"Their respect for ancestors is very great, so much so that the species of
idolatry which has by far the strongest hold upon their minds is ancestral
worship. This is the stronghold by which Satan maintains his supremacy
over the minds of the people, and this we may expect will be the last to
give way to the power of the Gospel of Christ. One may hold up their gods
to ridicule and they will laugh at his remarks, but they do not love to
hear the worship of their ancestors spoken against. This worship, after
the period of mourning is over, consists chiefly in offering at stated
times various articles of food to the spirits of the deceased, and in
burning various kinds of paper, as a substitute for money, by which these
spirits are supplied with that most convenient article. Natural affection
and selfishness unite to strengthen their attachment to this worship. It
is as necessary for the happiness of the souls of the dead, in the opinion
of the Chinese, as is the saying of the mass in the opinion of a Roman
Catholic. Without these attentions the souls of the deceased are in a sort
of purgatory; wandering about in want and wretchedness. But if the desire
of rendering their ancestors happy be not sufficient to secure attention to
these rites, a still more powerful motive addresses itself to their minds.
These wandering spirits are supposed capable of bringing misfortune and
inflicting injuries on their ungrateful and impious descendants. Thus if a
family meet with reverses, the cause is often attributed to the want of
attention to the souls of the deceased ancestors, or to the fact that the
sites of their graves have not been judiciously selected, and the
dissatisfied spirits are taking vengeance for these neglects or mistakes.
Another consideration which seems to exert much influence, is that if they
neglect the spirits of their ancestors, their descendants may neglect them.
"For the present life they can think of no higher happiness than success in
acquiring wealth, and the highest happiness after death consists in having
sons to supply the wants of their spirits. These are the two objects that
engross the highest aspirations of a Chinaman."