case,
it will be remembered that the facts , of whidh we are about to review
the record, transpired more than twenty-four centuries ago, and we
suppose we may justly cl&im for it the same degree of credibility and
authenticity that can he claimed for any other pagan record of equal
VOL. xvi it. ISO. VII. 43'
340 Life and Times of Confucius. July,
the father of Confucius. Thus counting from the great progenitor
of the family to the father of Confucius, we have.
1st, down to the end of the Hi£ family nineteen generations ;
‘2d, down to the end of the Sh&ng family, twenty-eight generations ;
3d, in the Sung 6tate, ending with K’ung Fuhki!i, ten generations;
4th, in the Lu state, ending with K’ung Shuhli&ng, five generations.
According to Chinese historians we thus have sixty-two genera-
tion, commencing with Kieh and ending with Kieh or K’ung ShuhliSng,
and extending the line of the family through a period of more than
eighteen hundred years.
The twenty-third monarch of the Chau dynasty was Ling-w^ng,
whose reign commenced b. c. 571. Under this monarch Kieh, the father
of Confucius, held the rank of minister, and the office of chief magis.
trate in the department of Tsau |j^, For his first wife he married a
lady of his native state, who belonged to the family Shi jjfa. By this
lady he had nine children, all daughters. By a concubine he had
also one son, called Mangpi ^ and sometimes Pehpi ffi Ik-
and Pehni ^ Jj?. This was a feeble child, with diseased feet, and
was not considered by his father as worthy to bear up the line of succes-
sion. Kieh, therefore, sought a second wife in the Yen family,
resident in a neighboring hamlet.
Having called before him his three daughters, the master of the fa-
mily, Mr. Yen, thus addressed them : “The governor of Tsau, whose
father and grandfather have both held the office of minister of 6tatc,
is the descendant of an ancient sage, the sovereign Chingting; in
stature he is ten cubits (6 ft. 10.J inches), and in martial strength
he excels all other men. I am very desirous of having him for my
son-in-law. Although he is far advanced in years, and possesses a
grave disposition, there is yet no reason to doubt that he will prove
himself a worthy husband. Which of you three, my daughters, is now
willing to become his consort? To this address, the two elder gave
no reply; the youngest, Miss Chingtsii, advancing said; “In this
matter I can only act according to my father’s directions: why inquire
of us?” The father replied : “ You, my child, are the one who is able
to become his spouse.” Accordingly the matter was concluded, Mr.
Yen at once complying with the solicitations of the hoary suitor, and
the fair damsel, Miss Chingts ii , was given to him in marriage.
The husband was now in his sixty-fifth year, and both he and his
young consort were equally anxious to secure the birth of a son — a
worthv heir. In this state of mind they together repaired to a
hilly region distant about sixty h south-east from Kiuhfau. Of five
1849.
Life anil Times of Confucius. 341
notable peaks for which that region is remarkable, they selected the
central and highest one, called Nikifi Efip- This they ascended ;
and on its summit offered sacrifices to the presiding divinities, and
prayed to them for a son. — The historians, gravely tell us, that as the
lady, on this pilgrimage to the gods ofNikiu, went up along the ravines
to the summit of the hill, all the leaves of the forest stood erect; and
all drooped and hung down as she descended !
Soon after their return home at Kiuehlf, a Chinese unicorn. — the
fabulous Kilin, which is always the harbinger of good, — appeared and
vomited a gem, on which was the following inscription :
Shwui tsing chi tsz’ hi shodi Chau urh sd t cang,
7k m M MI US $ EE;
water crystal's child succeeds decaying Chau and plainly rules.
The lady was surprised at this ; and, taking an embroidered
girdle, she bound it round the horn of the unicorn ; which, after
having remained two nights in the village, took its departure, and
was never more seen alive. Keeping in mind that the kilin is a
mere creature of imagination, we need not trouble ourselves or our
readers with any long explanations of the above inscription. Su wdng
denotes one of such distinguished powers, that he can rule mankind
without the insignia of royalty. Shwui tsing is rock-crystal ; and Shwui
tsing chi tsz’ is thought to denote a faultless child, or one of perfect
purity. And the full import of the inscription, taken to be prophetic,
might be expressed thus; A child of perfect purity shall be born in
this village ; succeeding in his generation, at an era when the Chau
dynasty is on the decline, he shall restore and prolong its lustre, and
shall reign without wearing the title and insignia ojf royalty.
Eleven months had now elapsed since the newly wedded pair had
offered their sacrifices and their prayers on the summit of Nikiu.
On the memorable night when Confucius was to be born, two dra-
gons were seen crawling over the roof of the house ; five elders ap-
peared in the great hall ; celestial music was heard in the firmament ;
and two goddesses descended, bearing a vase of fragrant waters, with
which they bathed the happy mother.
The exact time of the birth of Confijcius fyas been a matter of al-
most endless discussion. The authors of the Annals and Genedogy
of the sage, say it was in the 21st year of Ling-wing, the 8th month,
and 27th day of the month, at 3 o’clock p. m. This jyas in the
autumn of B. C. 551.
The place where this occurred was fCiyehlj ^ JP in the state
Lu, now the southern part of the province Sh'toUwg- in the depart*
B42 Notices of Chinese Cosmogony. Jn.v*
ment of Yenchau . It would appear that he was horn in
the present district of Sz’shwui 'jjQ ^ and that he early removed from
that to Kiuhfau ^ There, or in that region, there was a city,
which was called the city of Lu. It was four square, and had
twelve gates, three on each side. Near one of the western gates was
the ancient house of the great Chinese philosopher.
We have now, as we proposed, briefly traced the early history of
the Confucian family, and indicated the time, place, and circumstan-
ces of the birth of that man, who, probably, has influenced the des-
tinies of his fellowmen far more than has ever been done by any
other mortal. What this influence has been, how it has been exerted,
and what have been its results, can be ascertained only by a careful
study of his life and of his writings in their progress down to the pre-
sent time. Before entering on such a task, one more preliminary
step seems essential ; and that is, a survey of the geography of China
during the Confucian age.
Art. II. Notices of Chinese Cosmogony : formation of the visible
universe, heaven, earth, the sun, moon, stars, man, beasts, fyc.,
Selected from the Complete Works of Ch'i Hi of the Sung dynasty.
When endeavoring to exhibit the opinions of any people, we should
as far as possible allow their ablest men to speak. Our part should
be to bring forward what they have written, and present in the clearest
manner their own ideas. We should act as their interpreters, and as
t ie expounders of their ideas and their sentiments. This is what we
wish to do for the Chinese. In behalf of their ancient sages, their
ablest philosophers, and their popular writers, we wish to unfold their
respective systems of morals and philosophy ; and we wish to do this,
not mainly for the intrinsic value of those systems — for many of them
in this age of the world have no value, are mere monuments of human
folly, — but because such a development of the Chinese mind is essential
to profitable intercourse with this people — profitable, whether we have
reference to any advantages that may accrue to ourselves or to them,
or to both. The Chinese talk much of self-renovation, of self-reform,
&c., bujt it js mere talk. If reform comes to the nation, and it surely
\yilj come, it must come from abroad, and be the result of an external
agency. That we may touch the proper springs of action so as to
produce the desiyed results, it is essential to know what the Chinese
1849.
Notices of Chinese Cosmogony.
343
are in their manners and habits, botli of thought and action. In
philosophy, properly so called, they are as a nation mere babes. Both
in physics and metaphysics they are equally puerile. Probably not
one in a thousand, even among the literati, has any correct notion of
the solar system. The sagacity of Confucius consisted, if we mistake
not, in his abstaining from speculation about things of which he knew
nothing. The philosophers of later times acted otherwise, as the
writings of Chu Hi and others who flourished in the early part of the
Sung dynasty abundantly testify.
In the complete works of Chu, chapter 49th, we have a collection
of his remarks on cosmogony. From these we propose to select and
translate some paragraphs, sufficient to satisfy the general reader, and
to show what are the opinions of the Chinese regarding the visible
universe and the manner and agency by which, they suppose, the
present order of things arose. We shall number the paragraphs, and
add such comments of our own as may seem called for, in order to
illustrate the meaning of the text.
§ 1. Formation of heaven and earth.
“ In the beginning of heaven and earth there existed only one
primordial substance, in dual form. Revolving and grinding round
and round with great velocity, this expressed an abundance of sediment.
Having no place of exit from within, this sediment formed the earth
in its centre, while the finer parts of the primordial substance formed
heaven, the sijn, the moon, and the stars. These externally situated,
have unceasingly revolved in their respective spheres ; while the earth,
being in their centre and not beneath them, has remained immovable.”
Comments.
The time here referred to, is that when the present order of things,
as displayed in the visible universe, arose, — »n order which forms
only a single link in an endless chain : for of creation, as described by
inspired writers, the Chinese have no knowledge. On the phrase
‘‘primordial substance in dual form,” Yin Yt\ng Chi K’i, let it suffice
for the present to remark that K’i often denotes vital essence, &.C., and
that Fm and Yang are used to indicate the form, or manner in which
any and all substance is supposed to exist. The modus operandi by
which the universe was made to assume its present shape, is evidently
borrowed from the homely method of making flour by the use of up-
per and nether millstones. The figure, if we mayso designate this com-
parison, is incomplete and borders upon the ridiculous. The K’i or
primordial substance, is to be conceived of as one dark, vast, uniform,
active mass — no matter whence derived or of what composed — shut up
314
Notices of Chinese Cosmogony. JIlv,
in an immense egg, cylinder or globe. There confined, this substance,
like the waters of some great whirlpool, and put in motion no one
knows how, revolves with intense velocity. Forthwith there is ex-
pressed, in a manner undescribed, a stupendous pile, which, freed from
the grinding operation, concretes and forms the Earth. Another portion
of the same substance, also freed from the grinding process, forms
heaven, the sun, moon and stars ! In this way the great Chinese philo-
sopher introduces to our acquaintance the visible universe, as we now
behold it.
§ 2, The Earth immovable.
“ By the ceaseless revolution of heaven, day and night come round
in regular succession, and the earth is made fast in the centre. If
heaven should stand still for an instant, the earth would then rush
downwards ; but by the intense revolving of heaven an immense quanti-
ty of sediment has been formed into a solid mass in the centre. This
sediment of the primordial substance is the earth. Hence we say,
the light and pure part thereof formed heaven ; while the coarse and
heavy formed the earth.”
Comments.
No language need be more explicit than this. The earth is im-
movable, made fast in one position ; and it and all things visible are
the product of (the furniture produced from) one single substance.
§ 3. Materiality of heaven.
If asked, “ Is heaven a material substance or not V I would say :
It is merely revolving wind, in the higher regions dense, in the
lower rare. That on high, the Budhistic writers call, “ adamantine
wind.” Men commonly say that heaven has nine stories, and they
divide and designate nine places. Such, however, is not the case.
There are but nine spheres. The primordial substance in the lower
ones is comparatively coarse and dark ; but in the upper ones, in the
most elevated regions, it is the purest and brightest.”
Comments.
If we have rightly understood the philosopher here, and have given
the true sense of his words — as we think we have done, he does not
fairly meet the difficulty involved in his proposed question. “ Re-
volving wind” is a literal translation of the text ; and it denotes no-
thing more nor less than the primordial substance in a fluid state,
“ revolving and grinding round and round”. He has not, therefore,
solved the difficulty, but merely introduced a new term fnng, or wind,
which he uses to designate the samd K’i, or primordial substance, in
a rarified and revolving state. ThC pttbblem still remains then to
be solved, Is heaven a material substance or* riot1?
1^49.
. \otices of Chinese Cosmogony .
34.3
§ 4. Aoency employed in tiie formation ok heaven and earth.
In the beginning of heaven and earth, ere tiie chaotic inass was di-
vided, I suppose there existed only water and fire, and that the sedi-
ment of the water formed the earth. If we now ascend heights and
look abroad, the mountain ridges, just like watery billows, all have
appearance of ocean waves. But as to the time when this chaotic
mass become condensed we are ignorant. At first it must have been
exceedingly soft, but subsequently it condensed and became very hard.
If asked, “ May we consider the process like the action of the tides
in throwing up banks of sand '!” I would answer, yes ; the most
muddy waters formed the earth ; while the purest part of the fire
formed the wind, thunder, lightning, sun, stars, etc.”
Comments.
The formation of the visible universe our philosopher still leaves
involved in mystery. The one primordial substance is here spoken of
as a chaotic mass, in which fire and water are combined. Thus
instead of one, we have two ; but whether these two are distinct
substances or only the one in dual form, it is not declared. In another
paragraph he says : “ Ere chaos was reduced to order, the primordial
substance in dual form was indiscriminately united in one dark abyss;
but after a division took place in this substance light beamed forth,
and a dual form began to appear.” All this carries us no farther
forward, and we are still left uninformed as to the nature of the
primordial substance.
§ 5. Antemundane eras.
“ If asked, “ IIow was it in eras prior to the present order of the vi-
sible universe, which arose less than ten thousand years ago”? I would
answer, evidently the same order must have existed then as at present.
Comments.
In support of this, the opinions of other philosophers are quoted.
One of these, Shau Kangtsieh, supposed that a hundred and twenty
nine thousand and six hundred years were required to form one era,
during which time there was one great evolution and involution, an
unfolding and folding up of the visible universe; and that this era of
129,000 years was preceded by others of like duration.
§ 0. Indestructibility of heaven and earth.
“If the question be asked, “are heaven and earth destructible or
not?” I would say, they are not destructible. But when the human
race has sunk to the lowest degree of folly, the heaven and earth will
be wrapt together again in one chaotic mass, and the human race and
all other beings in the visible universe will become extinct. After this
;i new order of things will arise.”
44
VOL .Will, NO vn.
346
July
Notices of Chinese Cosmogony.
Comments.
Here again the writer brings forward the opinion of the earlier
philosophers to support his own. One of them he represents as saying
that, in process of time “ the primordial substance will make a great
pause, a dreadful concussion far and wide will succeed, the mountains
will be overturned and the rivers cease to flow, the human race and
all other beings will disappear, and every trace of the old order of
things will be wholly obliterated.” “This” he says “ is what we
call an age of desolation.” Further in proof of this position, Chu
brings forward, and comments upon, what thousands of others have
observed, the existence of marine substances in high mountain rocks.
On these phenomena he says he has pondered deeply, and thinks those
shells &.C., must have been deposited in the rocks when they were in
a liquid state before they were elevated into dry land and lofty hills.
Here he reasons well enough.
§ 7. Formation of thf, first man.
Again, if the question were asked, “ How was the first man of
the human race produced?” I would say, he was formed by and out
of the primordial substance. The purer parts of water, fire, wood,
metal and earth, in their dual form, by uniting gave man his form and
shape.”
Comments.
With this account of the first man, the best the great philosopher
could give, he was evidently dissatisfied, and, contemner as he was of
the Budhists, he proceeds to quote their language, in order to illustrate
and establish what be himself had affirmed. The writers of the Bud-
histic school, he says, call this formation of man “ renovating produc-
tion, just as at the present time there is exhibited, the renovating
production of beings very many; as the louse for instance.” This
allusion to the Pcdieulus, Chu doubtless intended as a sneer at the
“ beggarly tribes ” of the Budhistic priesthood, so famed for their regard
to that parasitic insect, forgetful we may suppose, for he could not be
ignorant, that by the adoption of his philosophy the genus homo and
the genus Pcdieulus must be placed on perfect equality.
8. Shape of heaven and earth.
“ The earth has in it open vacant places; heaven on the contrary,
upon all sides, above and below, round the whole sphere, is fast closed
and impervious. The earth on its four sides below, rests upon heaven ;
and accordingly heaven surrounds the earth. As heaven alone revolves,
it may be seen that the primordial substance pervades every part
thereof; aijd as it p isses through and from the earth the great breadth
thereof also mav he seen.”
1<?49.
The Condition of Slave* in China.
HIT
Comments.
Conceiving wrongly, as he does, that the earth is immovable, it is
not to be wondered at that the Chinese philosopher should entertain
erroneous ideas regarding its shape. lie does not, as far as we are ac-
quainted with his writings, any where tell us plainly what he supposed
to be its exact shape. We may infer however, from what he has
told us in the foregoing paragraphs, that he fancied it to be an irre-
gular perforated mass, drawn out and expanded like a plain of inde-
finite or unknown dimensions. In like manner, his ideas regarding
the shape of heaven are equally vague. From some of his expres-
sions, we might be ready to conclude that he conceived heaven to be
one immense globe; but again he compared heaven to a drum, and
gives us the idea of a great cylindric shell, with an outer surface hard
as adamant, and hermetically sealed at the two ends !
Art. III. Memoir on the condition of Slaves and Hired Servants
in China. By M. Edward Biot.
1 propose to myself, in this memoir to set forth with some explanations the
condition of slaves and hired servants in Chinese society, a question on which
I have already pointed out several features in my memoir on the variations of
the population of China. Slavery yet exists at tlie present day over the greal-
er part of the globe, and generally the slave is under the absolute power of
his master. In China, although the principle of the equality of men before the
laws is not admitted, the actual legislation defines the condition of the slave
with reference to his master and other freemen. Next above him, the hired
servant finds himself subjected to particular laws, and the wife of the si cond
rank, or legal concubine, has also her rights which she can make good, in
the scale of moral civilisation, Chinese legislation relative to domestic servants
ranks immediately after that of the really civilised nations of Europe, it excels
that which obtains in Russia as well as in the two Americas. The study of
its present and former regulations, the history of the slow and successive
modifications which time has produced in the condition of slaves in China, ap-
pear to me subjects worthy of attention.
There are but few documents in Chinese history that relate to slaves; they
have been gathered together by Md Twantin , and tacked on by him to his
section on the population. ( IVan him tong kina.) The appendix consists only
of a dozen pages ; and is composed of detached quotations ; taken from different
Chinese works of which even the names are not given ; and here, like the rest
of the Wan Uien tung kidu these quotations are often very short, and are not
accompanied by any comment, so that one is very apt to fall into errors in
making a literal translation. Neverthless many published ordinances are
found in this appendix for the protection of the lives of slaves and for making
them free, and many important dates can be fixed. I ought to (rive my grateful
thanks to M. Stanislas Julien for the extreme kindness with which he has most
readily elucidated for me the numerous passages which 1 have submitted to
him. A complete translation of this appendix is too perilous an enterprise for
any other one except himself, in France, to undertake the responsibility of it.
The ancient legislation of the Chinese on the class of domestic servants or
slaves, is sufficiently incomplete, like that of the ancient nations of Europe,
348
The Condition of Sl<n'e.< in Chino.
.In v.
Doen ments become more numerous in modern times. The pens! code of the
Manchus determines the position of slaves, of hired servants, of wives oflhe
second rank, and in general of all persons in a servile condition. Sir George
Staunton translated this important work when in China, where he cou d avail
himself of the necessary explanations ; and 1 have a copy of the original t -xt,
by which I am enabled to examine the supplementary statutes, which are gen-
erally omitted in the translation. By means of the documents furnished by this
code and some other compositions translated from the Chinese, 1 hope to pre-
sent a work sufficiently complete on the subject which 1 have taken in hand.
When I shall quote the code, 1 shall affix the title of the section and the
number of the English translation. As to historical quotation, I shall refer to
the appendix of Ma Ticanlin on slaves, from which they will be generally taken ;
and the year or the page being pointed out will make a reference to the Chinese
text easy.
The character -ftt7 mi, slave, designates two species of individuals ; the one,
named Kinan-nd slaves of the state or of the government ; the other, slaves of
private persons.
The character stare, is first met with under the Chau dynasty (tow-
ards the 12th century II. C.) ; it was then applied to the slaves of the stale.
According to the Book of Ceremonies of this dynasty, the Chau L(, persons guil-
ty of certain crimes were condemned to be slaves to the state ; us such they
were bound to do certain obligatory labors under the inspection of the officers
of government (A ppendix on slaves, page I). This kind of punishment, similar
to our condemnation to hard labor, is not found amongst those established under
the preceding dynasties, Hia. and Sliang : in those primitive ages punishments
were corporal and immediate. According to the Chau Li (KanghCs diet., char-
acter dignitaries, old men of 70 years, and little children could not be
condemned to become public slaves.
The Chau Li does not acknowledge any other kind of slaves than those who
are condemned to slavery for their crimes. Service in the houses of the rich is
done by hired servants or by wives of the second rank, who change their ma-
sters at will (Appendix on slaves page 1 ). 'I hese hired servants, as well as the
slaves of the state, are not included in the class which pay taves. According
to the strict letter of the law, private families were not then allowed to possess
slaves.
It is probable that the prisoners made by the Tartars and the neighboring
tribes were slaves of the slate as well as sentenced criminals; but the ancient
books are silent on this subject. At a later period, about the sixth or seventh
century of our era, the feudal system of the Chau dynasty fell to pieces by the
insubordination of the great vassals ; each of whom, having their provincial
laws, often prosecuted and put to death their dependants.
About the 201th year B. O. the founder of the // it dynasty said the parents
might sell their children. This concession is of a prior date to the laws regulat-
ing slavery. Before the accession of the founder of the Han dynasty, Tsin,
the first Supreme emperor had waged cruel wars — misery spread through the
country, and the consequence of this misery was the legalisation of slavery,
and it has continued to the present time."
Under the Hia dynasties, rebels with their families were condemned to he
slaves of the state (Appendix, page I ) Tims Kinnti, towards the year 168 be-
fore Jesus Christ, condemned the inhabitants of seven revolted provinces with
their princes to be slaves of the stale. Ilis successor, tt'uti, pardoned those
unfortunate people. Criminals were always punished with slavery. The
number of the slaves of the state tinder the Hfin dynasties was considerable,
although it is not possible to state the exact amount. In the time of Yucnti,
* This law of the ('hau dynasty offers a remarkable resemblance to those of the
ancient Persian empire. The population of Persia was divided into four classes That
of China is divided into nine classes, of which the first eight contribute to the wants
of government, — hired servants composing the ninth.
1849.
The Condition of Slaves in China.
;uo
this amount is noted as exceeding' 100,000 (Appendix page 2) ; there are other
authorities which carry their number much higher : thus a quotation inserted
dynasty there were 300,000 slaves on the large imperial farms, who had charge
of the cattle, and, according to a quotation of the appendix, page 2, they form-
ed a part of the slaves of the state. Another portion of the condemned were
put under the o ders of various officers, and employed in work of all kinds.
During the reigns of the Eastern Him , which synchronize with the two first
centuries of our era, the prisoners made during the civil wars became slaves
of the slate; afterwards they were freed, and then reentered the class of tho
people. These same slaves of the state are found under the Hhv-chuu, toward
the middle of the 6th century. An ordinance delivered in 566 by one of these
princes, declares all slaves of the state more than sixty-five years of age to be
free, thus renewing the ancient ordinance of the first Chau dynasty. This
grant of freedom appears not to be the result of a feeling of humanity for the
aged. In this case, as with the Romans, the end was to get rid of a number
of useless hands. The slaves of government ought always to have been com-
posed of prisoners and criminals, although the punishment of public slavery
is not alluded to in the section on punishments of the Wau-hieii-tvng-kian . In the
preface to this section Ma Ttcanlin says that, under the Him and the following
dynasties, after capital punishment, there were two principal kinds of correct-
ion : they either whipped the guilty person, or shaved his head, in order to dis-
tinguish him from the people, who then wore their hair long, and they put
irons either on his neck or feet. This last punishment appears to have been
an introduction to hard labor.
Under the Tang dynasty, which began a. n. 620, rebels as well as their fam-
ilies were sentenced to he slaves of the state (Appendix p. 4). As such, they
found themselves subjected to inspecting officers. The voungest, of about four-
teen years, were divided amongst the imperial domains by the superintendent
of agriculture ; others were employed in making terraces. But, as China had
been so much impoverished by its wars, that there were at that time a great
number of slaves in private families, the first emperors of the Timg dynasty
freed by decrees many of the government slaves, divided them between the
central and western provinces, and thus increased the numbers of the cullivat-
ers of the soil. These emperors re-established the ancii nl punishments of the
whip and bamboo, then fallen into disuse, the shaving of the head and putting
i rons on the neck being substituted ( Preface to the section on punishments). This
measure appears to me to have been adopted, like the find, to diminish those
masses of public slaves from whom the state found it difficult to derive any ad-
vantage. The T&ng dynasty also instituted the punishment of transportation,
which leads at the present time to forced labor. It is very probable they were
at the time the same.
Towards the end of the Tug, it is seen that the prisoners made in the civil
wars were often set at liberty by imperial order; and since, under the Svvg
and following dynasties, the pages of history speak no longer of the slnves of
government but of persons sentenced to transportation. It appears then that
the state has definitively renounced the task of maintaining in the country
those masses of public slaves which existed under the H n dynasty.
Jn the code of the reigning dynasty, that of the Manchus, termed the Ta-
tung, or eminently pure dynasty, the listof legal punishments does not contain
that of public slavery ; but that of ba nislunent is a real slavery where the sent-
enced are obliged to work under the superintendence of officers of government.
This is sufficiently proved by various passages. Thus, alter the section of the
law relating to violent robbery (section CCLXVI of the translation) a criminal
is punished by suffering perpetual slavery on the farthest frontiers of Tartarv,
near the black-dragon river, the Amour or Snghalien. In that section which
relates to the labors to which the transported criminals are subjected fora time
(CCCCXIX of the translation), they are employed in the iron and salt-mines
of government out of their native provinces : thus the punishment of banish-
ment is similar to the ancient public slavery, and even more severe, since
formerly tlu* slave of the state was employed in China itself, whilst at the
in Morrison's dictionary, under the character states that under the H'in
aio
The Condition of Slaves in China.
July,
present day the public works in China proper appear to be done by freemen.
In fact, the first section referring to ihe division of public works, allows a fair
enough remuneration, considering the price of the means of living in China to
those persons employed in the public works under the officers of government.
Another section forbids the officers to detain the workmen beyond the stated time.
These indulgences are only conferred on freemen, whilst forced labor is only
the lot of transported criminals. The term, slave of the state, is only found,
in its true sense, in one section of the code, that numbered LXXV11. In case
of founding a new monastery without the authority of government, the priest
is stripped of his sacred character and sent into perpetual banishment. The
guilty priestess becomes a slave of the government. It is probable she is made
a slave of the imperial household.
As to persons guiltv of rebellion, the code directs that the criminals shall be
beheaded, that their relations in the first degree, their wives and children shall
be given as slaves to the principal officers, and their property confiscated for the
benefit of the state. These slaves are employed on particular services about
the persons of the officers ; but if they are too numerous they are deported as
well as the ordinary criminals; the Chinese government having well under-
stood that the public works in the interior cost it generally dearer when ex-
ecuted by convicts, than by directing the labor of an immense population to
their erection, who demand only to gain a livelihood by their work, it has
therefore thrown back the convicts on the frontier, where the population is
small, the climate cold, and there it can employ them with advantage in
hard labor. Sometimes also these criminals are incorporated in the disciplined
companies stationed on the same frontier.
The class of slaves of private persons are composed, firstly of prisoners' of
war; secondly of persons who sell themselves or are sold by others; thirdly of
the children of slaves.
The prisoners made in the civil or foreign wars, have been since the Han
dvn sty sold for slaves. Many examples are to be found under Kwang-wu ;
towards the first years of the 6th century. In consequence of the invasion of
the northern kings, a great part of the population of the south of China were
made prisoners and slaves. At the end of the Tung dynasty and under the
five later dynasties, during the civil war, the emperors repurchased with their
own money the cultivators of the soil made prisoners by their armies. The
Mongol invasion threw again a great number of nil classes of Chinese into
slavery. According to the present code, the families of rebels are distributed
ns slaves to the principal officers. As to foreign prisoners, few are to be found
at the present day in Chinn, from the natural effect of the long peace which
she has enjoyed under the dominion of the Mauchus ; at most some Tibetian
slaves are to be found on the borders of the province of Sz’-cliuen.
The number of persons whom misery forces to sell themselves, or are sold
by their parents, is actually very considerable. This is a fact verified by the
missionaries and other European voyngers. Nevertheless the penal code forbids
the sale of free persons ; and, according to the letter of the text, even the father
of a family must not sell his children. In the division of criminal laws,
section cclxxv. respecting kidnappers and those irho forcibly carry atcoy and
sell free persons, this crime is repressed by severe punishments. Generally
speaking, whoever forcibly carries away and sells a free person is subjected to
one hundred blows of the bamboo and to banishemnt to a distance of one
hundred /.?. If the person forced away has been wounded in resisting, the
criminal is punished by strangulation. After these regulations it is said :
“ Every person who sells his children or grandchildren against their consent
shall be punished with 84 blows.
“ Every person who sells after the manner above stated his young brothers
and sisters, his nephews and nieces, his own inferior wife or the principal wife
of his son or grandson, shall be punished with 80 blows and banishment for
two years. For the sale of the inferior wife of a son or grandson, the punish-
ment shall be two degrees less. To conclude, whoever sells his grand-nephew,
his young first cousin, or his second cousin, always with the same provisos,
that is, without their consent, shall receive ninety blows, and shall be banished
for two years and a half.
1849.
The Condition of Slaves in China. flol
“ When, in all the preceding cases, the sale of a person shall he made with
liis own free consent, the punishment on the seller shall be one degree less
than that which he would have undergone if the said sale had been completed
against the will of that person
“ Children or young relations, although having consented to be illegally sold,
shall not be subjected to any punishment, on account of the obedience they
owed to their older relations, and according to this position, they shall bo
returned to their families. ”
These prohibitions are positive. Severe punishments are equally ordered in
the section of regulations relative to successions, against those who keep as a
slave in their house the child of a freeman and against those who do not inform
the magistrate of a lost child whom they have met and keep in their house.
Under the same title of the fiscal laws, punishments are ordered for him who
hires his own wife or daughter to another, and against him who accepts tho
bargain. Nevertheless, as the evidence of the missionaries and of Staunton
himself, by a note appended to the translation of this arl icle, prove the adoption
of children stolen or lost, the sale of free children, and the exchange for money
of inferior wives, are daily transactions in China, and fathers of families
receive, in the sight of all the world, money for the sale of their suns and
daughters. Many instances are seen in the Chinese novels, which are a faith-
ful picture of the manners of this country. This is explained by the immense
inundations and dreadful famines which have, successively from time to time,
devastated the vast plains of which the most populous provinces of China are
composed. Then the misery and want of the people carried them beyond that
law, dictated by a feeling which is as politic as it is moral. The ordinance of
the first Hin dynasty was less strict, since it secretly permitted fathers to sell
their children. The tolerance of slavery caused by misery, and the frequency
of infanticides, are without contradiction the strongest proofs of the immense
population with which China is encumbered and of the terrible calamities
which have often nearly decimated it.
The children of slaves compose, in the eye of the law, the real individual
class whence private slavery should be recruited. Every slave born in a house
belongs to his master or to his heir, and is transmitted like a saleable com-
modity. Thus, in the penal code, third division of the fiscal laws, section
regarding lost chidren, every lost or runaway child, if he is the son of a free-
man, ought to be brought back to his parents. The detainer and fraudulent
receiver is punished with the bamboo and banishment. In general, whoever
disposes of a runaway slave is subject to severe punishment, and the slave is
to be given up to his master.
It is from the children of slaves that the wandering troops of players recruit
their numbers, they are forbidden by the code to buy free persons for the
profession of either actors or actresses. Courtesans or public women are also
recruited from the daughters of slaves, and the law regards them in the same
light as actresses. These regulations came in with the Mongol code and were
established by an ordinance of the fourth year of Kubtai Khan.
The wife of the second rank or concubine, ranks above the slave. A father
of a family can legally give his daugher to another citizen as an inferior wife,
but generally, according to the law and to the descriptions in novels, this mar-
riage is accompanied by certain lesser formalities than the marriage, with the
principal wife. In case of separation, the husband cannot send her away from
iris house, except for reasons which are decided by the law, otherwise he is
punished, also if she deserts the house of her husband she is punished accord-
ing to the same degree of chastisement that is appointed for the principal wife ;
but this chastisement is lessened one degree. A different punishment is de-
creed for the female slave who deserts the house of her master. In general,
the penalties respecting the principal wife, are the same, to one degree less, for
the wife of the second rank. Both of them are in a complete state of tutelage
with respect to their husband. Neither the one nor the other can sue for di-
vorce only so far as the husband may consent, and they have not the right of
complaining of the blows which he may give them, except in the case of serious
wounds. But in the house the inferior must be obedient to and respect the
352
The Condition of Staves in China.
July,
principal wife, and is put directly under her orders It ought here to he remark-
ed that the law is not very strictly observed, and that very often husbands sell
their wives of the second rank, their consent being supposed and not obtained.
The children of the wife of the second rank can succeed, but only after those
of the principal wife. The Chinese in general regard it as a most important
matter to perpetuate the name of their family, and upon this principle the rule
of successions is based. Daughters have no other part of the inheritance than
the peculiar advantages they may receive as gifts whilst living with their father.
Amongst the male children, all the estate appears to belong to the eldest sou
of the principal wife, or to the grandson of this eldest son if he be no more.
He becomes the head of the family at the death of the father, and, by this title,
it is his duly to support and harbor in the house the other children of the two
beds, as if he were their father. If the principal wife has not had a son when
she is fifty years old, the husband can choose as his heir the eldest son of any
of his other wives, but the eldest only. This eldest son becomes heir of the
name and chief of the family at the death of the father. If there are no child-
ren from either the first or second beds, the husband can adopt the son of one
of his relations, or of a man of the same name as his own, who has other sons.
He cannot send this adopted son back : he cannot adopt the son of a man who
dues not hear his own name.
During the lifetime of their parents, children are considered as being in a
state of tutelage, and are not at liberty to leave the paternal mansion. If their
natural tutors consent to the separation, it appears that the property must
be equally divided (Section lxxxvii). During the time of mourning for the
great relations of father and mother, the eldest son is the head of the family,
and his brothers cannot dispose of any part of the inheritance. After this time,
those brothers who do not choose to marry, are allowed to remain with their
eldest brother ; but if they separate, he divides the inheritance into equal
portions, whatever be the rank of birth, whether sons of the principal wife, or
of the wife of the second rank, or even sons of a slave. This is inserted textually
in a supplementary statute joined to the 88th section, respecting the youngest
and last members tf a family disposing of their properly without authority. As
this supplementary statute has been translated by Staunton, and, since it rules
the method of succession in China, I shall translate and introduce it into the
text.
“ As to the children of the principal wife or wife of the second rank, the males
can succeed. Except in the case of an hereditary dignity, every thing in the
first place falls to the eldest son of the principal wife, or to the son of this
eldest son, if he is no more. This first heir divides the goods and lands between
all the sons, without enquiring whether they are sons of the principal wife, of
wives of the recond rank or of slaves. The divisions must be equal, accord-
ing to the number of sons. As to sons born in adultery, their share is only
half that of the sons of the w ives of the first and second rank. If no son of
the first or second rank is living, then the individual adopted comes to the
succession. He divides half with the sons born in adultery . Jflhere is no son
by adoption, then the son born in adultery succeeds to the whole.
11 If a family becomes extinct, and there is no man of the same name called
to the inheritance by adoption, then, il any females are living allied lo this
family, they inherit. If none are living, then it is the duly of the magistrate
of the district to explain the circumstance clearly to his superior officer, who,
after having examined into the affair, confiscates the property of the extinct
family to the public treasury."
It is probable that the equal division betw-een the eldest son who disposes of
the property and the other sons, especially those of the second rank, is not
rigorously observed as it follows from this statute; but it is clearly seen that
daughters do not sueceed except in default of males, and plurality of wives be-
ing general in China, they can succeed but very rarely. A Chinese considers
himself unfortunate if he has not a son, legitimate or adopted, to bury him
Infanticide, so common in the central provinces, is almost always practised on
daughters ; and, according lo the report of the latest European missionaries,
dealers are in the habit of buying or stealing girls in the Northern provinces.
1849.
The Condition of /Slaves in China.
353
for the purpose of afterward selling them in the Central and Southern pro-
vinces, where they are wanted.
Although the son of the wife of the second rank has a right to the succes-
sion, his mother is always dependent on the principal wife. .Nevertheless, after
the death of the husband, if she continue a widow, she has a right to a certain
consideration, and is competent to defend the rights of her son in courts of law.
In explanation of the articles of the Code to which 1 have referred, 1 will
quote from two Chinese plays and a novel, translated into the European lan-
guages, in which the whole plot turns on the difficulties opposed to the suc-
cession of a son of the second rank.
The name of the tale is the Mysterious Picture: it was translated by !vl .
.1 alien, and added to his translation of the Orphan of Chau. A magistrate
has had an only son by his first wife. Being very old, he married a wife of the
second rank, and had a son by her. When this son was five years old, Ins
father fell sick, and summoning his eldest son told him he should give a siiare
of his fortune to his second wife ; but as she was too young to take good care
of it, he rather preferred to appoint his eldest son the general legatee, and to
leave the mother and the son of the second rank dependent on his eldest son,
who would then consider them as members of the family, bring up the child,
and maintain the mother, if she continued a widow. The father died, and the
eldest son conducted himself badly ; he would not acknowledge the child to be
his father’s son ; he tried to entrap the mother into a second marriage, and sent
them both away to a cottage. But the deceased had left to his second wife a
mysterious picture, of which a certain judge at length found out the meaning.
'Phis judge discovered a treasure hidden in the ground, and destined for the son
of the second rank. The author of the story remarks that the eldest son should,
in the first instance, have equally divided the inherit, ♦'oe between himself and
his young brother.
The first play, named An Heir in Old Age, has been translated by Mr.
Davis; it is one of the collection called the Hundred Plays of Yuen (a. d. 1 ‘260 to
1357). The principal wife has an only daugher. who is married. The second
wife becoming enceinte, the son-in-law says that if she brings a daughter into
the world, he will lose half of his father-in-law’s fortune, and that if she is
brought to bed of a son, he will lose the whole of it. Thus the son of the
second rank would be the sole heir only because he is a male. Nevertheless,
the father says at the same time, that whatever happens, the wife of the second
rank, mother of the infant, shall continue to be dependent on the principal wife,
that she shall be her property, and that the principal wife may at will either
hire or sell her as a slave. This, perhaps, could only be the case during the
lifetime of the father, and whilst the child had a natural protector ; for in the
preceding work, the eldest son had been persuading the widow to marry again,
but he could not oblige her to it, nor sell her. In the play, a male child is
born ; the son-in-law and his wife conceal it with the mother ; in the end they
are found again, and the old man divides his property equally between his son
of the second rank, his nephew whom he had adopted thinking his son lost,
and his daughter of the first rank. This mode of division does not appear to
be authorized by the Code, but legislation may have changed since the Vuen
dynasty.
In the play called the Circle of Chalk, the events of which occurred during
the Sung dy nasty (!)6l> — 1275), the principal wife has no children, and poisons
her husband that she may live with her lover. The inferior wife has a son,
and it is this fact only that hinders the first wife from remaining in possession
of the property to which the infant is the legal heir. This is evident from the
articles quoted before. The widow of the first rank enjoys the fortune of her
deceased husband only so long as there is no child. A supplementary statute
of the 78th section contains this regulation in direct ternis. To make herself
mistress of the property, the wife of the first rank sustains an action at law
that the child was her own, and had been stolen from her by the second wife.
She gains the cause in the first instance; but the case is tried again by an
incorrupt judge, who condemns the guilty, and decrees the entire succession to
the inferior wife and her child
VOL. XVIII. .NO. Ml;
(.>
Jt'LY,
35-1 The Condition of Slaves in China.
M Remand, ill Ins work on t lie irruptions of the Saracens into France, in
the 7th, 9th unci loth centuries, tells us that, among the Saracens, every free-
man could make his son by a slave his heir, hut only after having given the
mother and her child their freedom, it even appears that this custom still
exists in Egypt, and that the son of a white slave is often called to the succes-
sion. We see that m China, liy the articles of the Code, the son of the inferior
wife, and even, according to the supplementary statute of the 88th section,
the son horn of a slave, are qualified to succeed. There is then a marked
analogy between the two systems of legislation.
In Tungking, as in China, the child that is sold is often adopted by its pur-
chaser, and from that lime he has the right of succession to his adopting father;
but his share of the inheritance is less than those of the children of the family,
when there are any. “Thus,” says a missionary, -‘this custom of selling
children is less odious than it appears at first sight.”
There is no regulation in the present Code relating to the affranchisement of
private slaves. The law does not acknowledge the right of the private slave
to free himself by his labor; it does not direct tiiat any punishment should be
inflicted on the master who refuses to affranchise his slave.
According to the history of China, Man W'Gli (B. C. UiO) freed his prison-
ers, but these prisoners liad been confiscated to the government; they should
have become slaves of the state. In his note on the affranchisement of govern-
ment slaves which occurred in the reign of Han Yuenti, MS Twanlin clearly
distinguishes as to the intervention of government with respect to individuals
reduced to the condition of being government slaves, and those who had been
driven by misery to become private slaves. “ These,” he distinctly says, “ c.-n
neither be helped nor freed by the magistrates.” Nevertheless, Han Wolf
deprived masters of theTight of killing their slaves whenever they pleased;
and still later, Hun Ngfiitl limited the number and the age of slaves belonging
to the principal dignitaries of the empire.
At that time no one under ten and above sixty j-ears of age was allowed to
be a slave. In the first century of the Christian era, Kien Wii, who restored
the throne of the Han dynasty, freed by many edicts even private slaves. An
edict of the second year of his reign declared every girl sold to a private per-
son to become Ins wife, to be free. A second edict of the seventh year restor-
ed to liberty all officers whom misery had reduced to become slaves. Other
edicts of the twelfth, thirteenth , and fourteenth years of the same reign affran-
chised all those individuals who had been arrested and reduced to slavery in
consequence of the revolts in the eastern provinces of China. The edict of the
12th year orders that, if among the persons arrested any were found who had
been sold, the purchase money was not to be returned to the purchaser ; and
in t Me three edicts it is made law that those who forcibly detained individuals
affranchised by superior authority should he punished according to the law
against the sale of freemen. Thus Kien Wfi set the slave directly free in
opposition to his master; but he published these edicts after the troubles which
followed the usurpation of Waiigmang, during which period numberless outra-
ges had been committed. The public interest obliged him to free the captive
population whilst the lands remained untilled. Kien VVu forbade the killing
of slaves r.i.v, die branding of their bodies ; he declared the unfortunate beings
thus stigmatized to be free by right. He abolished a law which condemned
every slave who had wounded a person with an arrow, to be beheaded. Kien
W a was an excellent prince. He protected the lives of the slaves, he freed
the prisoners, but lie did not appoint that the slave should be able to redeem
Ins freedom by bis own labor.
In the 7tli century, after the full of the Hfin dynasty, the emancipation of
the slave by order of the government against the will of the master is seldom
met w ill. Under the Tang dynasty, after the conquest of the southern pro-
vinces of China, when the internal troubles were ended, the prisoners who had
become private slaves were lived by authority, lint In/ n note muter the hands
of flu-.*.- master, who was the arbiter of their liberty. Visits were sometimes
ordered to be made inti the interior of rich houses, to ascertain if the number of
Slaves fixed by authority "as not exceeded, or whether nolle were to be found
1840.
The Condition of Slaves in China.
amongst thorn sick, infirm, or seventy yearsold. The last were freed hy right ;
hut this affranchisement was rather advantageous to the masters. — Later, du-
ring the civil wars, when the prisoners reduced to slavery were found to be
very numerous, and the taxable population very much diminished, these pri-
soner-slaves were sometimes affranchised, and oftener redeemed by superior
authority. In peaceable times, such as under the first emperors of the Sung
dynasty, the government always aimed at reducing the number of slaves in
the houses of the rich ; but it no longer interposed in so direct a manner as
Hiin KienwO, neither did it give to the slaves the right of redeeming them-
selves by means of a sum of money gained by themselves, or furnished by their
friends. The Mongol emperors only ordered a few casual affranchisements,
in favor of the literati made prisoners during the invasion.
To return, from the silence of the Code, and saving some excepted historical
cases, the affranchisement of the slave entirely depends on the will of the
master, as was the case in all French colonies; and the same regulations
obtained in all the nutions of our European antiquity that have hnd slaves. In
the Chinese scale of virtues and vices (see Morrison's Diet, under the character
Vol. 1), to scold slaves severely is rated at one fault; to see them ill, and
not to be careful of them, but require severe labor as usual— is rated at ten
faults. To disallow slaves marrying is rated at one hundred, faults ; to refuse
assent to men and women slaves being ransomed, is rated at fifty faults.
These faults are of the number of those the spirits register in the book of
heaven, and which they value to decide the fate of every mortal after his death ;
but they are beyond terrestrial legislation. In Du Halde’s Description of'China,
a work composed on the information transmitted by the missionaries, it is said,
Vol. II, page 74, that many Chinese allow their slaves to embark in trade in
which they ha ve an interest ; and thus the slaves often obtain the means of
ransoming themselves. This is very probable, for a Chinese is naturally
humane; and this mode of ransom also prevailed with the Romans, usually so
severe toward their slaves. But in China, as formerly at Rome, this kind of
arrangement is not regulated by any law to which the slave can appeal against
the avarice of his master.
The Manchu penal code did not renew the regulation of the Tang dvnasty,
which freed by right the slaves of government, and even domestic slaves aged
seventy years. But this regulation was altogether illusory for that description
of slaves.
In China, the affranchised slave passes immediately into the condition of a
free citizen. It was only under the Tang dynasty that rebels, when made pri-
soners and slaves of the state did not receive their full pardon except throuuh
three successive steps, which they were to gain by iheir labor. But history
constantly informs us that the domestic slave passed directly from the state of
villanage to that of freedom, without the intermediate degrees which existed
in our ancient European republics. In these republics it was the son only of
the freedman who became a citizen.
This difference, as Montesquieu remarks, necessarily adheres to the form of
the two kinds of government. In republics, as the free citizens were able to
modify the laws by their deliberations, it was important that the decisions should
not be suddenly influenced by the introduction of strangers uninterested in
public affairs ; it was therefore necessary that the freedman should not Instantly
enjoy the rights of a free citizen. In despotic governments the chief only
makes the law, or acts from laws which have been long fixed and immutable.
The people must passively obey ; it is not then necessary to distinguish the
freedman from the citizen, and such is the state of affairs in China. Only, as all
the social relations are based on the respect of the son toward his father, ge-
nerally the freedman offending agninst Ins old master who had delivered him
from bondage, is punished by the law as if he was sti 11 his slave. With all
others he conducts himself as a freeman amongst freemen, and is punished
conformably with this position.
Besides slaves, there are ii> private hoqses work-people called jji?
ar.C)
The Condition of Slaves in China.
yung-liung, paid servants who hire themselves to work for a certain time, amt
who can change their masters. We have seen that under the first Chau dynas-
ty these hired domestics performed all the services in rich families. Now, as
then, the persons who hire themselves are individuals free by birth, but subject-
ed by their engagement to certain duties to their masters. The engagement
should be made in clear and precise terms (Ordinances of the Sung dynasty.
Appendix, page 9 ) J the duration of the engagement appears variable. The
ordinance of Sung, which 1 have just referred to, the text of which I will give
further on, limits the duration at the longest to five years ; a former ordinance
of the Tkng dynasty appears to fix the duration at one year only. The wages
are settled by the year or month. In an example quoted by Morrison under
the character a person “ went and hired himself to labor, and settled for
four taels (30 lrancs) a year.” — Timkowski, in his journey to Peking in 1620,
points out the monthly wageB of domestic servants in Peking, which vary
from three taels of silver (22 francs, 50 centimes) to one tael (7 fr. 50c.), ex-
clusive of food in the latter case. According to the Code, the man who has
hired himself out to service is in an inferior position in relation to his master
and to free citizens in general. He finds himself so often in contact with the
slave, that one is reluctant to think that he can have the same facility of
changing his master as the European domestic. Nevertheless, one does not
find in the Chinese Code that the master can claim his hired servant who has
left him, and if the wages are monthly, as Timkowski says they are at Peking, it
is probable that the Chinese domestic can free himself as easily as our own. It
is likely that the time of discharge is regulated by custom in China, as it really
is with us.
As to the eunuchs, formerly their number was very considerable. The
emperors of the Hdn dynasty, and at a later period those of the Tang and Sung
dynasties confided most of the civil offices of slate to the eunuchs. There is
no doubt, as Montesquieu remarked, but that a political principle governed
this choice. The emperors were willing thus to destroy by a w ant of power
the inheritance of dignities, the living remains of the feudal constitution of
the Chau dynasty, from which the power of the great feudatories was unceas-
ingly revived ; but they fell into other disadvantages, and the eunuch party
has often excited the greatest troubles in the Chinese empire, as religions
societies have unfortunately also done the same thing in other countries.
Since the first of the Manchu emperors, the number of the eunuchs has
been considerably reduced. According to the imperial Code, Sect, ccci.xxix,
at present there cannot be any eunuchs in a private house : this right is re-
served for the princes of the imperial family. From the most recent accounts
of the French missionaries the number of eunuchs now' in China cannot ex-
ceed six thousand. By the Code, castration is inflicted on the children of
rebels under sixteen years of age. In the appendix to the section on high
treason, sect, cct.iv, it is said, “ All the male relations of criminals guilty of
high treason, at or above the age of sixteen years, shall be punished with
death; the remaining male children, if it is proved that they are entirely in-
nocent, shall not suffer death, but thev shall be made evnvchs, that they may
be employed in the exterior buildings of the palace. Amongst the said chil-
dren, those who are not ten years old shall be kept in prison until they have
attained that age, and then be sent to the emperor's palace to serve there as
above stated.” In no other case does the code inflict this punishment; but
misery would supply wretches enough to fill the imperial palaces.
At the times of great internal troubles, Chinese history shows ua the poor
cultivators of the soil clustering round powerful or rich individuals, and plac-
ing themselves and lands under their protection. In the appendix to Mil
principally during the wars following the fall of the Han, and under the Twin
dynasty (280 — 404). Under the Eastern Tsin (375), the protected husband
men appear as very serfs ; the law freed them from taxes and personal service,
and limited their number proportionally to the rank of their lord who was
1S49.
357
The Condition of Slaves in China,
obliged to inscribe them on his domestic register, and was assessed in propor-
tion to this increase of his family. The historian particularly notices this
regulation, for this reason that previously under the HOn dynasty govern-
ment officers enjoyed an immunity from taxation, and were maintained by the
districts which they governed. The law of the Tsin dynasty on the contrary
granted to every great officer a fixed number of husbandmen appointed for
the maintenance of himself and his family.
Later, under the second Wei dynasty which occupied the Northern empire,
the labor, even on small properties, was done by slaves. An ordinance
published in the year 440, declared that every married couple, being lords of
the manor, should have male slaves to labor on the grounds, and female
slaves to take care of the household concerns, in all eight persons. A bachelor
proprietor was to have only half this number, or four slaves. Ten head of
laboring oxen were allowed to eight slaves. The second Wei dynasty
adopted Tartar habits, if they were not Tartars themselves. All labor was
done by slaves, while the master refused to do any work. The law distin-
guished between lands cultivated by oxen, and those cultivated without them.
Upon certain lands hired out by the government, the farmer, a freeman, was
obliged to make up his deficiency in oxen by a certain number of slaves.
This institution which was bondage on a large scale, was afterwards opposed
by the Tang and the emperors of the following dynasties. Instructed by ex-
perience, they dreaded extremely this union of properties and of protected
husbandmen in the hands of certain families, who thus rendered themselves
independent, and withstood the authorised agents intrusted with the new
verification of goods (recenscment), and often caused great troubles. At the
present day, the bondage of the planter fixed to the soil appears only to exist
in a single case, — on those lands belonging to Manchii Tartar families. The
male members of these families, being born soldiers, are thus prevented front
cultivating their lands themselves; they have therefore farmers under them
whom they hold in effectual bondage, according to the Tartar custom. But
the Tartar families do not show more than one hundred thousand men bearing
arms, which is an insignificant cypher in comparison with the immense
population of China. In general, the Chinese landholder lets his lands to an-
other Chinese, free like himself, taking care to require of the former a pledge
equivalent at the least to a year’s rent. Without this precaution, harvest
being over, the farmer would sell the grain and run away.
Chinese society is then generally composed of three classes of individuals :
the free citizen, the servant or hired workman, and the slave. The penal code
protects the two last classes against their masters and freemen in general ;
but it fixes precisely the limit of separation between them and freemen. The
punishment of crimes is different according to the condition of the slave, the
hired servant, and the freeman ; and in general all alliances between them, all
tendency to mix the ranks of the social order, is severely punished. This is
clearly seen in the following quotations from the Code.
On marriage. Section cm. Respecting those icho having aprincipal wife raise
another to that rank.
“ Whoever degrades his first or principal wife to the condition of an inferior
wife or concubine, shall be punished with 100 blows. Whoever, durino- the
lifetime of his first wife, raises an inferior wife to the rank and condition of a
first wife shall be punished with 90 blows, and in both the cases, each of the
several wives shall be replaced in the rank to which she was originally en-
titled on her marriage. Whoever, having a first wife living, enters into mar-
riage with another female as a first wife, shall likewise be punished with 90
blows; and the marriage being considered null and void, the parties shall be
separated, and the woman returned to her parents.”
In the novel of “ The Two Cousins,” the student SO Ydupeh marries both
with the same ceremony, which is contrary to the first article on marriage.
The author has allowed himself some license ; nevertheless, tfie youngest
cousin L'l has first acknowledged that she will only be the second wife, that
she has degraded herself, but she had done so that she might marry a man
remarkable for his learning The articles qf tjie Code carefully distinguish
the principal and the second wife.
The Condi /ion of Slaves in China.
JlfLV
358
Under the same division, Section cxv. Marriage between free persons
and slave — “ If any master of a family solicits and obtains in marriage for his
slave, the daughter of a freeman, he shall he punished with 80 blows; the
member of the family who gives away the female in marriage shall suffer the
same punishment, if aware that the intended husband is a slave, but not
otherwise. A slave soliciting and obtaining a daughter of a freeman in mar-
riage, shall also be punished in the same manner ; and if the master of the slave
consents thereto, he shall suffer punishment less by two degrees; but, if he
moreover receives such free woman into his family as a slave, he shall be
punished with one hundred blows. Likewise, whoever falsely represents a
slave to be free, and thereby procures such slave a free husband or wife, shall
suffer 90 blows. In all these cases, the marriage shall be null and void, and the
parties replaced in the ranks they had respectively held in the community."
In the division on incest and adultery, Sect, ccclxx. — “All slaves or hired
servants who have been guilty of a criminal intercourse with their master's
wives or daughters shall be beheaded immediately after conviction. When
guilty of a criminal intercourse with their master’s female relations in the
first degree, or with the wives of the male relations of their masters in the
same degree, they shall be strangled after remaining in prison the usual period.
In the above cases, the punishment of the woman, if consenting, shall be less,
only by one degree. When guilty of a criminal intercourse with their mas-
ter’s more distant female relations, or with the wives of his more distant male
relations, they shall be punished with 100 blows, and perpetual banishment to
the distance of 2000 U. If guilty of committing a rape upon the latter persons,
they shall be beheaded after remaining in prison the usual period ; excppt in
cases of rape, the punishment of a criminal intercourse with any of the inferior
wives shall, generally speaking, be less than in the case of principal wives by
one degree.”
Under the same division, Sect. ccciaxiii. On criminal intercourse be-
tween free persons and slaves. — “A slave, who is in any case guilty of a cri-
minal intercourse with the wife or daughter of a freeman, shall be punished,
at the least, one degree more severely than a freeman would have been under
the same circumstances. On the contrary the punishment of a freeman for
having criminal intercourse with a female slave, shall be one degree less for
the two guilty persons, because the freeman has disgraced himself. When
both parties are slaves, the criminal intercourse shall be punished in the same
manner as in the case of free persons. They each receive a certain number of
blows."
The preceding regulations are applicable in case of adultery with the wife
of a slave. This is confirmed by a note which indicates that the case of
the abduction of a wife of a slave is assimilated to that of a master heating his
slave to death. In the last case the master receives 60 blows, and is banished
for a year, whilst a freeman who abducts the wife of n freeman, is condemned
to 100 blows and perpetual exile.
In the division on homicide, Sect, oclxxxiv. — “ Any slave or hired servant
designing to murder, or murdering his or her master, or any relation of his or
her master, living under the same roof, shall be liable to the same punishment
as has been provided in the case of a son or grandson being guilty of such a
criminal act or design.”
Section ccc. — “If, in the event of the murder of a grandfather, grand-
mother, father, mother, husband, or master of a family, the grandson, son,
wife, slave or hired servant, as the case may be, agrees to a compromise with
the murderer, and conceals the crime, the party so offending shall be punished
with 100 blows, and banished for three years. Any person who is guilty of
compromising and concealing the murder of his son, grandson, w ife, slave,
or hired servant, shall be liable to receive 100 blows.”
The first of these regulations is a direct consequence of the position of the
slave or hired servants with their master ; they form part of the family and
are punished as such. The two others establish the responsibility (solidarity)
between all the members of the family, in the case of murder of any one of
them, and the law punishes the master himself when lie does not reveal the
LS4U
The Condition of Slaves in China.
murder of his slave. This is far different from that barbarous la w of I he Ro-
mans which condemned to death all the slaves, when the master having been
murdered by an individual of his household, the murderer remained undis-
covered.
Section 286. “ Any slave or hired servant who kills his or her master, shall
suffer the ordinary punishment in cases of murder; but if the slave has been
freed by his master and not sold by him to another, then he is punished as guilty
of parricide. The punishment of the assassin is decollation ; the punishment of
the parricide is that of the knives, or the delict is cut in pieces by a slow and
painful execution.”
In the division of quarreling and fighting, section 313. — Every freeman
who beats the slave of another, is punished in proportion to the consequences
of his action, but in a less degree than in the same case between equals. If
the blows occasion death, the freeman who has caused the death is punished
by strangulation.
The slave who strikes a freeman is punished one degree more than in the
same case between equals. If the person struck becomes incurable, the guilty
person is punished with strangulation ; if he dies, the guilty person is beheaded.
In the quarrels of slaves between themselves, the punishments are the same as
for quarrels between equals.
The thefts committed by slaves to the prejudice of free persons, and recipro-
cally, are punished as in an ordinary case of theft. To beat a slave of
one's relations of the third or fourth degree is a fault which the law does
not punish ; it intervenes not except in case the slave dies. To beat the
lured servant of a relative in the third or fourth degree, is not a punish-
able crime, if there is not a wound made with a cutting instrument.
“If the hired servant dies in consequence of blows, the punishment inflicted
is less than in ordinary cases. If the hired servant belongs to a relation in the
second degree, he who struck him suffers a punishment two degrees less than
in ordinary cases. To kill the servant on the spot by striking him, is punish-
ed, in the two preceding cases, by strangulation. The crime of striking the
servant of a stranger is included amongst the ordinary cases where the
punishment is proportoned to the consequences of the action.”
Section cccxiv. — On slaves and hired servants striking their masters, or the
relations of their masters, and reciprocally. “ Every slave who purposely strikes
Ins master shall be beheaded, without distinction in this Crime of principals
or accomplices. All slaves designedly killing, or striking with a design to kill,
(heir masters, shall suffer death by a slow and painful execution. All slaves
who accidentally kill their masters shall be strangled after having been impri-
soned the usual time. Every slave who shall accidentally wound his master
shall suffer one hundred blow's, and prepetual banishment to the distance of
three thousand li, and (hey cannot redeem themselves from punishment by
the payment of a fine, as the law allows in ordinary cases. Every hired ser-
vant who strikes his master, the relation of his master in the first degree, or
the maternal grandfather or grandmother of his master, shall be punished with
100 blows and three years’ banishment; if he wounds the said persons, he
shall be punished 100 blows, and perpetual. banishment to the distance of three
thousand U from his master’s house. If the wound is made with a cutting
instrument, he shall be strangled. If the wound causes death, he shall be be-
headed after having been imprisoned during the usual time. If the hired ser-
vant has intentionally killed the same persons, he shall suffer death by a slow
and painful execution. If the wound has been caused by accident, and death
ensues, the punishment shall be reduced to an ordinary case, which is regu-
lated according to the consequences of the blows.
Same Section. — Slaves or servants beaten by their masters. In case of
theft or adultery committed by a slave, if the master or one of his near rela-
tions secretly beats the slave to death, instead of informing the magistrate,
this master or this relation shall be sentenced to receive 100 blows. If the
master of a slave or the relation of a master in the first degree, intentionally kills
his slave, or beats him to death, the slave not being guilty of any crime, the
delinquent shall be punished with sixty blows and one years’ banishment. The
3G0
The Condition of Slaves in China. Jily,
family of the slave killed has a right to be aflranchised. The regulation pub-
lished under the Sung dynasty in the 11th century, is here recognised. The
affranchisement of the family of the slave killed is a remarkable fact; the
master finds hitnself punished in his own proper pecuniary interest. If the
slave be guilty he can be punished by the persons undermentioned (in the Code),
provided the chastisement does not cause death. A master can beat his hired
servant without being punished, but if he kills him he is punished by strangu-
lation.
Section cccxxii. — Of a master who strikes his late slave , and reciprocally.
Both th * one and the other shall be punished as equals, the tie between them
having been broken by the sale of the slave; but if the master has freed his
slave, his late right is considered as not having been transferred to any other,
and thus the sentence is pronounced as if the slave had not been set free.
Section cccxxvn. — Abusive language from, a slave or hired servant to a mas-
ter or his relations. If the words are addressed to his master, the slave is pu-
nished with strangulation after the usual term of imprisonment. If they are
addressed to the relations of his master in the first degree, the slave receives
fifty blows, and is sentenced to two years’ banishment. He is punished with
eighty, seventy, or sixty blows for injurious language addressed to more distant
relations. In all cases, abusive language must have been heard by the person
insulted, and such person must always complain of it publicly.
Section cccxx.vi. — The slave who insults his late master is punished as in
ordinary cases, the tie having been broken between his master and him; but
if he has been freed by his master, he shall he punished as though he were
still his slave.
Section cccxxxvn. Slaves and hired servants arxitsing their masters. The
slaves shall be sentenced the same as the sons or grandsons who accuse, whe-
ther justly or unjustly, their elder relations. If the accusation is just, the
slave is punished with 100 blows and three years’ exile. If the accusation
is false, the slave is strangled. The orincipal or inferior wife who accuses her
husband, whether justly or unjustly, suffers the same punishment.
As to the hired servant who accuses his master, or the relations of his mas-
ter, if the accusation is just, he is punished one degree less than the slave ; if
it is false, he is like him strangled.
The master who falsely accuses his slave, his hired servant, or his inferior
wife, does not suffer any punishment. All these individuals are considered as
forming part of the family, and the respect which they owe to the. chief should
not be diminished by a judgment which shall give them a motive against him.
The husband who falsely accuses his principal wife, the principal wife who
falsely arcuses any of the inferior wives of her husband, are punished ; but in
these cases the ordinary punishment is reduced three degrees.
The slave and the hired servant cannot complain in a court of justice of ill-
treatment from their masters, and we have seen above that ill-treatment is
considered as a venial fault. If the domestic is dangerously wounded, it is the
magistrate’s duly to interfere, or the relations of the domestic may also prefer
the accusation The accusation of a slave against a freeman does not appear
tube receivable in a court of justice : no punishment is decreed against an
affranchised slave who justly accuses his master. The tie between them ap-
pears to be entirely broken ; the freedman has re-entered society ; he has his
own proper rights to defend, and he and his late master are equal before the
laws.
From all these quotations from the Code, it is seen that the free citizen, the
hired servant, and the slave, occupy three distinct stations in Chinese society.
The slave forms an integral part of the family of his master, and incurs towards
him the obligation of strict duties. Affranchisement puts him on a footing of
equality with all free citizens ; but if he attacks the person of his late master
who has affranchised him, he is punished as though he were still his slave —
The hired servant shares in a less degree in the general obligations towards
the master of the family. He has hired himself to the family, he belongs to
it, and during the term of his engagement the law does not judge him as a
freeman. Every kind of alliance between the classes of freemen and slaves e-
18-19.
361
The Condition of Slaves in China.
rigorously forbidden. This separation which the law has established between
the freeman, the hired servant, and the slave, may appear singular in a country
where all places are conferred on the people, where there are no privileges of
nobility, except those of princes of the blood. Bu t it is a fact, adopted and
defended even by the Chinese moralists who have composed, since the origin
of slavery, so many half superstitious and half philosophical writings. This
serious question is passed by in silence in the book of Rewards and Punish-
ments, the moral code of the sectaries of Tdu ; and only some compilers, such
as M4 Twinlin, have traced the fact that there were no private slaves under
the Chau dynasty.
As we have seen, the code of this dynasty separated into two classes, the
citizen who paid taxes, and the individual who sold his labor. The latter, not
being able to pay taxes, was properly considered as being of an inferior rank,
but it is not said that at that time the punishments of the law were different for
those who paid taxes and for the hired servant. Later, in the middle of national
troubles, there were not more masters than slaves, and the distinction is very
much encroached upon under the first H4n dynasties, when the slave was scarce-
ly included within the pale of the law. Then caine the Indian ideas on tho
division of castes, and they were already widely diffused in China under the
Tang dynasties, which instituted military castes. The first ordinance which
forbade the military to marry an operative (ouvriere) dates from the fifth year
of Kublai Khan (1264), and many Indian dogmas were brought into China by
the Mongols, or by the priests belonging to their suite. The present Chinese
legislation appears to me to have resulted from a mixture of the ancient rights
of the conqueror over the vanquished with notions from the political constitution
of India. The legal distinctions of freeman, hired servant, and slave, may have
been imitated from the Hindus, although Budhism, which is generally adopted
in China, does not recognise the division of castes.
That which is positively known respecting Chinese slaves is that their actual
lot is not generally unhappy. This is shown by their novels, in which the
domestic is the confidant of his master, or in which harsh behavior toward
slaves is only attributed to vicious persons, and is not a matter of course as in
Greek and Roman comedies. Staunton, Barrow, and other European travelers,
attest this. In the Annals of the Propaganda fide, No. XL, a missionary
who had remained ten years in China tells us that the working and laboring
classes are not despised by the higher orders, that the rich and even persons of
quality, ordinarily eat with their servants and work-people. If one ascends to
former times, it does not appear that the slave was usually ill-treated, except in
times of great distress, and particularly so after the invasions of the Wei and
latter Chau dynasty, in the 6th century of our era, and of the Kin and Mongol
dynasties in the 12th and 13th centuries. These Tartar conquerors allowed their
slaves to remain in the greatest destitution, and often branded their bodies ; but
their inhumanity should not be laid to the account of the natives, and under the
mighty dynasties of Han, Tang, and above all of Sung, one observes the Chi-
nese government employing itself respecting the condition of slaves much more
than the governments of Greece and Rome, although pagans. Finally the
history of China mentions no revolt of the slaves, in this instance widely
different from the history of Greece and Rome, and of some French colonies.
At the present day the Chinese slave is protected in certain points by his
country’s code, he becomes a real member of the family which has bought him,
and with the prescriptions of this Code, joined with the disposition of the Chinese
naturally humane, slavery appears an easy enough state in China. It is a kind
of social position which various travelers totally distinguish in their relations
from the degraded condition of the slave in the European colonies, and above
all in the U. S. of America. The Anglo-American, resembling so much the
Chinese in his immoderate desire of lucre, is inferior to him in humanity by
the cruelty of his black code, and the barbarous treatment which he often inflicts
on his slave. But in this comparison there is a consideration which should not
be neglected.
In America, the master is white and the sla ve is black : they are of two dif-
ferent races. In China, both the one and oilier are of t'h£ same colof and of
16
VOL, Will. >0. Vlt.
3G'2 The Condition of Places in China. Jcly,
the same race. In the first ease, the white has a manifest intellectual supe-
riority. It is impossible for him to think that he will ever descend to the
same state of slavery as that race which iB brought to him fVoin beyond the seas ;
he therefore treats the black like the cattle on nis farm. But in China, where
the race is one and the same, misery, that principal cause of slavery, is a chance
common both to master and slave. The master must often think that himself
or his children, by a chastisement of the emperor, by a reverse of fortune, or a
natural calamity, may be altered in his position, that he may fall into poverty
and slavery, and examples are frequent enough to refresh his memory. In his
slave then he sees himself, and therefore treats him humanely. Suppose
negroes were slaves in China, and leave them to their prejudices, and the su-
perstitions with which they are imbued from their infancy against the Western
nations., and there is nothing to prove that they would not treat the blacks with
as much cruelty as do the Americans. Itisthusin Egypt, according to the recent
work of the English traveler. Lane, the white slave often becoming the principal
wife and seeing her children inherit, whilst the black wife and her children
always remain in slavery.
The preceding paper presents a labored summary of the history of
servitude in China, and the legal enactments in favor of those persons
unhappily reduced to a condition of bondage. These persons should
hardly be called slaves, but rather bond-servants ; for, as M. de
Guignes remarks, “ we should not understand by the expression slavery
what is understood by it in French colonies, for the difference is
very great. During my journey to Peking, one of the domestics hav-
ing purchased a boy, sent a sum of money to the father, and executed
a writing in which he engaged to nourish and clothe the lad ; when
this was done, he called him his brother, and treated him as if he had
been one.” M. Biot has fully shown the condition of purchased
servants among the Chinese, and the deductions he has drawn in the
last three paragraphs from his investigations are borne out by actual
examination. There are many revolting accompaniments of slavery
in the American States, which are never seen in China; such as the
public vendue of human beings, and even of whole families, when
parents and children are violently separated from each other, never
again to meet, and the internal traffic in men, women, and children
from one part of the empire to another. In China, the identity of
blood, color, race, and habits between master and servant, operates as
a restraint on the avarice, vices, and cruelty of the former, which
would not be the case if they were of different races as in America-
The crime of stealing girls and rearing them for sale as concubines or
harlots, is common in some parts of China, but no reliable data are
available from which to draw any conclusions as to its extent. The
banishment of criminals to various parts of extra-provincial China,
where they serve a number of years .as slaves under the military, and
are then liberated, is gradually peopling those countries with a better
class of inhabitants.
1840.
The Worship of Ancestors,. S61
We have made many inquiries as to the number of slaves in Can-
ton, the classes in society from which they mostly come, and the
prices usually paid for them, but have not been able to learn much
worthy of credence. According to all our informants, the number of
females greatly exceeds that of males ; the former are generally
purchased between the ages of five and fifteen. More men-slaves are
found in the establishments of opulent landlords and government
offices than among traders and citizens. The following is the form
of a contract drawn up on the purchase of a slave.
Contract made on buying [Aying]. This [ga'rf] is my own child ; her name
is [Jlying], and she is aged [fe/i] years; on account of poverty and want of
means of livelihood, I now bring her to the house of [Lien], that he may
take her person for the sum of [ ten taels] ; on this day of making the con-
tract, he pays me the full sum. This [girl] is to be under the orders of him
who pays the money, who will nourish and rear her to maturity ; if he mar-
ries her to another, or sells her again, I shall make no objection. Morn-
ing and evening she shall diligently attend to her avocations, nor shall she
abscond ; if she does, I will seek her out and bring her back ; if she meets any
mishap from the elements, it is the ordinance of heaven, and the master is
not responsible. This child is my own progeny, and was not bought by me
from another; if hereafter anything transpires not now clearly stated, I, the
seller, shall not be made liable. We now make this contract as clear evi-
dence of the sale.
The expression in relation to absconding is generally understood to
refer to the child running back to her home, though it may also be
of w ider application.
Art. IV. The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese : a Notice
oj the Kia-Iji Tieh-shih Tsih-ching ^ jf l|lfi 5^ % jjjc <”•
Collection of Forms and Cards used in Family Ceremonies.
VV hen man first lost the knowledge of the true God, and unhappily set
up gods for himself among the works of the Creator, two classes of ob-
jects of worship seem to have presented themselves with nearly equal
claims to regard, viz., those which he feared, and those which he lov-
ed. From these, the downward transition of deifying his owm lusts
and emotions, and making his gods the impersonations of his appetites
and his hopes, clothing them with more or less of imaginary history,
and observing their worship with more or less decency, was neither
difficult nor distant. In the first class might be mentioned the winds,
364 The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese.. Jl’ly,
the lightning, the ocean, the heavenly bodies, the earthquake, die.;
in the second may be classed upright magistrates, parents, teachers,
and chieftains ; and from one or other of these two classes, doubtless
most of the false deities of the heathen originated. Among the
Chinese, they have been worshiped from the earliest record of the
nation, and religious homage is paid to them at the present day by all
ranks, some of them, as heaven and earth, being exclusively appropriat.
ed to imperial majesty, and others, as the gods which preside over
harvests, over the seasons, &.C., being sacrificed toby the people. In
comparing it with other false systems of religion, it is an observable
feature of Chinese idolatry, that nothing indicative of a sense of sin
and the necessity of an atonement, appears in offerings by blood, nor
any vicarious or mediatorial rites; if the gods are pleased with the offer-
ings presented before them, and will confer their blessings upon the
worshipers, well : the account between the two parties is settled, the
devotee has paid for what he has received. But no idea of unforgiven
sin ; no sense of obligation to obey a holy law : no dread of its just
penalties, or wish to escape them ; no notion of the need of a days-
man to stand between the majesty on high and the guilty worshiper
on earth, and make the two at one; or necessity of pouring out tho
blood of victims to pacify the just anger of offended deities towards
guilty suppliants, ever seem to have entered the religious ritual of the
Chinese. The prevailing spirit of their theology is exhibited in their
code of politeness; religion chiefly consists in a rigid observance of
forms, in making so many prostrations, so many kneelings, so many
prayers, and the whole is done. The Chinese have no relish for the
austerities, the penances, mortifications, and alms practiced by tho
Hindus, and such things are seldom seen or done among them.
In the second class of objects of worship — those which the devotee
loved — we find that parents and kindred have held a place among all
pagan nations; the North American Indian, the witty Greek and war-
like Roman, the ceremonious Chinese and priest-ridden Egyptian, have
all agreed in rendering rehgious homage to their departed relatives,
and doing what they could to pacify, to gratify, and to honor their
manes, in the world of spirits. In doing this, practice has shown that
their general belief was that each family had a peculiar interest in its
own members, and the living of each household were watched over by
the dead who once dwelt among them with greater care and fidelity than
they were by any other mortal spirits; but the power of these lares to
relieve and protect their friends varied almost infinitely. Among tho
Chinese, it is thought to he great and almost irresponsible, while the
1819 The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese.
36.5
savages of America merely made known to their departed sires their
good or ill luck in this world, without much expectation of assistance.
Among no pagan nation, has the worship of ancestors assumed the
importance it has among this people ; and it may be said that at the
present day, the real religion of China is not the worship of heaven
and earth, nor of idols, but of Confucius and one’s own ancestors.
The formal worship of heaven and earth and the powers of nature is
mostly confined to the emperor and high officers of state at distant in-
tervals : and the worship of idols is a worship of theatrical perfor-
mances, of burning fire-crackers and gilt paper, in which there is no
heart ; the only principal exception to this we now think of is the wor-
ship of Mammon. The political system of China involves the worship of
the Most Holy Sage, and the social system derived from his writings,
requires homage to be paid to the family lares ; but the worship of
ancestors was general in China long before the days of Confucius,
and he exhibited his sagacity in adapting his teachings to the filial
feelings of our nature, and endeavoring to show his countrymen the
advantages of adopting a peaceful, bloodless ritual, instead of the cruel,
barbarous rites of their northern neighbors. Under the mouldings of
his doctrines, overruled, we would remark, by the all-wise Governor
of the nations, we now see the whole Chinese people ardently attached
to a form of idolatry, which may be termed literary-ancestral pantheism ;
and whether regard be had to its general peaceful and moral nature,
to the absence of all sense of accountability and sin on the part of the
worshipers, its comparative purity from all obscene rites, to the relation
its tenets bear to the fifth Commandment of the Decalogue, or to its
subtility as a form of error eminently calculated to foster the pride of
the human heart, and close it against the doctrines and requirements
of the Gospel, we know of no superstition now prevalent in the w'orld
that is likely to present a more decided opposition to the humbling
doctrines of the Bible.
Confucius and his followers taught that the chief end of man is to
serve his parents; and Chu Hi, in the Siau Hioh, or Juvenile In-
structor, has in a very elaborate manner arranged the details of the
mode of serving them and other superiors. It matters not how
poor, ignorant, or wicked the parents may be, the son, no matter
how rich, wise, or good, must look on his own father as on heaven,
and his mother as on earth, giving them equal reverence. If he has
a wife and children, he must still attend to hjs parents in preference
to his own family ; if his bouse be on fire, he must seek his father’s
safety before he thinks of wife and child ; apd even should he be the
3GG
The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese.
•IcLT,
emperor of the land, and his father in distress — nay, if his father have
committed a crime for which he deserves to die — he must throw away
all his power “ as he would a pair of old shoes,” and become a pea-
sant or an exile, if he can thereby gratify or profit his parents, or
preserve his father’s life. These and many other directions are con-
tained in the Four Books, or are deducible from their instructions,
and show to what an extreme the idea of filial duty is carried.
The work quoted in the title of this article, contains rules for the
guidance of persons in every station of life; half of it is filled
with directions how to conduct towards one’s relatives after death.
From this and other sources, especially various numbers of the Mis-
sionary Chronicle published in New York, we have compiled a few no-
tices of the ceremonies attending ancestral worship among the Chinese.
It is the usage among all ranks to have a place — a lararium — in the
house dedicated to the honor and the worship of its former members.
Among the rich and honorable, whose mansions are spacious, a
room is set apart for this purpose, in which are the portraits or tablets
of their ancestors, from the head of the family down, or in some cases
only the first progenitor as representing all the succeeding genera-
tions ; the titles of honor or office held by members of the family are
also placed here painted on large boards. Here the family collect on
all public or private festivals, and whenever some extraordinary, joyful,
or melancholy event has taken place in the family, announce it to the
ancestral groups, making them partakers in the joy or grief of whatever
has happened. Sometimes these kid midu j^jj or family temples,
are detached from the dwelling, and open to the street, for the ac-
commodation of other branches of the family, and to exhibit its
wealth.
When a man is at the point of death, it is deemed honorable to
have his bed taken into the rear hall, and placed in the middle of the
room, his head lying eastward; when others beside the master of the
house are sick, they may be carried into a side apartment. After
this, if the sick man wishes to make a will, it can be taken down.
As soon as the breath has departed, the body is laid out upon a mat
on the floor, and covered with a shroud ; a little cotton wool is some-
times put in the mouth or nose, to see if the breath moves it. The
eldest son now puts two cash in a bowl, which he covers with a cloth,
and goes to the river-side or to the nearest water, and after burning
candles and crackers, throws them into the water, and dips up the bow l
full, with which he washes the corpse ; this custom, called ‘ buying
water,’ is common in Canton. Immediately after death, the whole
1841). The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese . 8G7
household joins in wailing, both men and women casting off their orna-
ments, disheveling their hair, and baring their feet, in token of
grief. The eldest son or grandson then offers the food, and pours out
the libations at the feet of his parent; if a wife, or child, or concubine
dies, the master himself manages the ceremonies ; and the nearest rela-
tives according as they may be present, except married daughters or
sons adopted by others. Rich Chinese often prepare their coffins
beforehand, but new ones are kept for sale in large quantities ; the
body does not lie over the third day before coffining it. The coffin
is sometimes coated with a mixture of lime, wax, and rice-dour seethed
together; but a cheaper composition of lime and oil is generally laid
two or three inches thick around the inside; and when the body is put
in little packages of lime are placed around it to prevent it moving.
The customs about visiting the bereaved family vary ; friends come
in mourning apparel, and enter the chamber of the dead, where they
are received by the eldest son, and join their lamentations with his ;
he himself remains near the dead. When the day for placing the body
in the coffin arrives, the relatives assemble ; it is dressed in its
best robes, according to the rank the departed bore in his lifetime;
a piece of money or a pearl is put in the mouth, a willow twig placed
in the right hand, to sweep away demons from his path ; a fan and
handkerchief in the left hand ; the bracelets, bangles, earrings, &c.,
of females, are also all put on. This is done under the impression
that the spirit appears before the judge of hades in these habiliments.
The seams of the coffin are then so carefully sealed that no effluvia
escapes. At the time of closing the coffin, the chief mourner or
his substitute says the following prayer, a copy of which is afterwards
burned for the information of the deceased.
Prayer off/red when coffining a, corpse.
On this day, I (of such a name) an orphan, presume to announce
clearly to my late parent, that I, bitterly weeping for the prince of the house,
8ay, Sorrows have multiplied upon myself, and misery upon my father ; a
sickness suddenly overcame him, and from the nine fountains he will never
return. In now putting him into the coffin, he receives my just punishment.
O my father, my heaven! How can you endure this. Ah, alas! my grief
is great.
After the coffin is closed, a curtain is sometimes huugover it in the
middle, so as to screen off the females of the family, and those who
visit to condole with them, from the male mournets. The next
thing is to put up the ling tcci or ancestral tablet, which is a
slip of blue paper containing the name, surname and titles of the
defunct. When this is done, the following is recited and burned.
30d The^ Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese. July,
Announcement when the tablet is put up.
I now beg to announce to my father before hie tablet aud coffin. Alas!
my parent suddenly shuffled off this world. I have selected a lucky day,
and reverently set up his tablet in the rear apartment My tears flow as I
pouf out the libations, and make this announcement.
At the same time, if the deceased had attained the age of sixty, a
banner of cloth or silk is suspended near the coffin, on which are
inscribed the virtuous actions performed during his or her life; the
honors he had attained, and whatever else the eulogist deems worthy
of noting.
While the corpse remains in the house, the rich call in the assistance
of priests, and sometimes expend large sums of money in hiring thtem
to say prayers, in erecting altars in the house, paying musicians, and
burning paper models of various kinds in honor and for the use of the
dead. On this popular custom, the compiler of the Family Ritual
tauntingly remarks, “ Those who believe in the vagaries of Budhism
call in the priests of Budha every seventh day to set up their altars
and do honor to Fuh, in order to diminish the sins and increase the
happiness of the dead, that thereby he may ascend to heaven. Filial
children elevating the tablet, kneel down in company with the priests,
and unite their petitions in calling him to enter into life. How shameful
is this! These people think if they do not act thus, their friends will
certainly go to hell and suffer interminable misery ; not knowing that
the soul 7^ goes to heaven, the anima dissipates in the earth, the
form corrupts in the grave, and the spirit wanders unsettled.
If the deceased was a bad man, these priests can not remove his punish-
ment, and what they say about the Palace of heaven and the Prison
of earth, is only done for the purpose of exhorting men to forsake
evil ; if the ceremonies are not according to propriety, how can you
expect the demons and gods jjpjj to hear your private talk ? There-
fore, LI Tan, prefect of Luchau wrote his sister, saying, ‘ If there be
no heaven, we can not help it, and if there be no hell, we can not
alter it ; yet if there be the one, good men -Jp will go there, and
bad men /|\ to the other. When people lose their parents, they
implore the Budhists to pray for them, which is acting as if their
parents were miserably wicked, and had not lived well ; how can they
bring such an imputation towards them by acting so ; or supposing
they were guilty of crimes, hbw can these priests remove the punish-
ment? If there really be a heaven and a hell, they were in existence,
when the heavens and the earth were produced ; now, as men died
before ever these Budhists came into China, did no one unluckily fall
lsi y.
The Worship of Ancestors among the. Chinese. UG9
into hell before that time, and see the ten judges of Tartarus? It is
of no use to speak of these things to the unlearned, for even the learned
understand them but little.”
Notwithstanding these objections of this moralizing Confucianist,
most classes engage the services of the priests, and think that their
friends are the easier for them, or are quite released from suffering.
When engaging them, the family also announces the death by pasting
a notice on the outer door, and writing letters to the relatives,
the nephews or younger brothers doing it for the chief mourner,
who is too much swallowed up with grief to attend to it; formulas are
given in the Ritual for these notes and their answers. The proper
mourning is also to be prepared by the different members of the family,
according to their consanguinity. There are five periods of mourn-
ing, each of a different length; one is called chan sici (i. e. cutting off
the selvage) of three years’ duration, but diminished to 27 months ; one
called Id (i. e. a limit) of one year; the third called td hung (i. e. great
merit) of nine months; the fourth called siau hung (i. e. little merit)
of five months ; and the last called sz’ md, or silky hemp (from the kind
of mourning worn), of three months. The relatives required to observe
these degrees, and the mourning they are obliged to wear, are particu
larized in the statutes of the empire. Among the various degrees of
relationship, eight are required to observe the longest period of twenty-
seven months; these are children, wives, and grandchildren, for their
parents, husbands, and grandparents. Further than this, it will be
unnecessary here to particularize the grades of mourning apparel worn
by different relatives, or the degrees of relationship which are required
to wear each kind. The obligations due to the dead by the eldest
son and by the widow, are paramount to those of all other kindred.
If any of the sons be in office, both law and usage require them to
resign their posts, and go into retirement during the prescribed period.
The following prayers, among others, are said during the period of
mourning; but we can hardly imagine anything more heartless.
Prayer when one parent dies before mourning for the other is done.
Alas, my father dwells in the gloomy confines of the Nine Fountains ! I am
about to change for a deeper mourning, but I can never requite the ar.xioui
care he had for me. Two years have rolled away, and I now announce that the
[paper] tablet and sacrifice before it are removed ; I announce that the tablet,
will bless the ancestral hall with its presence, and I have laid out a trifling
sacrifice which I beg to inform him of, and intreat the honored spirit to view
and that he will cause my descendants to be numerous and successful. Let
him behold and accept.
VOL. XVIII. xo. vu.
r,
370 The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese. July,
Prayer at casting off mourning.
1 never forget my father, who so suddenly left this world, but whom l can
never requite, nor shall ever cease to lament; the prescribed mourning I
have carefully worn for three yeaTS according to ancient custom. To-day,
alas! I put off mv mourning, and having prepared a few things hereby an-
nounce a trifling sacrifice: the sighing of the trees, even, could not express
all my feelings. I beg you to look at me in kindness, and ever continue to
descend and bless this family.
A day having been selected for the funeral within the forty-nine
days of deepest mourning, the cortege is made ready; the third
seventh is esteemed the most propitious day for it. This period of
mourning can be observed in the house, if the family sepulchre be
art a distance, and the coffin afterwards remain there for an indefinite
time. Sect, clxxxi of the Code is intended to regulate the undue
detention of a corpse in the house ; and Sir John Davis mentions a
case of a suit instituted by the son of a hong-merchant against his
elder brother for needlessly detaining their father’s body in the house,
and refusing to divide the patrimony, until it was buried. The suit was
brought under the section just referred to ; in this and the two preced-
ing sections are contained all the regulations in the statutes respecting
mourning.
While the coffin lies in state, extraordinary ceremonies are observed
by rich families for the repose of the soul, but no rules are laid down ;
they are done partly from religious motives, and quite as much for
vanity and display. The following description of some funereal
ceremonies observed at Ningpo affords an instance of the manner in
which this object is sometimes sought.
“ It was a procession of boats in honor of the spirit of the mother of a very
rich man, some ten days after her death. The house in which I live is
situated just on the borders of a small lake, or pond, in the city, and it was
on this lake that the procession occurred. It was on Sabbath evening. 1
first heard a noise of people talking in loud tones on the opposite side of the
water. On looking from the window to see what was the cause of it, I was
surprised to see a large number of people moving about with lanterns, and
several boats close by the house, gaily decorated and brilliantly lighted up.
Upon the bow of the first boat in the procession stood a high column of
square lanterns made of horn, and suspended between two upright posts,
like a ladder. In the second boat were two similar columns, rather smaller-
Other boats were at the same time emerging successively from under the
arch of a small but beautiful bridge, at a short distance from the house, and
as they entered the wider part of the lake, were distributed over it in nil
directions. Upon these boats a frame-work was put up, on which were
suspended large paper lanterns, arranged in various figures, and shedding a
1849. The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese. 371
brilliant light into the surrounding darkness. In several of the boats, there
were placed upon platforms, groups of figures made of paper, representing
ladies dressed in gay attire. These, I presume, were to he burnt, and thus
transmitted into the world of spirits, to be companions and servants for the
spirit of the deceased. During all this time a deafening noise was kept up.
On shore the spectators were loudly calling to each other, and their innu-
merable lanterns were seen, gliding hither and thither in the darkness. On
the lake there was the sound of a brass gong and of wind instruments,
played by the hired musicians, while the air resounded with the incessant
explosion of sky rockets, which were kept flying upwards from all parts of
the lake. A variety of fire-works added to the brilliancy of the scene. Oc-
casionally, the eye would be almost dazzled by the sudden starting of a fire
wheel, sending forth, as it whirled rapidly round, showers of sparks, and
shooting rockets into the air, and winding up with a whole volley of rockets
flying in all directions. Small boats were gliding about, placing lights in
small floating gourds upon the water. In a short time the bosom of the lake
seemed to be lighted up with lamps floating upon the surface of the water,
and as the articles on which they were placed could not be seen, it looked
as if the fire itself was floating on the water.
“ One boat, larger than the rest, attracted special attention, and as it came
close under the window, I had a good view of it. It was decorated more
gaily than the rest, with innumerable lanterns, and colored paper and tinsel
glittering in the bright light of the lanterns. It was covered by a canopy,
under which sat several persons, dressed in white, and near them a table was
placed, covered with a great variety of dainties. This boat was the one in
which these people thought the departed spirit was present, and the food was
placed there for its use. After remaining a short time, the boats all returned
by the same way they came, but afterwards passed and repassed the part of
the lake on which I live several times, keeping up the constant noise of gongs
and rockets, fireworks and musical instruments until a late hour in the
evening- All this was in honor of the spirit of the person who had just died.
Very few people are rich enough to make such splendid exhibitions in honor
of their deceased friends, but all do as much as they ean to testify their
respect and affection. All this display muat have cost a great deal of money
as there were more than twenty boats and many hundred lanterns.” — Foreign
Missionary, 1847.
The practice of burning models of houses is not common, for few
families can afford it; and among those who can, a lurking unbelief
of its efficacy excuses them from the practice. Sometimes, however,
it is done with a great expense; at Kingqua and Howqua’s funerals se-
veral hundred dollars were lavished to provide them with a complete
establishment in the spirit-world. The following notice of one seen at
Amoy is generally applicable, but the practice appears to be more
common there than in Canton.
“ It was made of richly-colored paper, pasted over a frame- work of bamboo
JlLY
372 The Worship oj Ancestors among the Chinese.
splints, and though it was about the size of an ordinary sedan-chair, yet it
was very light. When I returned it was gone, but in an adjacent shop, there
was a splendid paper house. The frame-work of this frail structure was also
made of bamboo splints. It was some four feet wide in front, extended
about three feet back, and displayed all the characteristics of Chinese archi-
tecture. The interior was furnished after the taste of this people, in the
most approved style. In one apartment was a paper dish, out of which a
paper pig and a paper fowl were feeding. In another apartment was a paper
servant sweeping, and other paper servants were carrying various things
about in paper baskets swung on the ends of poles laid across their shoul-
ders. Away in the back part of the house was a paper shrine, with its paper
gods and other appurtenances. The whole structure was elevated about two
feet above the ground, and presented a very rich and gaudy display.”
In the southern parts of China, the sides of hills, and places elevat-
ed above the water, are selected for burial spots ; but in the northern
provinces, this point is not so carefully attended to, nor in fact is so
much care there taken to bury the dead. The selection of a family
sepulchre is supposed to be a matter of great importance to the pros-
perity of the family, and is intrusted to the skill and science of a
professor of the fung-shwui, or geomantic art, whose directions are
implicitly followed; and who usually takes up his abode with his
employer until the place is fixed upon. We have no very clear notions
of the principles on which these men determine the good or bad cha-
racter of a given spot, and the people who employ them do not disturb
their faith by examining very deeply into the matter. A few remarks
on this point are given in our last volume, page 537 ; an inquiry into
the rules usually followed in relation to this subject, would produce a
curious chapter in the history of human error. A gentleman at Amoy
mentions a case in which after a geomancer had selected a lucky
grave and the body was buried, he was attacked with sore eyes, which
he ascribed to the effect of some poison given him by the family of
the deceased ; in revenge for this treatment, he hired workmen to
remove a mass of rock near it, and thus completely spoiled its efficacy.
When the family has removed from its original seat to another part
of the country, with the expectation of returning, and has no family se-
pulchre in the place where it sojourns, the coffin is frequently depo-
sited in public temples or dead-houses built for the purpose, called
ehivang a small sum being annually paid for the rent and services
of a priest to burn incense before it. The coffins of such persons are
also kept in their houses for years; and cases are not uncommon in
Canton where there are six, ten, and even more, of these melancholy
relics resting in the laramnn.
1849.
The. Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese. 3*3
The funeral procession is generally made as showy and diversified
as the means of the family will allow, by hiring musicians to play,
engaging coolies and pavilions, to carry and enshrine the tablet, sacri-
fices, and effigy, with banners, tablets, and other articles, most of which
are hired for the occasion. The following account of a funeral at
Amoy is in the main also applicable at Canton.
“ On the day of burial a table was set in the street, well-furnished with pork,
fowls, cakes and vegetables, for the use of the spirit. The coffin was
then brought out and placed on trestles, followed by the mourners, consist-
ing of a dozen females, and several men and boys. All were clothed
in coarse brown sackcloth, the females wearing a somewhat finer article,
however, than that worn by the others. A cowled head-dress, falling below the
shoulders in front and behind, completely concealed the faces of the females
from public gaze. Not much loud lamentation was made, but some of the
females embraced the coffin ; a band of music in attendance played throughout
the services. First, a man, boy and child approached and kneeled before
the table on a mat. Two persons in full mourning, one on each side,
stood at the head of the table to officiate, and handed to the worshipers, after
their first obeisance, two lighted incense-sticks to each, excepting the child.
Having made obeisance with these, they were passed to the second man, who
placed them in a basin of ashes on the table, and the worshipers prostrated
themselves with their foreheads to the earth. Remaining in this posture for
a time, the assistants took hold as if to raise them up. They then arose,
bowed, again prostrated themselves, and retired. The child being too young
to go through with these exercises himself, the person carrying him assisted
him to do so. The females now approached by threes, and worshiped in much
the same manner. Another man now came forward, followed by a boy, both
in full mourning, and as the man prostrated himself, the boy behind care-
fully imitated him. These all then retired to the opposite side of the tabte
and remained bowed with their faces to the ground till the services were
through, when the friends came forward by threes and worshiped after the same
form. These were dressed in ordinary white clothes, with the mourning
head-dress of white muslin. This is a neat article, formed by plaiting the
cloth for the body of the cap, and having the plaits running from front to
back, properly confined by a band, like any other cap. A boy in full mourn-
ing stood by, and went through all the prostrations with the whole number of
friends. After all had paid their homage, a quantity of silvered paper was
bnrnt, and then the burial procession was immediately formed. This consist-
ed of the musicians, a chair carrying the effigy, the male mourners and friends
and attendants with baskets containing the sacrifices, or others with more
paper and some articles of dress, including a holiday cap for some cere,
monies at the grave. The female mourners accompanied the procession a few
steps to the end of the street, and then again met it op its retprn, with lamen-
tations.”— Miss. Chronicle, 1816, page 50.
374 The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese. July,
As the funeral procession proceeds through the street, the musicians
play dirges at short intervals, and the chief mourners, completely
dressed in sackcloth, and the friends wearing white caps, follow them.
A man precedes the coffin to scatter round pieces of paper along the
road; this is called fang hi ts'ien, i. e. ‘ scattering road money,’ each
of these slips of paper being regarded as current money in hades, and
now used to buy the goodwill of malicious, wandering elves, that
they may not molest the wraith of the deceased on its way to the grave
— many persons supposing the spirit accompanies the coffin to the
grave, and the chief mourner frequently carries a banner with the
epitaph of the spirit written on it to show it the way to its long home.
The order of a large procession is somewhat as follows. First, the
person who scatters the paper money ; then come those bearing large
white paper lanterns on poles, having the titles borne by the deceas-
ed written thereon in blue characters ; these are followed by the
principal band of musicians, between which are carried ornamental
banners and flags bearing inscriptions of a general nature, notices to
people to retire aside, official tablets, &c. In front of the tablets are
two persons with gongs, who beat the same number of strokes the de-
ceased would be entitled to if he still held office. An incense pavilion,
or hiring ting, and a second, bearing a roasted pig, accompanied by
mourners, the two seperated by an embroidered banner and followed
by musicians, come after the tablets; a third pavilion, containing
fruits, cakes, comfits, &c., and perhaps others, succeed, each contain-
ing portions of the sacrifice. These ting ^ or pavilions, are square
stands of wood, covered by a light roof or cupola, and when new look
very rich from the carving, gilding, and gay colors put upon them ;
they are borne on light thills like a sedan. After the sacrifice come
the retinue of priests, preceded- by lanterns showing the name of their
monastery, and an altar containing their implements; then follow some
of the relatives and servants, the latter bearing trays of betel-nuts
pipes, &c, as refreshment for the mourners, succeeded by more ban-
ners and musicians. A splendid shrine containing the picture or
tablet of the dead, and supported by the nephews or grandchildren, as
bearers, follow the priest; between this and the coffin, a number of
children attend carrying baskets of flowers or little banners, with the
chief mourner, who totters along by himself, supported under the arms
by servants, exhibiting the greatest sorrow, as if he was just ready to
drop down with grief. His head has not been shaven since his father’s
death, and perhaps his face has not been often washed; his clothes are
awry, and his gait and aspect altogether are negligent and slovenly-
1849. The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese. 375
The pall, or kwdn chau, is frequently a rich piece of silk embroidery,
of many colors, and covers the coffin completely, the fringe reaching
nearly to the ground. The crowd of mourners, among whom servants
bearing the younger children or grandchildren on their backs, and
other attendants, bring up the rear. The length of a procession is
sometimes half a mile, and even more, especially in the country,
where the villagers are attracted by respect or curiosity to attend it.
The forms of graves vary in different parts of the country, and their
locations are unlike. In the south, an elevated, dry, location is
chosen, one that commands a good prospect, and if possible a view of
the water; in the northern provinces, cultivated and low land is fre-
quently taken, and the graves occupy less space. There are no grave
yards in Chinese cities, but the people prefer lonely and waste spots,
where the sighing trees can wave over the dead, and the melody of
nature refresh the departed spirit. In the south, the grave is usually
constructed somewhat of the shape of the Greek fi, or perhaps better,
of a great arm-chair, in which the spirit can recline at its ease. The
mason-work in the back of the supposed chair is built up with the
tombstone in it, and the coffins are deposited in the seat. In large
graves, behind and above the back are two small stones with two
characters cut on each to define the limits of the grave, or as it is in
Chinese, of the tseh or home of the dead. Some of the family
sepulchres around Canton are further ornamented with sculptured
lions to guard this dwelling ; but at the north, images of various ani-
mals are sometimes placed in a line, making an avenue leading up
to the tomb. There too, the grave is shaped like a pyramid, or a box,
and occasionally a stone supported on posts covers the naked coffin.
The poor are often merely thrown on the ground there to lie till their
remains moulder to dust. The coffins are made of planks half a
foot thick, called shau pan, or longevity boards, and are rounded on
one side, so that when put together the coffin resembles a section of
the trunk, of a tree. The rich frequently provide tbcir own coffins be-
fore death, spending scores of dollars in buying fragrant and durable
woods ; these are kept in the house, or near the door, ready for use.
In some cases a mat shed is erected over the grave, in which the
priests perform a variety of ceremonies for the repose of the departed,
similar to those observed at the house ; but usually the coffin is merely
buried with the burning of crackers and papers, and the repetition
of prayers and wailings. The following prayers are said by the eldest
son, and then burned ; though it should:be added that but few persons
offer them ; they give over the business of praying to the priests.
376 The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese. July,
Prayer at burial.
I beg to announce to my parent (Sitk JVgdnking), that 6ince my father
cast off this world, and departed, I shall cherish my grief to the end of my
days ; I have constantly kept it in my own breast morning and evening, yet
sorrowing in vain. Having divined favorable auguries, with thankfulness
I come here to a lucky spot where the wind dwells, and the dragon’s pulse
rests. On this lucky day I take up the coffin and place it; the form returns
to the grave, and the spirit to the hall ; they will remain there thousands of
generations. Being now settled in this place which is so beautiful and
desirable, may you abundantly illuminate your posterity, that happiness and
emoluments may be granted them, obtained by your goodness. Be pleased
to regard this.
Prayer to the genii of the hills.
1 beg to announce to the terminalia of this hill, saying, The fortunate di-
vination of my parent has directed me to this spot, and I now, on opening
the ground respectfully announce it, with entire sincerity, praying you to
come and extend your protection that my ancestors’ souls may rest quietly,
and my posterity be prosperous.
After the grave is covered, prayers are again offered, after which
the procession disperses.
Prayer when the burial is over.
Since my father died, my mournful thoughts have never been forgotten.
Not obtaining a lucky place, I was uneasy night and day ; but having now
divined the good influences of this hill, I now place you here, by which [
shall receive felicitous omens : the form returns to the grave, the spirit
to the hall, there to remain for aye, for endless generations. May your fame
affect your posterity, and you be glorified at their success.
Prayer to the genii after the funeral.
My parents are reposing quietly in their dark abode, the sextons have
finished their work, the little firs are freshly waving around, and I with sin-
cere feelings, prostrate beg you to accept the sacrifice of clean viands here
spread out, and cause happiness to descend, through the merit of the living
and dead, for ever upon this place.
The friends sometimes offer their requiem also, though this is not
usual ; but as it need only be written and burned, it imposes no great
labor upon them; the following is given in the Family Ritual.
Plaint offered, by the friends.
Wc call upon our lord, Ah!
The equal of Kang Sz’ ;
We invocate her now at peace, Ah !
Whose virtues are like Wan Ki’s:
Now suddenly you've left the world, Ah !
Your honored names will never rot;
Vou’vc sought the shades to rest in peace ; All!
134U. The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese. U* 7
The location of the spot is striking,
The beauty of a thousand hills are centred here, Ah !
And the dragon coils around to guard it;
A winding stream spreads vast and wide, Ah!
And the egrets here collect in broods.
Rest here in peace for aye, Ah !
The sighing firs above will make you music ;
For ever re9t in this fair city, Ah !
Where pines and firs will cover and cheer you.
Friends and kin in crowds now collect, Ah !
Here at your dwelling to salute you.
Our mean libation with humble mind we pour, Ah !
And looking up, your favor we implore.
When the family returns home, some of the Chinese believe the
spirit also comes back to the house ; others, that one of the three souls
remains at the grave, a second in the tablet, and a third dwells in the
spirit world. The tablet is now formally installed among the congre-
gation of tablets in the lararium, and worshiped with its fellows. When
the shin chu, |j^ ^ or tablet, is set up, a prayer is said and burned.
Prayer on setting vp the tablet.
The paper tablet has gone to its sepulchre, the spirit has come back to the
hall; the tablet being finished, prostrate I implore the honored spirit to leave
the old and come to the new [wooden] tablet. I depend on your protection.
It is said that at the ancestral temples of the emperors of former
dynasties kept at Peking by government, where tablets of the noble
and wise of former ages are ranged in dusty rows, those of wicked
kings are rejected as unworthy to appear in such good company; if
this be so, it offers an unexpected illustration of the custom of the
Jews of not burying their bad kings in the sepulchre of David, inas-
much, as the intention in both cases was to brand them with infamy.
The great festival in the ancestral ritual is on the first day of the
term of Tsi-ngming, which commences during the first half of the
month of April. The ceremonies of sweeping the grave can be per-
formed during any of the thirty days following, but the first day is the
luckiest. Early on this day, the men and servants of the family repair
to the grave to pat shdn [J^ (i. e. worship the tumuli), or phi fan
mk (i. e. worship the grave), carrying with them a sacrifice of
meats, vegetables and spirits arranged on a tray, a quantity of incense-
sticks, fire-crackers, and gold and silver paper, with a broom and hoe.
These last mentioned are first used ; the weeds that have sprung up dur-
ing the year around the grave are pulled up, and the filth or rubbish is
swept away ; the offering is then spread out, and the gold and silver
VOL. XVIII. :so. vu. 13
378
The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese.
July,
papers burned, to supply the spirit with food and money during the
coming year. Slips of red and white paper, two or three feet long,
are secured to the qorners of the grave as evidence of the rites having
been performed; the appearance of a hill-side, with thousands of these
testimonials fluttering in the breeze, is singular. The eldest wor-
shiper then repeats one of the following prayers, after which it is
burned, amidst the explosion of crackers. From these prayers, as
well as other evidence, it is plain that the Chinese regard their depart-
ed relatives in the light of intercessors with higher powers, and trust
to their good offices to cause blessings to descend on them.
Prayer at the tomb.
The spring dews are now distilling their fertility, and my grief cannot be
forgotten. I improve the time to examine and sweep the grave, and visit
the fir hall (the tomb). Prostrate I pray your protection to surround and
assist your descendants, that they may be powerful and honored ; let every
son and grandson in the house receive a happy sign, and become conspicuous
over all, their fame rivaling the lustre of their ancestors. Looking up, we
pray you to descend and accept our sacrifice.
Another.
The enduring virtue of our ancestors has descended upon their posterity
for hundreds of years, and their literary reputation has been our inheritance.
Now rain and dew cover the heavens, I soothe the sorrow of my heart; hear-
ing the lamentable cry of the cuckoo stirs up my grief ; and I, with my sons
and grandsons, having prepared a little incense, and a few sorts of viands in
common dishes, desire to show some little respect ; and having poured the
sweet waters of Spring River into mixed wine, I beg to announce it for my
ancestors’ acceptance. I have suspended the money slips, and burned the
yellow prayers, uniting them with the incense of the sandal- wood, that they
may induce you, from the pure ethereal, to descend as a butterfly upon my
offering. Looking up I pray for your penetrating glance, and implore un-
limited blessings upon us, that all our plans for wealth may be abundantly
gratified, and those who are scholars may all become the lights of the country .
Anolher.
May the virtue of our ancestors enrich us, and never cease its influence.
Remembering the dew of spring is now descending, we sweep the grave and
spread out the feast ; the sacrificial papers flutter on the hills, the incense
collects over the tomb, and its smoke curls up wards like the flittings of a but-
terfly, apt emblem of the sorrows of our hearts. May your pervading influ-
ence and presence be here, and look at this poor repast, and cause that your
posterity may ever be found, glorious and prosperous to distant ages.
Another.
This 13th year of Taukwang ( 1833), or Kwei-sz' (the 30th of the cycle), in
the second month, the 16th day of the moon, at the happy Tsing-ming term —
propriety requires that the spring sacrifice should be offered, the grass mowed
down, and the brambles cut away. Reverently have we prepared pigs, sheep,
1849. The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese. 379
fowls, and fresh hams ; seasonable vegetables, fruits, incense, rich wines, gold,
silver and precious things (i. e. tinsel papers); and venture to announce the
eame to the soul of our great Progenitor, the venerated Prince.
Behold ! man has progenitors and parents, as water has springs, and trees
have roots. When the roots strike deep, the branches are abundant, the
foliage rich, and forests are formed. When springs of water are large and
flow far, they enrich the soil, and diffuse fragrance. We look wishfully and
pray the souls in hades to shelter and assist us, their descendants ; that we
may be prosperous ; age after age may be decked with badges of honor ; may
long enjoy riches and ranks; may, like the melon-creeper and the cotton
fibre, be continuously happy and never extinct; and for myriads of ages may
be illustrious spirits. Prostrate we pray you to come to enjoy, and view these
sacrifices. With sincerity these prayers are offered up.*
There is but little difference between these several forms, and many
persons do not pray at all to the manes, but content themselves with
going through the ceremonies. After the preceding prayers, the
following is addressed to the Terminalia, a class of imaginary beings
who are thought to have great influence upon the happiness of the
deceased and the fortunes of his family.
Prayer to the Hau-tu, or Terminalia.
May the spirits of this deity long protect this citadel ; my ancestors quietly
repose in this tumulus, and for years and months have trusted to their
unbounded protection. At this genial period, when the spring is passing,
away, I worship and repair the tomb, and with solemn care lay out the sacrifice
and libations to show the sincerity of my heart, which I humbly pray you to
come and accept. Let your protection be over the sepulchres of my fathers,
and your blessing open out upon their numerous descendants, and cause
coming generations to be honored.
*“ How the Chinese Confucianists reconcile these observances with the doctrine of an-
nihilation at death, we have not been able to ascertain. We have found nothing in
books that throws light upon this dark subject ; nor have received anything but evasive
nnswers from the natives with whom we have conversed. One person denied that the
Confucianists taught annihilation: they simply (he said) in imitation of Confucius, lay
aside the subject of God and religion, the soul and its immortality, and affirm nothing
concerning them. This is practically much the same as denying the existence of Goa
and the soul altogether. For if he exists, and the soul is immortal, the duty of creatures
towards Him, and the eternal consequences of their actions, are not subjects which a
rational being, much less a sage, or wise man, would entirely dismiss from his thoughts
and his conversation. But it is the fact, that many of the Confucian sect boldly deny
the existence of a soul separate from the body. And we have read Chinese statements,
which turned the doctrine of rewards and punishments into ridicule, because at death
the whole man was dissolved or “ dispersed,” and returned to earth, or water, or air:
so that if any power wished to punish man after death, it was impossible to do it, for
there remained nothing to be punished.
“ Common sense and reason suggest another difficulty arising from these innocent
rites as some call them. How Budhists in China whojaelieve in the punishment of bad spi-
rits in a separate state, reconcile the idea of wicked ancestors, who are themselves suf-
fering punishment, being able to help their descendants on earth, we cannot tell. I •• t
consistency is not a quality of superstition. We leave the matter where it is ; and sin-
cerely pray that China may soon be illuminated by the Gospel of Christ, which briic's
"life and immortality to light and directs sinful and weak man to a better Savior and
Helper than the shades of deceased ancestors ,” — Miscellanea Sinica.
380 The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese, July,
If the grave is ruinous, or the coffins fill up the cavity, it is repaired,
the coffins opened, and the ashes taken out and placed in jars, each
one being marked ; they are then reburied, and the grave closed,
when the following announcement is made.
Announcement when repairing a grave.
From the time when my ancestors were gathered to their rescing-plaace I
have not had the leisure to guard its borders with trees, but my mind has
not been easy about it. I have now renovated the gravestone and altar be-
fore it, with the epitaph ; be not alarmed or fearful, for all is now completed
in order, and your spirit will be glorious. Be pleased to look upon this
slight respect, and let this fortunate sign move you to come and bless your
posterity with prosperity, and keep up the family for ever.
In addition to the Tsing-ming, theChinese observe another festival
in the seventh month, popularly called shdu i, i. e. burning clothes, at
which time they burn great numbers of paper garments for the use
cf their relatives, together with gold and silver paper.
The ceremonies attending the worship of deceased relatives are
few, and easily performed. A servant, a child, or the keeper of the fa-
mily temple, every morning and evening lights a few incense sticks,
and bows before the tablets and shrines as he thrusts them into a tripod ;
on the new and full moons, he buys a few candles and gilt papers, and
burns them in the family sanctuary and at the threshold ; and lastly,
in the spring and autumn, he repairs to the grave and offers his pray-
ers and petitions, accompanying his worship with fire-crackers, burn-
ing papers, and offering a sacrifice of flesh, fruits, and spirits, which
is then carried home, and furnishes a sumptuous feast for the house-
hold. The occasion calls together the scattered members of the fa-
mily, and the annual reunion being accompanied with good cheer and
the pleasant company of loved ones, the worship of ancestors is indelibly
associated in the minds of children with the most delightful recollec-
tions of youth. There is nothing revolting or obscene, no celebration
of bacchanalian orgies, no horrid sacrifices of human beings, in all
these rites ; everything connected with them is orderly, kind, simple,
and decorous, calculated to strengthen the family relationship, cement
the affection bewteen brothers and sisters, and encourage sentiments
of filial reverence and obedience. In the course of ages it has had an
influence in the formation of Chinese character, in upholding good
order, promoting industry, and cultivating habits of peaceful thrift,
hryond all estimation. Yet with all these features, its spirit is in
direct violation to the spirit of the Bible, it wholly fails to satisfy the
longings of the soul of man, and is as idolatrous in its nature as the
worship of Moloch or Baal-peor.
1849. The Worship of Ancestors amort" the Chinese..
nsi
The ancestral tablet is simply a piece of wood (chestnut is most
orthodox), “ twelve tsun high to represent the twelve months, four tsun
broad to denote the four seasons, and twelve fan thick to represent
the twelve hours; the top is rounded like heaven, and the bottom flat
like earth.” In a family temple they are ranged on the shelves in
chronological order, the number gradually increasing downwards, be-
ginning with the founder of the family down to the last generation.
The inscription on it is short, as can be seen in these two.
mother’s tablet.
£s|
Hwang 3£ [Of the] Imperial
Ts'ing Ts'ing [dynasty],
hien
pi
li
gjH this illustrious
M. consort,
j/lj expecting
Bh to receive
Ju
jin, A J
Hwang Hwdng
nit, mother,
Chin,
A noble
family
2’s
title of] lady,
Chin
t'ai
kiun
chi
shin
chfi.
spirit’s }
> t.i
lord. )
tablet.
father’s tablet.
El
Hwang 3g, [Of the] Imperial
Ts'ing Ts'ing [dynasty],
§[j^ this illustrious
completer of probation,
who reached a
ft]
f/c S sub-magistracy,
HIM
trig
hien
k<i u
tang
sz’-
tso-
lang,
wei
pfp named
Ching-
Complete-
i Virtue,
teh,
shi fa]
Yung-
fdh ||
At
Hwang Hw'^ng
hung 4^- lord,
F family’s
shrined
Eternal-
Progress,
/«
kiun
chi
shin
chti.
prince,
£•»
ti'l>
£
Sjil|* spirit’s I
~t* lord. I
tablet.
The father’s is thus, “The tablet of Mr. Hwang Yungfah (late
Chingteh) the head of the family, who finished his probation with
honor during the imperial Ts'ing dynasty, reaching a sub-magistracy.”
The mother’s reads, “ The tablet of Madam Hw&ng, originally of
the noble family Chin, who would have Received the title of lady,
382 The Worship of Ancestors among the Chinese. July,
and in the imperial Ts'mg dynasty became the illustrious consort of
her husband.”
The title of the highest office held by the deceased is placed on
the tablet, and his wife is worshiped with a corresponding designa-
tion, but no ancestral title is given to her, as to him ; by the charac-
ter wci is denoted the name he held in his lifetime, and by
shi the ancestral name given him by some learned friend of the
family after his death. In the back of each tablet a small hole is
dug out, having a sliding cover, in which is placed a paper giving the
date of the birth and death of the deceased, the number of children,
and place of the grave. The tombstone contains an inscription simi-
lar to the tablet, with the addition of the place of residence, the time
of burial, and sometimes the names of those who set it up. No senti-
ment, like those found on the stones in western graveyards, such as
lines of poetry, texts, records of labors, biographical laudations, &,c.,
is ever added. In China, all is severely simple, or (in our opinion)
heartlessly formal.
The Chinese have great dread of the malice of hod or friendless,
hungry spirits, and have an annual feast in the autumn to propitiate
them, which is celebrated with considerable show. The Budhists and
Rationalists both exert themselves to get up this festival, and for their
emolument as well as the peace of the neighborhood, lead the people
to spend much more money in these ceremonies than they can afford.
The streets are covered with awnings, festoons of different colored
silks are suspended across and along the street, having paper figures
representing historical or religious events on small trays, large and
small chandeliers, and various colored lamps and lanterns, hanging
between them ; the effect at night is splendid in the extreme. In a
conspicuous place, an altar is erected, or sometimes half a dozen of
them, surrounded with pictures, paper gods, and a deal of trumpery,
before which these priests recite prayers. The following account by
Medhurst gives a good idea of the objects and conduct of this festival.
“This, the priests put forth, as entirely a benevolent undertaking, and
solicit subscriptions for it, on charitable grounds. The ceremony is generally
performed during the seventh moon ; and as each district, tything, and street,
has hungry ghosts of its own, so each locality must have a separate sacrifice.
A committee is appointed for collecting the funds and laying in the neces-
sary provisions. On the day fixed for the ceremony, stages are erected ; one
for priests, and one for the provisions : flags and lanterns are displayed near,
while gongs and drums are beaten to give notice to the forlorn ghosts, that
a rich feast is provided for them ; and then the priests set to work to repeat
their prayers, and move their fingers in a peculiar way, by which moans they
1849.
383
The Worship oj Ancestors among the Chinese.
believe the gates of hell are opened, and the hungry ghosts come forth to
receive the boon. Some of the spectators profess to be able to see the open-
ing portals, and the scampering demons, pale and wan, with hair standing on
end, and every rib discernible, hurrying up to the high table, and shoulder-
ing the baskets of fruits and pots of rice, or whole hogs and goats, as the
case may be ; and returning with satisfied looks, as if they had enough to last
them till the next anniversary.
“The world of spirits, according to the Chinese, is like the world of men :
aad as in this life, it is impossible to live without eating, or to obtain com-
forts without money ; so, in the life to come, the same state of tilings pre-
vails. Hence, those who wish to benefit the departed, must not only feed
them once in the year, but supply them with cash for unavoidable ex-
penses. In order to remit money into the invisible word, they procure small
pieces of paper, about four inches square, in the middle of which are affixed
patches of tin-foil or gold-leaf, which represent gold and silver money ; these
they set fire to, and believe that they are thus transformed into real bullion,
passing through the smoke into the invisible world. Large quantities of this
material are provided, and sacrificial paper constitutes a great article of trade
and manufacture, affording employment to many myriads of people.
“ When the priests have gone through their service, and the ghosts are sup-
posed to have been satisfied, a signal is given, and the rabble rush forward
to scramble for what the spirits have left, which is all the materia] part of
the food. It is amusing to see the eagerness and agility with which the
mob seize on these leavings; for although the stage is generally twenty feet
high, with the boards projecting about two or three feet beyond the head of
the poles, the more expert manage to mount the high table, and engrossing
what they can for themselves, bear it off, imagining that food over which so
many prayers have been said, must be attended with a blessing. It is cu-
rious, however, to observe how hypocrisy creeps into a religious service of
so anomalous a character. The provisions consist of fruits and confectiona-
ry, with rice and vegetables, piled up in basin3 and baskets, which to the eye
appear full to overflowing ; but in reality, the hollow of each vessel is filled
with coarse paper or plantain stalks, and the provisions are only thinly scat-
tered over the top. On being remonstrated with for thus deceiving th?
ghosts, the worshipers reply, that the spirits who are invited to the feast
know no better, and by this means they make a little go a great way.”
Besides paying this attention to childless spirits, every district has
a temple where the tablets of all persons whose families are extinct
are collected, and a man is hired to burn incense before them ; the
some of them contain several hundred tablets. A feeling of sadness
involuntarily comes over the visitor as he enters one of these rooms,
and sees these silent mementoes of families left without a name or a
remainder among the living. The tablets are of all colors, ages, and
sizes, gilded, plain, and worm-eaten, some of them black with the
buildings are called
orbate temples, and
084
July,
Things in Shanghai.
smoke of myriads of incense sticks, others comparatively new, and
others again partly worn. The room is silent as a grave, the tablets
are covered with dust, andthe perpetual smoke slowly curl up
from the lighted incense-sticks ; and as one goes from epitaph to
epitaph, he almost begins to think he really has got among a com-
pany of spirits. Few records of the departed are more melancholy
and saddening than an orbate temple in China.
This slight sketch of ancestral worship is incomplete, for the sub-
ject is extensive ; but enough has been given to show its principal
features. The nature of the opposition it will exert against Chris-
tianity is easily seen ; for its associations are so pleasant, so domestic,
and so gentle, that the heart itself rebels against adopting a faith,
which disrupts all these sweet remembrances, even if the head be
convinced that they are wrong. Further, even if the resolution be
Strong not to adore the “ family lords,” it is well nigh overset by the
opposition of kinded, friends and neighbors, who bring their battery
of menace, ridicule, and actual constraint, to overpower the wavering
decision, and reclaim the wanderer to the bosom of his family. This
superstition has so much in its ritual that is commendable, that it
requires the teachings of the Spirit of truth himself to enable the half
enlightened Chinese to see the difference between what is due to pa-
rents in filial respect, and what is due to God in heartfelt worship.
When the citadel of the hall of ancestors is taken, the stronghold
of idolatry and superstition in China will soon surrender to the
triumphs of the Gospel ; and although but few persons have yet cast
out the tablets from the lararium, they are an earnest of the peaceful
victories of the Prince of Peace in this dark land.
Art. V. What I have seen in Shanghai: position of the city;
character of the inhabitants ; mercantile interests ; special enter-
prises ; Mr. Fortune ; open and secret excursions into the country ;
bad policy of the late plenipotentiaries ; reasons for their conduct ;
Christian Missions ; Committee of Delegates now engaged in revis-
ing the Chinese version of the New Testament, SfC.
Dkar Sir, — During the two years I have resided in Shanghai, having
in the prosecution of my duties had occasion to pass through the city
almost every day and often twice, and having had much intercourse,
with natives and foreigners, opportunity has been afforded me for
gaining information, which may be acceptable to some of your readers.
1849
Things in Shanghai. dSa
Both as a mart for trade and as a field for missionary enterprise,.
ShcingheLi has superior advantages, which claim much more attention
than it has yet received. These arise chiefly from its central posi-
tion, by which it has easy communication with immense agricultural
regions of great fertility, whose inhabitants are peaceful and passionately
fond of traffic. Every one who visits this region of country, and has
any acquaintance with the geography of the Chinese empire,' will be
struck with these advantages. Great as they are, however, they may
yet he greatly augmented, whenever the Chinese will allow foreigners
freely to traverse their country, and railroads shall have been construct-
ed so as to facilitate communication between Sh.ingh^i and the
neighboring cities ofllfingchau, Suchau, Chinkiang, Nanking, &,c.
In character, both physical and intellectual, the inhabitants here
present a remarkable variety, differing in many particulars from
what is found at the south. Taking the whole native population mi
one mass, it presents a very heterogenous aspect, and to ordinary
moral influence as insensilbe as the very rock. Doubtless there are
pearls and a few precious stones to be found in it ; but in the
mass, as I have yet seen it, the common and baser qualities greatly
predominate. I will not however speak too confidently on this point,
(hough one thing is certain ; the minds of this people must be remould-
ed, and their manners greatly reformed, before they can rise; for as
yet they are but half civilized, and need altogether to be animated by
another spirit, whereof they are now wholly ignorant.
Mercantile interests, concentrated here, have raised this city to its
present importance. But for these it would have continued till this
day a mere country-market, and have attracted far less notice than
Kito Point, or the lofty promontory of Shfintung. The annual reports
published by consular authority, and the monthly statements from
the Chamber of Commerce, show the progress and indicate the
prospects, of foreign commerce. The domestic trade is but little
understood by foreigners. It is evidently very great, and its ramifica-
tions extend over all the empire. If by any means two short railways
could belaid down — one extending to Hfingchau and the other to Su-
chau, and foreigners allowed freely to visit and trade in those two cities,
the foreign and domestic trade of Shanghai would both thereby be
carried on upon a much larger scale. As in every part of China,
inland communication here is slow, and often exposed to loss by reason
of the numerous bands of ‘ water thieves/ who prowl over the lakes and
canals, and secrete themselves along the coasts. Steam would set
at naught these freebooters.
VOL. win. No. vu. 49
386 Things in Shanghai. Julv,
Since this port was opened by the treaty of Nanking in 1842,
numerous special enterprises have been undertaken, by residents or
visitors with the view to facilitate and improve their trade in tea,
silk, &-c. Having these objects in view, gentlemen have visited
the districts where those staple commodities are produced. But all
these visits have been made in direct contravention of the treaties :
and consequently all notices of them, with two or three exceptions,
have been concealed from the public. Mr. Fortune’s “Wanderings”
is a specimen of what might be afforded, if the travelers were under
no restraint in giving publicity to their observations. This gentle-
man is now in Shanghai, having just returned from a long and very
successful sojourn in the interior, where he visited those places most
noted for the cultivation of tea. He has been sent out to China on
this second visit as a special agent, I believe, for the purpose of in-
troducing the tea shrub into India.
Open expeditions may be, and are constantly being made to such
places around Shanghai as can be reached, and the visitors return to
the city, in twenty-four hours. With this limitation, however — though
a great encroachment on the old exclusive system — nobody is satis-
fied ; for it is felt to be an unnatural and an unnecessary restriction on
personal freedom. Consequently, secret expeditions — nominally so,
and only to escape the censure of government — are continually being
made. A long account of one of these, undertaken more than four
years ago, has just been published in the Chinese Miscellany. The
agents of government here, without an exception I presume, will never
object to these expeditions, unless required to do so by some special
circumstances, and in order to show respect to “ treaty stipulations.”
To me it has always seemed unwise and impolitic in the plenipo-
tentiaries, to stipulate as they did touching this matter. It was
right and politic enough perhaps, to limit the foreign commerce to a
few ports ; and it was right too, doubtless, to provide against the in-
fraction of all the just laws of the land, and secure honor to those to
whom honor is due. But it seems to me that the personal liberty of
their countrymen should not have been thus taken away by solemn
treaty. These stipulations have not been observed. They are felt to
be unnatural and a grievance ; and hence they will be a constant
source of annoyance so long as they continue in force. The sooner
they can be repealed, the better — the better for the Chinese, and the
better for the foreigner. The foreigner here should have the same
protection that he enjoys in his own country, and should also in like
ntanner be held responsible.
Doubtless, when these stipulations were entered into, the plenipoten-
tiaries considered that they were urged, nay bound, by ample rea-
sons, to pursue the policy they did. Old custom, deep-rooted pre-
judices, and the “ difficulty of exercising control over foreigners in
China,” were among the considerations that formed their list of
“ ample reasons.” These and all other like reasons, however, are
conceived by many to be more than canceled by the evils they have
either continued to foster, or served directly to introduce. If foreign-
ers were irrational beings, like tigers and vultures, forest-laws would
then be called for, and restrictions upon the barbarians should be
imposed. If the stipulations be just and are desirable, let them by all
means be upheld ; if otherwise, if theyjimpose restraints both unnatural
and unnecessary, let this appear, and let the way be prepared to intro-
duce, by the earliest opportunity, a policy more congenial to the nature
of free agents, and in better keeping with the spirit of the age.
Christian missions, established in this city and vicinity — destined
erelong to introduce great and salutary changes — are justly becoming
more and more the objects of attention, as well in China as throughout
almost all Christendom. The idolatry of the Chinese, like an incubus
has long been wasting and destroying the best energies of this people,
so that they are in a great degree insensible, on the one hand to their
own low and debased condition, and on the other to the new and life-
giving influences that are coming into operation around them. Mul-
titudes hear but understand not the “ new doctrines ;” and none of
the Chinese are fully aware of the power the missionaries possess in
having, in common with all their fellow-christian3, what this people
have not, a written Revelation.
The doings of the Committee of Delegates, now here engaged in
revising the Chinese version of the New Testament, form a part of the
plan of operations projected at a general meeting of Protestant mission-
aries held at Hongkong in 1843. The work, on which this Com-
mittee of Delegates has been engaged these two years past, is one of
great importance and of no small difficulty ; and when completed, it
will come from the hands of the Committee a new version, rather
than an old one revised. As very many of your readers can not but
be interested in this great and good enterprise, I will here throw to-
gether a summary of facts which will illustrate its nature and the
manner in which it has been brought forward, up to this present time.
Early in this century, and almost simultaneously (about the year
1810), two versions were commenced, one by Dr. Marshman in Bengal,
and one in China by Dr Morjison. These men had then but recently
388
Things in Shanghai.
J L' LVj
entered on the study of the Chinese language. The former had the
assistance of only one Chinese, a Mr. Lassar, an Armenian born in
Macao. The latter was somewhat better provided with native assis-
tants, and for a season was aided by Dr. Milne; and by the joint labors
of the two, Morrison and Milne, a version of both the Old and New
Testaments was completed before the close of 1819. That in Bengal
had been finished about the same time.
In the meantime, as they passed from the stage, new versions were
undertaken, and in due time completed and printed. But neither the
old nor the new versions were sufficiently idiomatic ; and a strong
and growing desire for something better — a desire which was felt by
almost every missionary — prepared the way for a general meeting, held
at Hongkong, in 1843, “ assembled for the purpose of taking into
consideration the then present state of the Chinese version of the Sa-
cred Scriptures.”
In regard to the versions prepared prior to that date, 1843 — whether
the old, by the missionaries who had then deceased ; or the new, by
the missionaries who were then still living — it should be especially
borne in mind that they were all mainly the work of individuals, and
of individuals laboring separately and under great disadvantages com-
pared with what are now enjoyed. Much of this work, too, was
performed while the translators were in the earlier stages of their
Chinese studies, not indeed novices, but with knowledge far less ma-
tured and extended than was desirable. While I wish these things to
be borne in mind, far be it from me to cast the least reflection on any
of those labors, or in the least degree to depreciate their merits.*
When the missionaries were assembled in Hongkong in 1843, ses-
sions were held on the 22d, 23d, 24th, 25th, and 28th of August, and
on the 1st and 4th of September, and the subject of revision thoroughly
and deliberately considered. The gentleman present were the Rev.
Messrs. Medhurst, Dyer, Bridgman, Dean, Shuck, Roberts, J. and
A. Stronach, Ball, Legge, Milne, Lowrie, S. R. Brown, and Docts.
Hobson and Macgowan.
A resolution passed at one of those meetings relative to the most
appropriate word for expressing the name of God in Chinese, decided
that each station might temporarily use such word as it shall prefer.
Another resolution laid out a plan as to the best mode of apportioning
the work of revision among the various stations.
* Sec Vol I V. pp 249, 297, 393, &c., and Vol. XII, page 551, for further
accounts of these versions, and this meeting of missionaries.
1840,
nso
Things in Shanghai.
In accordance with this plan, which was so devised as to secure
the talents of all the missionaries who might be disposed to engage in
the work of revision, five local committees of stations were formed,
and the work of revising the New Testament apportioned as follows :
Acts, and Hebrews to II. Peter, to the Canton and Hongkong stations ;
Mark, I. and II. Corinthians, to the Amoy station ;
Luke, Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, to the Fuhchau station;
Matthew, and Philippians to Philemon, to the Shanghai and Ningpo stations ;
John’s Gospel and Epistles, Jude and Revelation, to Bangkok.
Owing to a variety of circumstances, which could not be foreseen,
the execution of this plan was early retarded, and the plan itself con-
siderably modified; some of the circumstances I will mention. Mr.
Dyer's early decease so altered the arrangements of others, that Fuh-
chau was never occupied by those who had intended to perform the
work of revision assigned to that station. Sickness called others away
from their fields of labor. Besides, such was then the condition of
the missions at all the stations (just after the close of the war), when
their respective members were so fully occupied with other missionary
duties, that very little time could be secured for the work of revision.
Now that the country was in some degree open, those who had sent
missions to China were anxious, as the missionaries themselves were
also, that every possible effort should be made to preach the word.
To do this was their Jirst duty. The work of revision was conceived
to be an object of secondary consideration.
Thus stood the case till February, 1846, when a circular was issued
by the secretary of the General Committee, proposing that the Com-
mitee of Delegates should meet at Shanghai in September of that year.
The missionaries in Canton, on account of the little progress that
had been made in the work of revision, objected to this time of meet-
ing, and proposed the 1st of June, 1847, which was agreed to, and
notice thereof duly published.
Delegates were accordingly elected and assembled : from the Shang-
hai and Ningpo stations, the Rev. Drs. Medhurst and Boone, and the
Rev. Walter M. Lowrie; from Amoy, the Rev. JohnStronach; and from
the Canton and Hongkong stations, myself. Not being able to obtain
early opportunities for sailing, Mr. Stronach and myself did not reach
Shanghai till the fourth week in June. Soon after our arrival, the
delegates assembled on Monday, June 28th. Four days were occu-
pied with preliminary arrangements ; and the following is a summary
of the rules of order we adopted in Committee.
(I.) Three delegates shall form a quorum for business, provided they are
not all from one local committee. (2.) Each meeting shall be opened with
reading a portion of Scripttre, and prayer by one of the delegates. (B.) The
5390
Jilt,
Things in Shanghai.
recording secretary shall then read the minutes of the preceding meeting
from a book, in which the daily attendance of members and the progress of
their work, &.C., are to be noted. (4.) The Chinese secretary shall then
produce a correct copy of the portion of Scripture revised at the previous
meeting; which after being read and approved, shall be kept on file upon the
table for reference ; and it shall be considered as the standard copy from which
the work shall be printed. (5.) The Chinese secretary shall note in a book
kept for that purpose (the Englishman’s Greek-English Concordance), the
rendering into Chinese of each Greek word ; which book is to be kept for the
use of the several delegates. (6.) Each day, before adjournment, the portion
of Scripture to be considered at the next meeting shall be specified, that each
member may duly examine and consider the same. (7.) In all ordinary cases
each delegate shall have a vote ; but if any one requires it, the vote shall be
by stations, each station having but one vote. (8.) The method of proceeding
in Committee shall be to consider verse by verse, word by word, allowing
each individual opportunity to propose any alteration that may be deemed
desirable. (9.) Any portion of the work that has been revised and approved
may be reconsidered, if a motion to that effect be offered in writing. (10.)
Any Protestant missionary who may be present at the meeting of the Com-
mittee shall have the privilege of expressing his opinion on any point under
discussion.
These and other preliminaries touching the principles of translation
having been adopted, the work of revision was commenced July 2d-
This is the proper place to notice the state of the version as it came
before the Committee of Delegates, from the several local committees of
stations. It was found that much less had been accomplished than
was anticipated — and for the reasons stated above. Consequently, the
delegates felt that they were entering upon a most difficult and respon-
sible work ; and for this they have spared no pains in furnishing
themselves with the necessary means in the shape of versions, com-
mentaries, lexicons, etc., and with the best native assistance they were
able to engage. At their third session for business, July oth, tho
word ©so? came up ; aud with this they were occupied six months ;
and the question was then left undecided, the committee being equally
divided in opinion. It was agreed, however, and with perfect
unanimity, that, as they could not agree in the rendering of &eos,
this word, and the original for Spirit when referring to the Trinity,
should be left untranslated by them, and that the work of revision
should proceed. In deference to the wishes of the British and Fo-
reign Bible Society, the Committee of Delegates have resolved to follow
the Textus Rcceptus, as proposed at the General Meeting at Hongkong
in 1843 ; but for those wishes, they would have preferred to follow the
Text as edited by Dr. Bloomfield, and thus secure the advantages
which the researches of more than two centuries now give the Biblical
student.
When the delegates again assembled to resume their work on the
5th of January, 1848, the Rev. W. C. Milne, who had been elected
1849.
Journal of Occurrences.
391
by the Shanghai and Ningpo stations to fill the place of Mr. Lovvrie,
appeared and took his seat. The want of health at this juncture pre-
vented Dr. Boone from occupying his place in the Committee. The
other delegates, however, without further delay proceeded with their
work, — their daily sessions extending from 10 a. m. to 2.30 p. m.,
allowing in the interval a recess of half an hour. The following
memoranda will indicate the progress of their work. The revision of
Matthew’s Gospel was completed May 30th, 1848.
Mark’s Gospel was completed July 2fith, 1848.
Luke’s Gospel was completed Nov. 9th, 1848.
John’s Gospel was completed Jan. 18th, 1849.
The Acts of the Apostles was completed April 19th, 1849.
Having thus gone through with the historical portions of the New
Testament, it was deemed proper to take a review thereof. In this
the progress has been more rapid, but not hasty ; Matthew was complet-
ed May 8th; Mark, May 21st; Luke, June 16th; John, June 30th ;
and on the Acts, the progress up to this date has continued at about the
same rate. This review finished, the other parts of the New Testa-
ment will be taken up in course, and the work carried on without
interruption, I trust, till it is completed.
Adieu,
Shcinghfti, July 7th, 1849. E. C. Bridgman.
Art. VI. Journal of Occurrences : Visit of the U. S. brig Dol-
phin to Formosa.
The U. S brig Dolphin, Commander Ogden, has recently returned from her
cruise to Formosa, and we have been kindly furnished with the following parti-
culars of her visit to that little known island. The Dolphin left Macao June
12th, and Hongkong shortly after, arriving at Amoy cn route on the 21st. Here
her captain procured the services of a Chinese sailor who was acquainted w'ith
the harbor of Kilung, having already engaged two interpreters through whom
he could communicate witli the authorities. He reached Klung harbor on the
24th, and the next day was visited by the naval officer in command, with whom
presents were exchanged. The harbor of Kilung, or Killon as it is often writ-
ten, lies between lat. 25° 09' and 25° 16' N., and long. 121° 43' and 121° 47' E ,
and is landlocked on all sides except the north, and here too ample protection is
afforded from the waves by the coral reefs-and a rocky islet, which bound the
eastern side of the harbor, stretching round to the north. To one unacquainted
with this harbor, it is not very easy of access, chiefly owing to the low shores
and the absence of any prominent headland ; the entrance can not be seen three
miles off, and is rendered hazardous by the strong and varying currents which
beset it, and the steep shores which prevent a vessel anchoring securely when
she is in danger. A further acquaintance with the harbor lessens most of
these hazards.
The country around it is well peopled by agriculturalists, and even the sloping
hillsides are brought under cultivation, and their intervales adapted to rice
culture by terracing and watering the descending plats by leading the mountain
392 Journal of Occurrences.
rills from one to the other. Many of the inhabitants attend to fishing, going out
in fleets, and occasionally fishing in company by night with torches at tlie bows.
The supplies to be had at Kilung consist chiefly offish, vegetables, and poultry.
Capt. Ogden remained only two days in the harbor, during which he visited tiie
village of Kilung and some of the others ; that town contains from a thousand to
twelve hundred people ; the others are smaller ; in all of them the foreigners
were received with great civility, and the inhabitants further gratified their
own curiosity by going off to the brig in crowds.
The object of the Dolphin in visiting Formosa was explained to the magistrate
of the place, who seemed to understand it fully, and ready to give all the in-
formation in his power. He strongly dissuaded Capt. Ogden from visiting the
coal mines, which he said was the burial ground of the natives, who guarded
the spot with great care against intrusion ; and further added that the governor-
general of Fuhkien had prohibited it. The mines seem to have been already
examined, however, as we should infer from the following account written about
two years since by a British officer.
“ The coal appears very abundant, the sides of the hill being perforated in
many places, and in one or two tunneled to the distance of about 40 yards, five
feet by four, showing a distinct vein of about four feet thick, hard and easily
detached, lying between a blue soft shale and sandstone. The slip lies about
24 deg. north-easterly, taking its direction from the valley at the commencement
of the range of hills. The sides of the hills show numerous alternations of sand-
stone, shale, and coal, associated with beds of ironstone and old red sandstone.
The quality of the coal is very good, heavy, brilliant, easily ignited, and burning
with a bituminous gassy flame, leaving a very small quantity of ashes of a reu-
dish white color. The practicability of working the coal appears not at all a
difficult matter, plenty of wood growing on the spot which may be felled, and
the largest about the size of sleepers for a tram road ; the length of iron (_ra.il J
required is about a mile, and the ascent is one foot in fifteen. A canal or creek
connects the road with the harbor, which is navigable for flat bottomed boats of
four or five tons, and the coal would not have to be carried more than three
miles and a half. The mine is 231) feet elevation by barometer. The coal and
land around appears to be unclaimed, any one taking away as much as they
like. The inhabitants themselves offered to bring us forty or fifty tons at a day s
notice, at less than a dollar a ton ; probably a much larger quantity might be
obtained with a little exertion.”
Since this was written, it would appear that the Chinese government has
taken possession of the mines, and thrown impediments in the way of exporting
the coal. The agents of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Co. made a contract
with a Chinese some two years since for 700 tons of Formosan coal at $7 a ton,
but the contractor failed to bring any ; and with the exception of 300 tons brought
to Hongkong in a junk last winter none has been received from the island.
Capt. Ogden was informed that no coal could be exported from Kilung, which
probably referred to foreign vessels taking it; but he is of opinion that no effect-
ive contract could be made with any probability of sucess except with a high
officer, and this could not be done without previous communication and under-
standing with the governor-general or the imperial court. The existence of
coal at this accessible point, and the desirableness of depending less upon the
supplies brought from Europe, will soon induce the foreign authorities in China
to stir in the matter. Capt. Ogden corroborates what we have already heard
respecting the good qualities of tins coal, stating it to be easily kindled, and to
burn a longer time than any mere bituminous coal he had seen, and with less
coking. Those who used that imported last winter represent it as better fuel
than Liverpool coal.
Note to Art. IV, June No. Since the publication of the narrative of the Visit
of the Preble, we have learned that the suggestion made in the last paragraph of
the account of the sailors, on page 331, that the governmental Washington
should communicate to Mr Levyssohu its sense of his kindness to the captive
Americans, had already been attended to by Commodore Geisinger, in his
Instructions to Commander Glynn.
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