_LOTTERIES_
We have no official lottery, and, unless I am greatly mistaken, we never
did have one. The private lottery, however, which is generally very
advantageous to its promoters, does exist in China. When a person is
in want of money, be it to pay for the funeral of a relation, or for
the expenses connected with a marriage in his family, or to help one
of his relations to go to Pekin for the examinations, he gets forty
or fifty friends and acquaintances of his together, and begs them to
take tickets in his lottery. These tickets cost so much, payable in
fractions at each of the drawings. The first prize-winner is, of course,
the organiser of the lottery, and the amount at stake for the first
drawing becomes his without any drawing being necessary to determine
his right. That is in reality only an advance or loan to be repaid
by instalments, for at all the subsequent drawings he pays just like
his friends, and cannot win a second prize. The second and subsequent
drawings determine the prize-winners, according to the number of points
obtained by each player with the dice-box. Six dice are used. At each of
these parties, which take place once a quarter or once every six months,
the prize-winner always gives a dinner to the others. Everything is
done so straightforwardly that in the end nobody loses, as each player
can only win once. Nobody may play until he has paid the amount due on
his ticket. The highest throw takes the whole stake, without deduction
either for commission or interest, a small amount being retained for the
dinner alone. In China we do not invest our money as is done everywhere
else, and accordingly the last winner has no reason to regret that his
turn to win only came at the end. On the contrary, this investment of
small sums paid away from time to time, resulting in the acquisition
of a lump sum at the end, is a very good saving operation. It helps to
buy a piece of land, and at the same time he has the satisfaction of
knowing that he has helped a friend in need. The use of these lotteries
is very general amongst the middle classes, that is to say, amongst very
honourable and very solvable people, who don’t like to place themselves
under obligations by asking for other kinds of loans, and are too proud
to accept alms. Being in want of money they make use of this system of
borrowing, with the obligation of repaying the sum received in a certain
number of annuities. In the upper classes money is never needed, whilst
amongst the lower classes the lottery system cannot be employed, because
there is no guarantee of the solvability of the organiser. Amongst the
latter class, however, there is another kind of mutual help which renders
the greatest services to the less fortunate members of Chinese society.
Supposing that a workman has lost his father, his colleagues immediately
subscribe enough to pay the funeral expenses. Or supposing that he wants
to get married, arrangements are made to supply him at once with the
funds he may require. Supposing his son passes his examinations, instead
of sending him presents in kind, his friends send him money, so that he
may have the means of paying his expenses connected with the celebration
of his success. Thus we have no public charity funds. These are replaced
by a friendly and solid understanding between people of the same class
and position of society, who know each other’s means, and understand how
to help each other. Such mutual services are never refused. A respectable
man can always count on the help of his friends under the circumstances
mentioned. And this simple organisation forces each man to be kind
and helpful towards his neighbour, for nobody is sure of to-morrow.
One does as one would be done by. Thus when one of these associates in
benevolence happens to die, his widow and children continue to profit
by it, and receive together with the inheritance of the deceased the
tokens of gratitude from those he has helped, and which, had he lived,
he would have enjoyed in due time. We have in this system a kind of
pension and life insurance fund. Our system, however, forces every
one—and just because he has no special right to anything—to be good and
kind towards all his neighbours. Besides these regular and useful lottery
organisations, there are others which are irregular and mischievous.
These are mere forms of gambling pure and simple. I wish to speak, in
the first place, of the game of Thirty-six Beasts, about which there has
been so much talk of late—perhaps more so in Paris than in Camboja. This
Cambojan roulette has been described over and over again, and is, it may
be mentioned, an importation of Chinese origin. We do not play this game
with figures as our neighbours do, but with counters, on which the names
of the animals are written. A group of individuals announce that they are
going to open a bank, and this without formality of any sort. The news
is discreetly and rapidly hawked about the town by the help of numerous
agents. Every morning the bankers hoist up on to a high pole a bag,
into which one of the thirty counters has been placed at haphazard. The
public stake their money on any one of the thirty-six beasts, and those
who have backed the beast whose name is inscribed on the counter in that
bag that day, win thirty times what they have staked. The six last names
are exclusively reserved to the bank. Needless to say, that the players
almost always lose. Superstition, which always goes with gambling games,
is not wanting here either. To guess the right name, players will put
the list before their gods, or before Buddha, and beg him to give a sign
by which they may know which beast is the winning one. Ashes of incense
falling on one of the names in the list, or the burning caused by a spark
from one of the altar candles, are considered sure straight-tips to the
gamblers, who, no matter under what sky they live, are always far more
simple than intelligent.
As may be seen from this rapid analysis, the game of the thirty-six
beasts is a kind of roulette, in which the names of animals are used
instead of numbers. It is forbidden by law. Doubtless it is only another
kind of lottery, but the daily drawings are too ruinous for those who
are carried away by their passion for gambling. This is the reason why,
in the Middle Empire, this dangerous game is forbidden. It is never let
out to authorised speculators, and is always carried on in a clandestine
manner, and is invariably very short-lived. If the organisers fall into
the clutches of the law, they are very severely punished. Several years’
imprisonment is not considered too severe a punishment for these harpies
on the purses of the poor. On the other hand, the mutual help lottery is
considered by all as a useful and respectable undertaking, so much so,
that, should it be found impossible to get a sufficient number of people
to put their money into one of these speculations, the public officials
may be applied to, and are always found ready to contribute their mites
to an undertaking which is purely of self-help, and which has often
relieved those miseries to which, alas! our poor human race is exposed in
every clime and at every age.
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