THE
FOLK-LORE OF CHINA,
AND ITS AFFINITIES
WITH THAT OF THE ARYAN AND SEMITIC RACES.
BY
N. B. DENNYS, Ph.D., F.R.G.S.,
M.R.A.S.; AUTHOR OF “A HANDBOOK OF THE CANTON VERNACULAR,” &c.
“Unus utrique error, sed variis illudit partibus.”
—Horace.
LONDON:
TRÜBNER AND Co., 57 & 59, LUDGATE HILL.
HONGKONG:
“CHINA MAIL” OFFICE.
1876.
To
REAR ADMIRAL
The Hon. FRANCIS EGERTON, M.P.
&c., &c., &c.
A SLIGHT TOKEN OF THE RESPECT AND GRATITUDE OF THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
The following compilation consists of a series of Articles contributed
to the China Review, and now republished with a few additions and
corrections. Of their many defects no one is more sensible than the
author, who has moreover necessarily been debarred from access to
numerous authorities which a residence at home would have placed within
his reach. It is nevertheless hoped that this slight contribution to a
better knowledge of Chinese popular beliefs, arranged as it is in a
more compendious form than was hitherto accessible, will find some
favour.
The author desires to express his obligations to the Rev. J. Chalmers,
M.A., and to Mr. Christopher T. Gardner, of H.M. Consular Service,
Canton, who very kindly placed valuable manuscript notes at his
disposal. Most of his numerous obligations to previous publications are
acknowledged in the foot-notes.
N. B. D.
Hongkong, November, 1876.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Attention of Late Bestowed on the Study of Folk-lore—China Presents
a most Interesting Field of Enquiry—Little as yet Done to bring
together what is Known upon the Subject—Similarity between Chinese
and Western Beliefs—Our Own Recent Emancipation from
Superstition—The Myth-making Faculty Common to all Mankind—Previous
Allusions to Chinese Folk-lore—Arrangements of Subjects—Chinese
Folk-lore Extensive—Probable Derivation from the Cradle of the
Aryan Races—Importance of Popular Beliefs in Chinese Estimation,
pp. 1–8.