DEATH--CEREMONIES OF IMPERIAL MOURNING--POPULATION OF THE CHINESE
EMPIRE--KNOCK-HEAD CEREMONY--BEGGARS--CAT AND DOG MARKET--DR.
B. AND THE CHINA-MAN--BARBERS--DRESS OF THE CHINESE--THE DRAGON
GOD--SLAVERY.
The Chinese having a great horror of the word “_death_,” they
substitute in its place various periphrases, such as “absent,”
“rambling among the genii,” “he being sick, occasioned a vacancy,”
i. e., dead. The empress having died during the month of June, 1833,
an imperial mandate was published, stating that “her _departure took
place_ at four o’clock on the sixteenth of the month.” His majesty says
he was married to Tung-kea twenty-six years previously; that she was
the _principal person_ in the _middle harem_, that she was ever full
of tenderness, filial piety, and was most obedient--but being attacked
by an inveterate dysentery, she had taken the “long departure,” and
that it caused him much pain at the loss of his “domestic helper”--his
“interior assistant.” His majesty set forth her great virtues, ever
since she had been consort to _heaven_, (i. e. the emperor,) during the
thirteen years that she had held the relative situation of _earth_ to
imperial heaven. An edict was published at her death, ordering, that no
officer should have his head shaved during one hundred days, nor have
any marriage in his family during twenty-seven days, nor play on any
musical instrument during one year; and that the soldiers and people
should not shave their heads for one month, nor engage in marriages
during seven days, nor play on any musical instrument during one
hundred days.
Other marks of mourning, are the use of blue ink in the public offices
in the place of red, and the removal of the red fringe which usually
ornaments the Chinese caps.
[Sidenote: IMPERIAL MOURNING.]
The following is the translation of the “Order of rites observed in
receiving the imperial mandate, raising lamentation, and laying aside
the mourning clothes, on occasion of the grand ceremony following the
demise of an empress.” It was circulated in Canton as a supplement
to the daily court circular. When the imperial mandate, written on
yellow paper, comes down the river, an officer is immediately deputed
to receive and guard it at the imperial landing place. The master of
ceremonies leads the officer, and directs him to receive the mandate
with uplifted hands; land and deposite it safely in the _dragon dome_,
(a kind of carriage borne by sixteen or thirty-two men,) and spread it
out in proper form. The civil and military officers in plain dresses,
then kneel down in order, in the “Sunny-side pavillion,” and so remain
until the mandate has passed. When they have risen, the officer leads
the procession to the grand gate of the examination court; the civil
and military officers then first enter the “most public hall,” and
there kneel down, the civilians on the east side, and the military
on the west, until the dragon-dome has passed; after which they rise
and wait till the dome has entered the hall of the constellation
Kwei. In this hall an embroidered yellow curtain and incense-table,
must previously be prepared, and an officer be sent to receive, with
reverence, the imperial mandate and safely lay it on the table. When
this has been done all the officers enter; upon which the master of
ceremonies cries out: “Range yourselves in order, perform the ceremony
of thrice kneeling, and nine times knocking the head.” He then requests
to have the mandate read aloud; and the public official reader raises
up the mandate to read it.
_Master of Ceremonies._ “Officers--all kneel--hear the proclamation
read--(and when the reading is concluded he continues)--rise--raise
lamentation.” The officers do so accordingly. After the lamentation,
the reader places the mandate on the yellow table, and the master of
ceremonies calls out: “Deliver the imperial mandate.” An officer is
then sent to the yellow table, who raises up the mandate, and delivers
it to the governor, kneeling. The governor having received it, rises,
and delivers it to the Poo-ching-sze, also kneeling; the latter
officer in turn rises, and delivers it to his chief clerk, likewise
kneeling. The clerk rises and takes it to the hall of Tsze-wei, (in the
Poo-ching-sze’s office,) to be printed on yellow paper.
_Master of Ceremonies._ “Officers--all put on mourning dresses.” The
officers then retire; when they have changed their dresses, the
master of ceremonies leads them back, and gives the order: “Arrange
yourselves, thrice kneel and nine times knock head--rise--raise
lamentation--(after lamentation)--eat.” The officers then go out to the
hall of abstinence, where they eat a little, the civil and military
each taking their respective sides. The master of ceremonies then
cries: “Retire.” They retire to the “public place,” and in the evening
reassemble, and perform the same ceremonies. At night, they sleep in
the public place, separate from their families. The same ceremonies are
performed in the morning and evening of the two following days, after
which the officers return to their ordinary duties.
When the mandate has been copied, an officer is sent with it to the
hall of the constellation Kwei, to place it on the yellow table, and
another is sent to burn incense and keep respectful charge of it for
twenty-seven days; after which it is delivered to the Poo-ching-sze,
and sent back to the board of rites. On the twenty-seventh day,
the officers assemble as before, and, after the same ceremonies of
lamentation have been gone through, the master of ceremonies gives the
order: “Take off mourning--put on plain clothes--remove the table of
incense.” All then return home and the mourning ceremonies are at an
end.
The population contained in the eighteen provinces of the Chinese
empire, according to the census taken in the eighteenth year of the
emperor Keenlung, (corresponding to the year 1812,) amounted to three
hundred and sixty-one millions, six hundred and ninety-eight thousand,
eight hundred and seventy-nine souls. This statement is taken from
a work called the “Ta-tsing-hwny-teen,” a collection of statutes of
the “Ta-tsing dynasty,” published by government, in sixteen duodecimo
volumes, for the use of its own officers; it furnishes the data on
which the government acts in levying taxes, &c. All the people are
included excepting, we believe, those who are employed in the civil
and military service of the emperor. The mode of taking the census
is very minute and particular; every province is divided into _foos_
and _chows_; these are subdivided into _heens_; from the _heen_ the
sub-division is carried down to the _kea_, which consists of only ten
families. Ten _keas_ make a _paou_, or neighbourhood of _one hundred_
families, which has a headman or constable, whose duty it is to watch
over the whole; and among other things, to keep a list of all the
families and individuals within his jurisdiction; it is also the duty
of this constable to report the names of those within his limits to the
chief officer of the heen; who reports to the chief officer foo; he
again to the treasurer of the province; who in his turn, annually, on
the tenth moon, reports to the board of revenue at Peking. Such is the
division and the order required by the laws of the land. This system
certainly enables the government to know, and to state accurately, the
number of individuals, not only in every province, but in any given
district of each or any one of the provinces.
The Chinese empire having remained undisturbed by wars, or by internal
commotions of much importance, for more than one hundred and twenty
years, an accumulation has taken place on a comparatively small spot,
of a moiety of all the human beings which are now in existence. On a
first view of this immense, this incomprehensible number of living
beings, we can scarcely believe the evidence of our senses or conceive
how it is possible that sustenance can be procured for such an
assemblage; but when we have ascertained that the country is nearly
destitute of flocks and herds, that the ground is almost exclusively
appropriated to the feeding and clothing of its inhabitants, that
there are a less number of souls, by seventy to the square mile, than
is found in the dutchy of Lucca, and but five more in the same space
than in the Netherlands, which contains two hundred and seventy-five,
our wonder in a great degree ceases, and we are compelled to believe
that the Chinese government has published as accurate a statement
of its population as any European government, or that of the United
States: nor can we conceive what object the government can have in
deceiving its own subjects, for the work is evidently not published
for the use of curious inquirers abroad. It is also well known, that
the inhabitants live in the most frugal manner, that a bowl of rice
with a few vegetables, or perhaps a little fish or fowl, which is very
abundant, is the entire provision of multitudes.
Large portions of the country yield two crops annually, and those
generally very abundant; the inhabitants also obtain provisions
from the Persian gulf to the bay of Bengal, from Burmah, Siam and
Cochin-China, and from every important island throughout the great
Indian Archipelago. Every animal and vegetable substance is also an
edible with one class or other of the people. Large quantities of
vegetable produce, which in any other country would be devoured by the
flocks and herds, are here consumed by human beings. If we regard the
produce of the soil, and the manner in which the people live, we have
strong presumptive evidence of a very numerous population.
[Sidenote: HABITS OF THE CHINESE.]
The Chinese of the present day are grossly superstitious; they offer
sacrifices to the manes of deceased relatives and friends, and emblems
of money and clothes are consumed on the supposition that a substantial
benefit will be transferred to the individual in the world of spirits.
In their habits they are most depraved and vicious; gambling is
universal and is carried to a most ruinous and criminal extent;
they use the most pernicious drugs as well as the most intoxicating
liquors to produce intoxication; they are also gross gluttons; every
thing that runs, walks, creeps, flies, or swims, in fact, every thing
that will supply the place of food, whether of the sea, or the land,
and articles most disgusting to other people, are by them greedily
devoured. The government has a code of laws, written in blood; the
most horrid tortures are used to force confessions, and the judges are
noted for being grossly corrupt; the variety and ingenuity displayed in
prolonging the tortures of miserable criminals who are finally intended
to be deprived of life, can only be conceived by a people refined in
cruelty, blood-thirsty, and inhuman.
Ancient Chinese books in speaking of their character, say: “Their
natural disposition is light and ostentatious, fond of talk, artfully
specious, with little truth or sincerity--the people of Canton are
silly, light, weak in body and in mind, and without any ability to
fight. The Chinese believe in sorcery and demons, and lay stress on
a multiplicity of sacrifices--they have tattooed bodies, and short
hair.” Of these ancient features of their character, they still retain
a fondness of talk, are specious, crafty and insincere; their timidity
and weakness, also still remain; they believe in sorcery and demons,
and lay stress on a multiplicity of sacrifices. Sir Thomas Herbert in
his quaint language, says: “The Chinese are no quarrellers, albeit
voluptuous, costly in their sports, great gamesters, and in trading,
too subtle for young merchants; oft-times so wedded to deceiving, that
after they have lost their whole estate, wife and children are staked;
yet in a little time, Jewlike, by gleaning here and there, they are
able to redeem their loss; and if not at the promised day, wife and
children are then sold in the market.” The Chinese settlers throughout
the Indian Archipelago, are described as being at once enterprising,
keen, laborious, luxurious, sensual, debauched, and pusillanimous; they
are generally engaged in trade, in which they are equally speculative,
expert, and judicious. Their superior intelligence and activity have
placed in their hands the management of the public revenue, in almost
every country of the Archipelago, whether ruled by native or European:
the traffic of the Archipelago, with the surrounding foreign states, is
almost wholly conducted by them.
There is scarcely a government gazette published at Peking; almost
daily, placards are posted at the principal places about Canton and
its suburbs, giving accounts of murders, and insurrections, robberies,
shocking and unnatural crimes of kidnapping, infanticides, suicides,
and of all the beastly and unnatural crimes of which the world ever
heard or read. The various modes of punishment resorted to by the
government, and the unequal distribution of justice, are revolting to
humanity, and most disgusting and loathsome in the recital. I will
relate one case to show, that, in modern times, the Chinese are not
less refined in their cruelties, than when Ta-he, the queen of Chow,
among many other horrible inventions, caused brazen rollers to be
heated, and then smeared with an unctuous matter, so that she might
have the supreme pleasure of seeing miserable culprits, fruitlessly
endeavouring to pass this burning bridge, and continually slipping into
a tremendous fire, there to meet with a death horrible in the extreme.
The case to which I have alluded, took place in the year 1813, when the
emperor of China convicted a eunuch of being concerned in a treasonable
conspiracy. The victim had been a favourite servant of the emperor’s
father, Keen-lung, who had conferred upon him many favours. The poor
wretch was bound round with cords and canvass, to which was added a
quantity of tallow and other combustible matter, so as to convert him
into a _gigantic candle_, and he was slowly consumed at his father’s
grave: the wretched being died in tortures the most excruciating that
imagination can conceive!
[Sidenote: COURT CEREMONIES.]
As our departure from hence will be for the kingdoms of Cochin-China,
and Siam, to effect suitable commercial treaties with those countries,
and as similar court ceremonies are there used as at the court of
Pekin, I herewith present a memoir, written by a most worthy and highly
respectable clergyman, the Reverend Doctor Morrison of Canton, upon
the subject of court ceremonies, observed from the lower to the higher
dignitaries throughout the Chinese empire, from the simple joining of
the hands and raising them before the breast, to the climax of all that
is debasing, the ceremony called the _San-kwei-kew-kow_, or “kneeling
three different times, and at each time knocking the head thrice
against the ground.”--“What are called ceremonies, sometimes affect
materially the idea of equality. They are not always mere forms, but
revelations of a language, as intelligible as words. Some ceremonies
are perfectly indifferent, as whether the form of salutation be taking
off the hat and bowing the head, or keeping it on and bowing it low,
with the hands folded below the breast; these, the one English, and
the other Chinese, are equally good. There is, however, a difference
of submission and devotedness, expressed by different postures of the
body; and some nations feel an almost instinctive reluctance to the
stronger expression of submission. Standing and bending the head,
for instance, are less than kneeling on one knee, that is less so
than kneeling on both knees; and the latter posture less humiliating
than kneeling on two knees, and putting the hands and forehead to the
ground; doing this once, is, in the apprehension of the Chinese, less
than doing it three, six, or nine times.
“Waiving the question, whether it be proper for one human being to
use such strong expressions of submission to another or not; when
any, even the strongest of these forms are reciprocal, they do not
destroy the idea of equality, or of mutual independence; if they are
not reciprocally performed, the last of the forms expresses in the
strongest manner, the submission and homage of one person or state to
another; and, in this light, the Tartar family, now on the throne of
China, consider the ceremony called _San-kwei-kew-kow_ thrice kneeling,
and nine times beating the head against the ground. Those nations of
Europe who consider themselves tributary and yielding homage to China,
should perform the Tartar ceremony; those who do not so consider
themselves, should not perform it. The English ambassador, Macartney,
appears to have understood correctly the meaning of the ceremony, and
proposed the only alternative which could enable him to perform it;
viz., a Chinese of equal rank performing it to the king of England’s
picture.
“Perhaps a promise from the Chinese court, that should an ambassador
ever go from thence to England, he would perform it in the king’s
presence, might have enabled him to do it. These remarks will probably
convince the reader that the English government acts as every civilized
government ought to act, when she endeavours to cultivate a good
understanding, and liberal intercourse with China, while, using those
endeavours, she never contemplates yielding homage, and wisely refuses
to perform by her ambassador, that ceremony which is the expression of
homage.
“The lowest form by which respect is shown in China at this day, is
_kung-show_, that is, joining the hands and raising them before the
breast. The next is _tsa-yih_, that is, bowing low with the hands
joined. The third is _ta-tseen_, bending the knee as if about to kneel.
The fourth is _kwei_, to kneel. The fifth is _ko-tow_, kneeling and
striking the head against the ground. The sixth, _san-kow_, striking
the head three times against the earth before rising from the knees.
The seventh, _luh-kow_, that is, kneeling and striking the forehead
three times; rising on the feet, kneeling down again, and striking the
head, again, three times on the earth. The climax is closed by the
_sun-kwei-kew-kow_, kneeling three different times, and at each time
knocking the head thrice against the ground. Some of the gods of China
are entitled only to the _san-kow_; others to the _luh-kow_; the _teen_
(heaven) and the emperor, are worshipped with the _san-kwei-kew-kow_.”
[Sidenote: BEGGARS.]
_Beggars_ are licensed by the government, confined within particular
districts, and are under the control of certain officers. If any are
found wandering beyond their designated limits, they are liable to
be punished by the officer who has charge over them; in addition to
this, they seldom escape being severely beaten by the mendicants whose
district they invade. They are all registered, and receive a small
monthly allowance of rice, which, together with the alms they obtain,
barely suffices to keep them from starving. Great numbers die in the
streets, in the winter, from cold and want of food, and are buried
at the public expense. A beggar is seldom forcibly driven away from
a door; for, should that occur, a complaint would be instantly made
to the proper officer, and the offender would be punished, or be
_squeezed_, as the Chinese term it, or mulct in a heavy fine. On the
28th November, 1832, public notice was given, for the beggars of a
certain district, to assemble in front of the foreign factories, “upon
important measures, touching the interests of the fraternity.” It was
stated, that certain impostors, from other districts, had been guilty
of the great crime of begging within their limits; and it was therefore
necessary that the name of each person should be ascertained, that
he might be brought before the proper officer for punishment, and be
driven into his own proper district. Great numbers assembled, toward
sunset, after the regular begging hours were over. I had the curiosity
to visit this _horrible_ group of unfortunates for a few moments, and
the recollection of the scene can never be effaced from my memory. The
blind, halt, and lame, were there, of all ages and of both sexes; a
more motley group, or a more disgusting spectacle, was never before
seen. They were squalid and ragged, filthy, and covered with vermin.
Many a blind Bartelmy, and many a Lazarus, were lying there, literally
covered with sores. I returned home, sincerely thanking God that I was
not thus wretched, and that I stood in no need of a temporal physician
to cure me of any loathsome disease.
Blindness is a very common misfortune in China; it is said to be caused
generally by depriving the head of almost its entire natural covering,
by being closely shaven, and using no effectual guard to protect it
from the extremes of the weather: none wear turbans, and but few hats
or umbrellas; slight paper fans being in general use. We were informed,
that many a child was made blind by the use of caustic, applied by its
parents, or by those who purchased it, for the purpose of exciting
compassion, in order to increase their gains in the practice of
soliciting alms. There are few sights so ridiculously amusing, in the
suburbs of Canton, as these untiring vagabonds: they are an excessive
annoyance to shop-keepers: a stranger cannot walk without seeing a
number of them assembled in the shop of some obstinate fellow, who
apparently seems determined to tire them out.
I have frequently seen from three to six assembled, some sitting in the
doorway, some lying down, and others standing at the counter, each of
them beating most violently on two stout pieces of bamboo, and making a
most insufferable noise.
Occasionally, a whole family of “singing beggars” are met with, making
the most horrible discord, and singing at the very top of their voices;
the rough music from marrow-bones, cleavers, and frying-pans, is vastly
preferable to it. Again, others are seen, who are either more rich, or
possess greater privileges of annoyance, being allowed to carry all
sorts of musical instruments, viz.: a drum, secured to the waist; a
small gong, suspended from the neck; and a trumpet, in the mouth. Now
and then, a sturdy, self-willed shopman, would pay no attention to
the vile pest: forthwith a loud thump was given on the drum, then a
thundering noise from the gong, followed by a horrible blast from the
trumpet. It would provoke the risibles of a saint, to see the gravity
of countenance exhibited by both parties. The shopman, attending to his
goods, apparently unconscious of the presence of the other, while the
beggar is pursuing his vocation as though his very existence depended
upon his making such a noise, as would awake the seven sleepers of
Christendom. As no customer is willing to enter a shop where he cannot
be heard, the master is at length, most unwillingly, compelled to give
him one cash, (about the eight-hundredth part of a dollar;) if this
should not be perfect in every respect, it is returned, and a good
one absolutely _demanded_, or a repetition of all that is horrible in
discord, and all that is unbearable in vile sounds is repeated. So it
proceeds from early dawn to setting-sun: as fast as one beggar-customer
is gone, another and another make their appearance; but the donor can
expel them if they call oftener than once a day.
[Sidenote: CAT AND DOG MARKET.]
Near the entrance of Old China-street, between Minqua’s hong, and the
American hong of Messrs. Oliphant & Co., called, “Kwan yueng hang,” or,
“The factory of wide fountains,” (where I had the pleasure of spending
a couple of months,) there is the mart for the sale of cats and dogs.
The venders regularly meet, daily, from one to three, (_high-change
hours_ being about two.) Here may be seen, arranged along the pavement
in regular order, baskets and cages of these animals, the latter being
used for poor puss only, who seemed always to be out of place.
Being within a half dozen steps of the venders, I overlooked them
from the balcony, and saw their daily operations; and, as trifling
as it may seem to others, I acknowledge that I was much amused with
the examinations that the poor animals underwent. Poor puss, as a
sailor would say, was “thoroughly overhauled, from clue to ear-ring,”
to see if she was sound in health; if she had a handsome, smooth,
glossy coat, suitable for ornamenting some garment; if she was free
from “cow-licks,” or the hair growing the wrong way; if her limbs
were sound, and suitable for making penny whistles, and other small
articles; and if she was plump, well-fatted, fit for culinary purposes,
and not blown out by injecting air into the body: a common Chinese
trick, and which is not tolerated by _fair, grave merchants_. Young
she-cats were preferred for breeders, and commanded double the price of
tom-cats. The puppies (for there were but few full grown dogs offered
for sale) were likewise thoroughly examined, to ascertain if their
outward garment was in good condition--if they were fat, sleek, free
from a musky or strong smell, and fit to make a rich press-soup, of
which the Chinese are extravagantly fond; if their limbs were sound and
not distorted, and if they were the true Chinese breed of prick-eared
curs, having black palates and black tongues, with a well-curved
feathery tail. The sluts brought generally, I found, more than double
the price of the males. The pedigree (being an important matter always
in monarchical governments) was also particularly inquired into.
It may perhaps, by some, be thought that I have been unnecessarily
particular in making the above statements, in reference to an
insignificant portion of the brute creation; but, as I was anxious to
give every particular in reference to the internal, as well as external
commerce of China, the reader will perhaps excuse the detail given
above.
I cannot take my leave of the canine species, without relating a
provoking loss which befel Dr. M. B--ghs, of Philadelphia, during my
stay in China. The gentleman had purchased, at a high price, a fine
pup, on Change, for the purpose of carrying it to the United States.
The dog being rather troublesome in running about the house, he told
a Chinese servant, who spoke English, to tie him up. The doctor went
out, as usual, in search of curiosities, such as rare birds, &c.,
which he skinned and prepared. On his return, he inquired of the
servant if he had tied up the dog and secured him. “Yez,” said he,
“hab done, hab done.” Well, said the doctor, where is he “Up loom,
up loom,” meaning up in the doctor’s room; for a China-man cannot
pronounce the letter _r_. He immediately ushered the way up stairs,
threw open the chamber-door suddenly, and exhibited the dog tied up,
but strangled, having hung him! “Can do? can do?” said he, with an air
perfectly unconscious of having done wrong. “Can do?” said the doctor,
echoing back his words in a tone which indicated any thing rather than
satisfaction, “I wish you were there tied up in his stead.”
In front of the foreign factories, there are assembled regularly, every
morning, at an early hour, the “Barbers,” with their basins and snug
seats, for the use of their customers. They wield a very short, clumsy
razor, having a round wooden handle, without a particle of superfluous
wood about it: the blade is two and a half inches long, one and a half
inches broad at the end, and tapering to less than half an inch toward
the handle; it is three eighths of an inch in thickness, for about an
inch and a half of its length; the handle is of wood, round, and three
eighths of an inch in diameter, and the length of the instrument is six
inches.
Strict economy is observed in shaving; water only being used to soften
the hair. The head is shaved, leaving only a long lock, which is
plaited or braided, and if the tail fails to reach the heels, it is
eked out with black riband. Generally speaking, all the hair is shaved
from the face, nose, and the _eye-lids_; for a China-man will always
have the full worth of his money, although he pays but three or four
cash (equal to about a half cent) to the operator; the eyebrows are
then adjusted, and the hair eradicated from the ears and nostrils with
tweezers; the nail and corn cutter is then resorted to, who repairs and
polishes the nails of the hands and feet: the China-man is in prime
order--a small scull-cap, or palm-leaf pointed hat, is then put on,
or he protects his head with an ordinary looking paper fan, having on
it some moral sentences. At ten and at four he goes to his dark hole,
where he exercises his “chop-sticks” with great dexterity, regaling
himself with rice and vegetables, deluged with the fat of pork, if he
can obtain it. A draught of water, and a dram of shewhing, (arrack,) a
pipe of tobacco, and a piece of areca-nut, place him at once among the
celestials; but if to these, a pipe or two of refined opium be added,
not that exquisite of all pleasures, in the opinion of the country
bumpkin, of swinging on a gate all day, and eating bountifully of
mush and molasses, can bear any comparison with this care-killing and
unparalleled pleasure.
Of all uncouth figures, that strut their little hour upon the stage
of life, a China-man is surely the most grotesque animal. A loose
shirt for his outer and principal garment--his bagging breeks, added
to his white slouching stockings, made of cotton cloth, filled with
wrinkles--his black cloth slippers, with a white sole half an inch
thick--his shaved head, with his long plaited cue, streaming out
when he runs, like a ship’s pennant in a brisk breeze--his elongated
and stupid eyes; a fan in one hand, and a long wooden pipe in the
other--his enormous spectacles, without bows, astride on the tip of his
nose, and his mouth upon the full gape, standing for hours in front of
the factory of “wide fountains,” looking at the fan-kweis, (the foreign
white devils,) present him as the most unprepossessing figure ever
beheld--the most awkward looking biped in the universe.
[Sidenote: SLAVERY.]
Chang-ling, the great hero of Cashgar, has memorialized his majesty,
and informed him, that, during the late attack of the rebels on that
city, they endeavored to inundate it by cutting a channel and entering
the course of the adjoining river; but the Lung-shin, (Dragon-god,)
who presides over rivers and seas, prevented the design from being
effected. For this “_divine manifestation_” in favour of the imperial
cause, the emperor has ordered a _new title_ to be given to the god, a
_new temple_ to be built, and a _new tablet_ to _adorn_ it. Slavery,
in China, presents its worst features; the children of the slaves are
born slaves; and the children of free masters enjoy their rights over
them throughout all generations. There have been cases in which the
masters have become poor, and allowed their slaves to go and provide
for themselves; they have become rich, but being again found by their
masters, the latter have seized all the property. There are slaves of
another class, who are not bought outright, but with the condition that
they may be redeemed. Good masters admit the claim, when made agreeably
to contract; but bad ones use every expedient to prevent the claim of
redemption.