Peeps Into China Part 14

Leonard and I fed him for some time. We both thought that the farm-house was something like a Swiss cottage. Father said the walls were made of clay, and on these walls were scrolls, which were supposed to have power to keep the fox and wild cat away.

"There were a few bullocks and cows here, but not many; their stalls were quite near to the house.

We liked the village, to which we went, very much, and it was surrounded by high trees. Father says that the stables of the Chinese are like cart-sheds, but each stable has an altar in honour of the ruler of horses. In this city there is a large temple to this G.o.d.

"We saw a number of bean, pea, rice, and cotton-fields, and had some sugar-cane given us to eat. Sugar-cane is grown in Canton, and we had some bean-curds to drink. We liked them very much.

Mother says she was told that they were made in Canton overnight, and generally sold very early in the morning. The beans are ground to flour, which is strained, and then boiled slowly for an hour. I wonder if you would like it?

"The Chinese are so fond of sugar-cane, and it grew in China before it grew anywhere else. Ever so many fruits and vegetables grow also in China, but there seem to be more rice-fields than any other. I will tell you a few of the vegetables: sweet potatoes, yams, tomatoes, cabbages, lettuces, turnips, and carrots; and some fruits are apricots, custard-apples, rose-apples, dates, oranges, pomegranates, melons, pumpkins, and ever so many others. Canton is in the tropics, but it is not hot here in the winter. There are such pretty water-lilies here, not only white, but also red and red-and-white. The Chinese look upon this lily as a sacred plant. Some shop-keepers use the leaves, in which to wrap up things, instead of paper.

"Chinese people do very funny things. Because they think that their birds sometimes like change of air, they carry their cages out of doors with them for a walk. But I do so wish that they did not eat dogs! You see them being sold in the shops, and in one district of Canton a fair is held, where they are regularly sold for food. Many people like black dogs best. At the beginning of summer nearly everybody eats dog's flesh, when a ceremony takes place. If people eat it, they think that it will keep them from being ill in the summer. I am glad, for that reason, that I shall not be here in June, as the dogs are cruelly beaten the day before they are killed. Fancy, poor little things! I suppose that is to bring luck too! And yet the Cantonese think that they displease the G.o.ds when they eat dog's flesh, and we have seen it written on Buddhist temples that people ought not to eat 'their faithful guardians.'

"The Cantonese must not go into a temple to worship till they have been three whole days without eating any dog. One of the 'boys' here--he is a footman; but in China all these sort of people are called 'boys'--eats rats. He says he is getting bald, and if he eats them his hair will grow again. Horses are sometimes eaten too; and worms that spoil the rice-fields, father told me, are sent to the markets and sold to be eaten.

Isn't that nasty? And a kind of swallow's nest is eaten even by ladies. It is lined with feathers, which are first removed; then it is sc.r.a.ped, washed, and pulled to pieces, when it looks white.

People say it is something like blancmange. I should not like to eat it. Does it not seem greedy, when people have so much to eat, to take poor little birds'-nests which have been made with such pains by their owners?

"There is a bird in China that has such a long tail: it is called the Golden Pheasant. The feathers of the c.o.c.k bird are most beautiful. His throat and breast are like purple velvet, and his back looks like gold. The upper part of his very long tail is scarlet, and the rest yellow. When this pheasant lifts his head and neck-feathers he shows such a tuft!

"There are a good many deer in China, which are also supposed to bring good fortune. Some Chinese are very cruel to animals. We have seen them carrying pigs, ducks, and geese fastened to a pole, hanging with their heads downwards; and some of their dogs look so hungry, and their beasts of burden so tired. We saw a dreadful thing one day, almost too dreadful to write about--a poor little dog running yelping through the streets with its tail cut off! A Taouist priest had cut it off, so that it should run screaming through all the house in which evil spirits were supposed to be, because this would drive them out; then the poor little dog rushed into the streets, where we saw it, and, fortunately, father was near enough to have it killed at once.

"The people listen more to father than they do to many missionaries, because he goes to the dispensary and helps to cure them when they are ill.

"I forgot to tell you that when we first went to the farm n.o.body saw us, because the farmer, his wife, daughter, and a labourer were all listening to a man reading to them. We thought he must have got hold of some of the Chinese cla.s.sics. The pigeon-English people talk sometimes is so funny.

They are so fond of the word 'piecee.' Instead of 'one child,' they say 'one piecee chilo;' and if they had many children, I expect they would say 'piecee muchee.'

"Leonard makes very good shots at pigeon-English, and can talk it much better than I can. What we generally do is to put 'ee' at the end of our words; but when we spoke to the farmer he could not understand, and so said, 'You talkee me. Very good talkee.' When he wanted to tell us that his house was very large, he said, 'Number one largee, handsome howsow;' and for 'There is a child up-stairs,' he said, 'Have got chilo topside.'

"You asked me how the Chinese dressed, so I must try to tell you this, although I have written you such a long letter already.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHINESE LADIES.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A VILLAGER.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A COOLIE.]

"Gentlemen and ladies seem to dress very much alike; and people cannot change their clothes as they choose, because there is a minister of ceremonies, who says of what colour, stuff, and shape things are to be made, and when winter and summer things are to be changed. Even a head-dress may not be altered as people like, or they might be breaking a law. And it is so funny about the nails; some people let some of their nails grow as long as they can, and are so proud when they are very long. No Chinaman wears a beard till he is forty. The outside robe of a gentleman is so long that it reaches to his ankles, and it is fastened with b.u.t.tons. The sleeves are first broad, and then get narrower and narrower. A sash is tied round his waist, and from this chop-sticks, a tobacco-case, fans, and such-like things hang. The head-dress is a cap with a peak at the top. Men do not take off their hats to bow; indeed, they would put them on if they were off. In-doors they wear silk slippers, pointed and turned up at the toes.

Chinese men are admired when they are stout, and women when they are thin. Women also have two robes, the top one often being made of satin, and reaching from the chin to the ground. Their sleeves are so long that they do instead of gloves. They always wear trousers, and often carry a pipe, for women smoke a great deal in China.

Some, I think, are pretty. They have rather large eyes and red lips. Old ladies wear very quiet clothes. Mother says the Chinese are not at all clean people, and ought to change their clothes much oftener than they do. People wear shoes of silk, or cotton, with thick felt soles. The women spend hours having their hair done into all sorts of shapes, such as baskets, bird-cages, or anything they and their amahs can manufacture.

Then besides ornaments in their hair, they wear ear-rings and bangles. Even boat-women wear these; and the ladies almost always paint their faces, to do which they have a kind of enamel. Chinese ladies have little useful occupation, and spend a great part of their time, mother says, when they are not doing embroidery, in gambling and adorning themselves.

"The peasants wear a coa.r.s.e linen shirt, covered by a cotton tunic, with thin trousers fastened to the ankles. In wet and cold weather they make a useful covering of net-work, into which are plaited rushes, or coa.r.s.e dry gra.s.s, and they put on very large hats, made in the same way. The Chinese are not at all lazy people, for father says after their shutters are shut, and all looks dark from the outside, they are often at work, and they get up early too. When men grow old their tails get so thin. I saw such a wrinkled old man the other day, with hardly any tail at all. I think he must have been very sorry about that; he was an old villager.

"Coolies wear their tails twisted round their heads. They do all the heavy work, and are porters, common house labourers, and sedan-chair bearers.

"Leonard says if I write any more stuff he is sure you will not read it; but I hope you will think it interesting stuff, at all events, and, therefore, not mind my letter being so long. There seems to be so much to tell you when you have not been to China, and it seems selfish to keep all the pleasure of seeing such new things to myself. I meant to tell you about the New Year, which we have just kept, but I have not room. I hope you will write to me very soon. We all send love to you, and

"Believe me, "Your very affectionate friend, "SYBIL GRAHAM."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XI.

PROCESSIONS.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

A FORTNIGHT later Mr. Graham saw a large, Leonard a small, portion of a funeral procession, and Sybil was very anxious afterwards to hear all about it, for Leonard had told her that it seemed even grander than the marriage one.

"Please, father," she said, "tell me all that the Chinese do when anybody dies."

"I do not think I could tell you all," was her father's reply, "because it would take too long, and I do not know all myself; but I dare say I can tell you quite enough to satisfy your curiosity. When a Chinese thinks that a relation is likely to die soon, he places him, with his feet towards the door, on a bed of boards, arranging his best robes and a hat, or cap, quite close to him, that he may be dressed in these just before he dies. It would be considered a dreadful thing if he were to die without putting them on. Soon after he is dead, a priest--usually a priest of Taou--is called in to ask the spirit to make haste to Elysium, and to cast the man's horoscope, so as to see how far the spirit has got on its journey."

"What does casting his horoscope mean?"

"Finding out the hour of a man's birth, and then foretelling events by the appearance of the heavens. More clothes are then put upon the dead man, who, if he be a person of rank, would wear three silk robes. Gongs are beaten, and when the body is placed in its coffin, every corner of the room is beaten with a hammer, to frighten away bad spirits. A crown is also put on any person of rank. Widows and children, to show their grief, sit on the floor instead of on chairs for seven days, and sleep on mats near to the husband and father's coffin. On the seventh day letters are written to friends, informing them of the death, when they send presents of money to help to defray the funeral expenses. I saw a very strange letter of thanks yesterday, a copy of which had been sent to each giver of a present, and besides money, food is sometimes given or priests are sent. The letter, as far as I can remember, ran thus: 'This is to express the thanks of the orphaned son, who weeps tears of blood, and bows his head; of the mourning brother, who weeps and bows his head; of the mourning nephew, who wipes away his tears and bows his head.' Then a letter is also written to the departed, and burnt, that it may reach him, whilst cakes and other presents are also sent to him by means of burning.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MEN ENGAGED TO WALK IN FUNERAL PROCESSIONS.]

"On the twenty-first day after death a banquet is prepared in honour of the spirit, which is supposed, on that day, to come back to his home, when the entrance doors are shut, for fear any one should come in and vex the spirit. On the twenty-third day three large paper birds are put on high poles in front of the house, to carry the soul to Elysium; and for three days Buddhist priests pray to the ten kings of Buddhist h.e.l.l to hasten the flight of the departed soul to the Western Paradise.

"The coffin is kept in the house for seven weeks, where an altar is set up, near to which the tablet and portrait of the deceased are put.

Banners, which are looked upon as letters of condolence, are fixed upon the walls, and on these the merits of the dead man are inscribed.

"Pictures of the three Buddhas are also to be seen in the house. A lucky place and day have then to be fixed, by fortune-tellers, for the burial, and should these not be forthcoming, the coffin would be placed on a hill till they can be found. Burial is considered of so much importance, that should a man be drowned his spirit would be called back into a figure of wood or paper, and buried with pomp. Before the grave-diggers begin their work, members of the family worship the genii of the mountain, and write letters to these G.o.ds, asking them to be so kind as to allow the funeral to take place."

"But how are these letters made to 'arrive?'"

"They are set on fire and burnt."

"Leonard says he saw a number of people dressed in white in the procession."

"Those were the relatives in deep mourning, white, you remember, being the deepest, white and blue lesser, mourning."

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHE-YIN.]

"And he says he is sure he saw his friend Che-Yin among the mourners.

You know, father, Che-Yin is really a great friend of Leonard's, though he is so much older than himself, and now he is taking great trouble to teach him to play on the musical instrument which he plays so well himself. I believe if Leonard were going to stay longer here he would really learn to play it quite well. Is it not kind of Che-Yin? But I must not interrupt you any more," Sybil went on, "and this is so interesting. Leonard said he wondered so much what could be happening once when he heard a tremendous noise, and saw people rushing out into the streets screaming."

"I think I know what that meant," was the missionary's answer. "On the day of burial the relatives weep and lament very loudly. They carry a long white streamer, called a soul-cloth, to the ancestral hall, for the spirit to say 'Good-bye' to its ancestors. At three or four o'clock in the morning all decorations, that have been put up in front of the door, are taken down, and a banquet is made ready, of which the spirit is invited to partake. You remember I told you that they believe one spirit is buried with the body. Well, some kind of paper is now again burnt, while the spirit is asked to accompany the body, and the tablet and portrait of the dead man are put in a sedan-chair by his eldest son, over the top of which is a streamer of red satin, on which his name and t.i.tles are written.

"Distant relations remain standing out in the streets; but I expect what Leonard saw was people rushing out of the house, dreadfully frightened, for fear that after all the day might not be lucky, and the spirit should be vexed, and send trouble to them, in consequence.

"As the coffin is brought out offerings are also again presented to the spirit. Two men walk first, carrying large lanterns, on which are written the name, t.i.tle, and age of the man who has died. Then come two other men with a gong, which they beat from time to time."

"Leonard heard that."