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THE
Religious Ceremonies
OF THE
CHINESE
IN THE
Eastern Cities of the United States.
BY
STEWART CULIN.
AN ESSAY, READ BEFORE THE NUMISMATIC AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY
PHILADELPHIA, AT ITS HALL, APRIL ist, 1886.
PRIVATELY FRIN'lED.
PHILADELPHIA,
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1887.
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ONE HUNDRED COPIES.
Franklin Printing House.
/
Religious Ceremonies of the Chinese
In the Eastern Cities of the United States.
THE Chinese who emigrate to America come from several districts
in the Province of Kwantung, adjacent to the city of Canton.
Niinhai and Pw'anyu, districts within which the provincial
capital is located, with Shunteh, called together the Sam Yup* or "three
towns," and Sinhwui, Sinning, Kaiping, and Nganping, the Sz' Yup,
or "four towns," with Hohshan, furnish almost the entire number.
They are principally country people, with a small sprinkling of
artisans and shopkeepers from the cities, a few of whom are from Canton
itself.
The people of the different districts vary somewhat in speech and
manners; those of the Sam Yup approximate in both language and cus-
toms to the inhabitants of the city of Canton, while the Sz' Yup people,
who largely outnumber the others, exhibit many local peculiarities, and
often speak a patois almost unintelligible to those who come from nearer
the capital. The immigrants bring with them the traditions and customs
of their country, and usually endeavor to maintain and re-establish
them here; but in their anxiety to accumulate money, and under their
changed conditions of life, they forget and neglect much they formerly
thought essential to their fortune and happiness. They live so much
* The Chinese words printed in italics are spelled according to Dr. Williams's Tonic Dictionary
of the Canton Dialect. Canton, 18o(i.
3
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1142154
4
apart from other people, however, forming colonies in the large cities,
in which there are often many who cannot speak English, that much of
their primitive life is retained. It is in these centres that one finds
the strongest adherence to old customs, continually strengthened by
new arrivals, and fostered by native shopkeepers and others who profit
by them.
The religious ceremonies of the Chinese in the Eastern cities of the
United States, consist principally in burning incense and offering sacri-
fices to certain deities, in their laundries and shops, and in visiting at
the season of the New Year some convenient shrine to learn their
fortune for the following year by throwing the divining-sticks.
The first immigrants, uncertain whether the gods would still hear
their prayers and protect them in this remote land, neglected even
these observances; but as fortune favored them, many in time erected
a figure of their accustomed god and paid it the usual honors, attrib-
uting to its influence some part of their success. This deity was usually
the one most worshipped in the district from which the immigrant
came. In the course of time, as the people made homes for themselves,
some of their former many household gods were recognized.
At present one finds in most laundries and shops of our large
cities, a paper scroll with the picture of Kwan Ti or Kwanyiu,
and sometimes inscriptions on red or orange paper to the lares
and penates.
Kwan Ti, or Kwan Kung, "the Master Kwan," as he is popularly
called here, the Chinese God of War, is a deity almost universally
worshipped in China at the present day.* He was a general of the
Han dynasty, dying A. d. 219; and the events of his life, as
recorded in the historical romance of the Sam Kwok Chun, or "The
Records of the Three States," are verv familiar to the Chinese
here. None of their popular heroes has a greater hold upon their
affections, and the chapters of the story in which his life is related,
are read and re-read, often with tearful eyes. Legends are current
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M. C. Inibault Huart, Revue de CHistoire den Relufions, tome xiii, p. 129.
5
of his having appeared at various times in the New World to
protect his worshippers. Once in Havana—so the tale runs—when a
fire broke out which threatened the dwellings of the Chinese colony,
a man of gigantic stature was seen to emerge from the flames and
they were at once extinguished, but not before all had recognized
in his majestic features and curious dress, the divinity to whom
they had built a temple.
Kwanyin, the "Goddess of Mercy," called here Kun Yam
p'o sat, is a deity of the Chinese Buddhists. They believe her to
be "the invisible head of the Buddhistic Church, the spiritual
Mentor of all believers," who "' hears with compassion the prayers
of those who are in distress,' and that in the execution of this
office, Kwanyin appears on earth in various forms (male and
female), to convey spiritual blessings to both sexes." *
Kwanyin is usually represented upon the scrolls, as a woman seated
upon a lotus flower with her two attendants, the boy, Hung-tseuk
Ming Wong, and the girl, Shin Ts'oi Lung Nit, ranged on either
side in attitudes of devotion. Many stories of her intervention in
China are told here, but I have not heard of any miraculous
appearances of this goddess in the Western Hemisphere.
The scrolls with the image of the god are suspended on the
wall; below there is usually a ledge, supporting a receptacle for in-
cense, with a pair of vases which serve as candlesticks on either side.
Incense (heung) is burned in the censer by some daily, and often
one or three cups of tea are kept filled, ranged along the ledge.
In China, special sacrifices are considered necessary on the
first and fifteenth days of .each Chinese month, the times of the
new and full moon. Here few observe the custom; but some, on
these occasions, set a table as if for three persons, with chop-sticks
and wine-cups duly arranged, and burning incense, place before the
invisible guests a cooked fowl and maybe a piece of roasted pork.f
* Rev. E. J. Eitel, Hand-Book for the Student of Chinese Buddhism. London, 1870, p. 19.
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t Beef is generally avoided as food and is never served as a sacrificial offering.
Wine* is poured into the cups and certain invocations made to the
gods, before whom entire fowls and large portions of meat are always
served. Afterward the fowl and roasted pork are removed, chopped in
small pieces in the usual manner of serving such food, and again
placed upon the table as an offering to the spirits of the dead.
In China, the worshippers visit the temples and sacrifice to
the gods on the first and fifteenth days of the month, and
make offerings at home to the spirits of the dead on the second
and sixteenth days, but here sacrifices to both are usually made
upon the same day. Similar ceremonies are performed at the opening
of shops and restaurants.
Sunday, called by the Chinese in America lai pai (meaning
"rites, to worship"), is observed as a holiday, but no religious signifi-
cance is attached to it The days of our week are designated as
lai pai yat (one) Monday, lai pai i (two) Tuesday, and so on; the
Chinese calendar is followed, and some of its many festivals and
holidays celebrated, usually upon the Sunday succeeding the day upon
which they fall.
An almanac, called the Cung shit, is annually imported from
China and sold in the shops. This work is said to be issued by
Chang T'een She, the head of the Taoist fraternity in the Dragon
Tiger Mountain, and is not to be confounded with the imperial
almanac, which is never seen here. It contains a calendar in
which the celebrations for each day are indicated, with the appro-
priate horary characters used in divination; besides this, lucky
and unlucky days are designated, with rules for palmistry and
the interpretation of dreams, and much general information of a
useful character.
On the 5th of the Fifth month, dumplings, called tsung tsz,
are alwrays served in the restaurants in commemoration of the death
of K'ii Yiian.f They are made of a glutinous rice, no mai, im-
*A kind of spirits imported from China, called no mai Isau, and made from a glutinous
rice.
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t W. F. Mayers. The Chinese Reader's Manual, Shanghai, 1874, p. 107.
7
ported from China for the purpose, and are wrapped in leaves
and steamed with a small piece of sapan wood which stains them
a bright red color.
The preparation and sale of cakes form a prominent feature
in the celebration of another principal holiday, the Autumn Moon
Festival, which occurs on the full moon of the Eighth month.
For some time before this occasion packages of cakes called
chung ts'au iit ping, or "mid-autumn moon cakes," are displayed
in the shops, and are bought and eaten by almost every one.
These cakes are baked in an oven, and are made of rice flour,
with a rich mass of chopped nuts and fruits in the centre.
They are circular in form, and have an appropriate device, such
as the rabbit pounding rice in a mortar, stamped on the top.
Here as in China, eating and drinking play an important
part in all their festivals, and a grand dinner usually constitutes
the only special observance on many of their national and relig-
ious holidays. Kwan Tf is honored on his birthday, the 13th of
the Fifth month, by additional candles and incense being burned
before his shrine, and it is often made the occasion of a banquet
by the / Hing, a powerful secret society that does much to keep
alive native customs and traditions.
The New Year is the season for general rejoicing, and no
work is done for several days. It is ushered in by a supper on
the night of the old year in most laundries and shops, when
employes and friends assemble and something of a ceremonial
character is given to the feast. Many recollections of home
are revived. The only occasion upon which the writer ever
heard any expressions of sentimental attachment to absent friends
and country, was at one of these midnight suppers before the
advent of the New Year.
The first dav is devoted to formal calling between friends and
acquaintances; every one wears his best clothes, and all endeavor
to array themselves in some new article of dress, if it is only
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a pair of new shoes, in honor of the day. The laundries and
8
shops are decorated for the occasion; scrolls with appropriate
inscriptions are suspended on the walls, and the tablets of red
or orange paper with felicitous mottoes, supposed to bring good
luck, are taken down and new ones substituted in their places.
Some put a long paper hanging, upon which are representations
of several personages, whom they call Fuk Luk Shau Sing Kung,
"The Starry Sages of Happiness, Honor (official advancement), and
Long Life," in a prominent place on the wall. Plates of oranges
and dried fruit are arranged on a table in front of this scroll,
with large candles and a censer in which incense is burned; sandal-
wood, fan heung, is often substituted in this for the incense sticks
commonly used.
Three principal figures usually appear in these pictures. Above
is Kwok Tsz' I,* a general of the T'ang dynasty, renowned for his
services to the state under four successive emperors, and for the
many blessings he enjoyed of honors, riches, and longevity; on
the right, Tau In Shan, whose five sons all attained the highest
literary rank; and in the foreground on the left, Tung Fung
Sok, a mythical beiug, who figures in the popular romance entitled
the Shui U Chi'm ("The Story of the River's Banks"), and is
reputed to have attained a fabulous longevity.
Very few of the Chinese here are familiar with the historical
names attributed to these personages, and the scroll and offerings
are regarded as part of the merrymaking of the season, and little
if any religious significance is attached to them.
The remaining days of the celebration are devoted to feasting
and conviviality, and the gambling tables, which are reopened after
the first day, are largely patronized.
Gambling constitutes the amusement or profession of a large
part of the people, and the gamblers have many superstitions. The
keepers of gambling-houses avoid all colors, save white, in the
walls and decorations of their rooms. White, the color of mourn-
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* W. F. Mayers, The Chinese Header's Manual, p. 96.
9
ing, the color of the robes worn by the spirits of the dead,
always considered inauspicious, is associated with the idea of losing
money, and is thought to bring such fortune to their patrons, with
corresponding gains to themselves. Even the inscriptions to the
tutelary spirit, are always written upon white paper, and white can-
dles are burned before his shrine instead of the red ones ordi-
narily used. The gamblers pray and sacrifice to Kwan Ti for
good fortune, and there is often a shrine to this god near the
gambling-houses for their convenience. Before making a hazard
in the pdk kbp piu, a kind of lottery, the player frequently buys
a bundle consisting of two small candles, a package of incense, and
several sheets of a certain kind of mock money, tai kong pb,
which may be had at any of their shops, and burns them before
the picture of the divinity.
The public worship of the Chinese, as distinguished from their
household observances and the customs of the gamblers, consists, as
before stated, in annually visiting some shrine for the purpose of
divining their fortune for the year.
Their first public shrine in our eastern cities was erected about
ten years ago in the loft of a laundry at Belleville, New Jersey,
where a number of Chinese were employed. This has since be-
come the principal place of pilgrimage at the season of the New
Year. More recently, the shopkeepers in New York city sub-
scribed a sum of money and fitted up a room as a guild-hall
in the second story of No. 18 Mott Street, in which, as is cus-
tomary, a shrine was erected; Kwan Ti was the deity installed,
and a man was placed in attendance to instruct worshippers
and perform the necessary rites. In time, the New York colony
being very prosperous, it was thought that better provision
should be made for the god under whom they had flour-
ished, and another room was obtained in Chatham Square and
handsomely furnished, in the Chinese fashion. The scroll bearing
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the picture of Kwan Ti was carried at midnight, in solemn pro-
10
cession, and placed in the new shrine. This ceremony took place
in the fall of the year 1885.
This guild is called the Chung Wd JCung Sho, or "Chinese
Public Hall," and is supported chiefly by contributions from the
Chinese merchants in New York. Its subscription books are cir-
culated among the Chinese in the neighboring cities.
There are no regular priests of the recognized religions of China
at either of the temples mentioned. No direct charge is made to
worshippers, but the candles, incense, and mock money required are
sold—at an advance upon their cost—in Chatham Square for
twenty-five cents, and at Belleville for fifty cents. These materials
are all imported from China.
The Chinese in Philadelphia were without any public temple
until about three years ago, when the owner of a laundry
in the lower part of the city, won five hundred dollars in
the pdk kbp piu, and devoted part of the money to the erection
of a shrine in his laundry. He was influenced by a desire to
propitiate the deity to whom he attributed his good fortune, but
he died shortly after completing the work. The laundry passed
into the hands of his brother, who, although he attends a Christian
Sunday-school, and has placed various Christian texts on the
walls of his shop, maintains the shrine and carefully observes the
religious customs of his country.
Early in their year, usually during the first week, having
selected a fortunate day for such inquiries by consulting the t'ung
shit, such of the Chinese in Philadelphia as are unable to visit
the more distant temples that have an established reputation, resort
to this place to learn the will of heaven as to their future, by
throwing the divining sticks before the picture of the god. The
questions asked are about their health, success in business, and such
other important matters as may concern them during the remainder of
the year. The answers, which are accompanied by cautions as to the
good or bad fortune likely to attend certain actions, often materially
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influence their conduct for that period. The god is not ap-
11
pealed to again unless some special inquiry is made, it being
considered inauspicious to call upon him a second time, particu-
larly after having received a favorable answer.
I visited this shrine, upon the invitation of the proprietor, on
Sunday, the 7th of February, of this year (1886), the fifth day
of the Chinese year, and a day marked in the t'ung shii as very
favorable for certain kinds of divination. The owner intended to
consult the omniscient Kwan Ti, to learn the fortune in store for
himself and his partners for the year.
The place had a holiday appearance: a table was spread with
nuts and candied fruits for New Year's callers, a number of whose
red paper cards lay piled upon it.
Against the wall in the front room was the shrine, a picture
of which is presented in the frontispiece. It consists of a substan-
tial framework of carved and painted wood, extending from about
three feet from the floor nearly to the ceiling. A table in front
of this forms the altar.
Upon the centre panel, in gilded letters carved in relief, appears
the legend, Lit shing Kung, or the "temple for several sages;"
upon the right-hand panel, Tsik shan yan x hoi li lo, "Relying
upon Divine favor to open an advantageous pathway;" on the
left, P'ang shing talc i kwong ts'oi itn, "Abiding by sacred virtue
in order to enlarge the source of wealth."
Within the frame, suspended on the wall, hang paper scrolls
bearing pictures of the divinities.
Chang T'een She (called here Cheung T'in Sz) appears on the
scroll on the left. "Chang T'een She—that is, Chang, the Secre-
tary or Preceptor of heaven—is the posthumous title conferred upon
Chang Tao Ling, celebrated as one of the Sien, or immortalized
beings of the Taoist mythology, and the patron of this sect. Born
« a. d. 34, he early became versed in the writings of Lao Tsze,
and the most recondite treatises relating to the philosophy of
divination. He obtained the elixir of life through instructions con-
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veyed in a mystic treatise, supernaturally received at the hands of
12
Lao Tsze himself, and at the age of one hundred and twenty-three
years, after a life 2)aase<^ in study and meditation, compounded
and swallowed the grand elixir, and ascended into heaven to enjoy
the bliss of immortality. Before leaving earth he bequeathed his
secret to his son, Chang Heng, and the tradition of his attainments
lingered about the mountain called Lung Hu Shan (' Dragon Tiger
Mountain'), where he had passed the later years of his earthly life,
until a. d. 423, when one of his sectaries, K'ou Kien-Che, was pro-
claimed his successor in the headship of the Taoists, and invested
with the title of T'een She, which was reputed to have been con-
ferred upon Chang Tao Ling. Successive emperors confirmed the
privileges of the sage's descendants, and in a. d. 1016, Sung Chen
Tsung enfeoffed the existing representative with large tracts of land
near Lung Hu Shan."* Here the successor of Chang T'een She,
under the same title, still maintains a petty court, and is believed
to rule the world of spirits. His name and powers are re-
garded with much respect by the Chinese in America.
He is represented on the scroll as a man of grave and dig-
nified mien, seated upon a tiger. He wears a green robe, and
holds a fly-brush, mo so, an emblem of divinity, in his left hand,
in the right an open book. His head is shaven, except for a
tuft of hair on the crown, covered with a small headdress. On
either side above the figure are clouds, upon one of which rests
a vase containing a green plant, with a sword plunged downward
through the cloud beside it. On the other cloud is an ornamental
green tablet with the inscription,"'^ lid ho ling," "Controlling
the roar of the Five Thunders."
The next scroll, which is soiled and time-worn, bears the
effigy of Un T'dn, a deity reputed to be a god of wealth, and
much worshipped in the Sinning district, from which the brothers
came. This scroll hung in the laundry before the erection of the
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* W. F. Mayers, Opus cil., p. 11.
13
shrine, and was painted in Chicago, and brought to Philadelphia
by one of the former owners of the place.
tin T'(hi is depicted as a man in military dress, with a
serrated sword in one hand and a piece of gold in the other.
At his feet crouches the tiger (" wealth ?") which, according to
tradition, he commands.
Kwan Ti is figured on the next scroll. He appears as a
man of commanding appearance, with a long black beard, wearing
a green robe, and seated on a kind of throne. His right hand
is raised, as if in exhortation, while his left hand is concealed in
the folds of his dress. He is supported on one side by his faith-
ful servitor, Chau Ts'ong, with an enormous halberd, and on the
other by his adopted son, Kwan P'ing, holding his official seal
wrapped in a yellow silk bag.
Beside the last scroll, on the extreme right, hangs a board,
painted red, with an inscription in honor of Kwanyin, that serves
instead of a scroll, with her image.
On the ledge, within the frame, is a large box full of sand
to hold incense, and a small gilt shrine containing an idol. This
was the gift of some American friend of the proprietor, and its
identity is not surely known to him, but he regards it as an
image of Buddha and considers it a desirable acquisition. At
either extremity of the ledge, without the frame, are silvered
glass vases, holding bunches of artificial flowers, while similar
vases between are used as candlesticks, with another in the
centre for incense. The implements used in divinations are seen
on the table; two elliptical pieces of hard wood, rounded on
one side and flat on the other, kdu pui, and a tin box contain-
ing one hundred bamboo splints about seven inches in length,
called ts'un u.
It was growing dark when I entered the laundry, and the
owner had let down his queue, put on his best robe, and was
waiting with covered head to receive the cooked meats from the
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kitchen for the sacrifice. He lighted two large painted candles in
14
the candlesticks, and after waving a bundle of incense three times
before the shrine, ignited it in the flame of a candle, and care-
fully disposed the smoldering sticks before the different represen-
tations of the divinities.* Three were first stuck in the large sand
box before Kwan Tf, and then three before each of the other scrolls.
Three were placed in the shrine of the Lord of the Land, a small
box on the right of the altar, by the wall, one was carried back
into the kitchen and put beside the stove for the Tsb Shan, the
"God of the Furnace," and one was stuck in the woodwork by
the door opening into the street. This was done to let the spirits
know that a ceremony was being performed in their honor.
The altar was arranged as if for a banquet; three wine-cups,
tsau pui, and three pair of chop-sticks, fdi tsz1, were placed in
front of the scrolls and a boiled fowl, trussed in a peculiar fashion,
with a large piece of roasted pork were handed the priest and
similarly deposited.
The priest filled the cups with wine from a jar, and lifting
one of them on high, passed it three times through the smoke of
the incense, and poured part of the wine upon the floor. Then
he bowed three times, and knelt and prayed silently. His prayer
was something like this: "O Kwan Ti! will you please come
and eat, and drink, and accept this respectable banquet. I wish
to know about the future, and what will happen to me this year.
If I am to be fortunate, let me have three shing pui"
He rose, took the kdu pui, and passed them three times
through the rising smoke. Then, kneeling again, he held the Mu
pui, with the flat sides placed together, above his head, and let
them drop to the floor. When they fell, both lay with their curved
sides uppermost, yam\ pui. This indication is considered a nega-
tive one, neither for good nor evil. Again they were let fall.
* Care is taken to extinguish the flame of the incense with a motion of the hand
rather than with the breath, which would de61e it. One or three sticks, or an entire
bundle, sire always burned, never four, five, seven, etc.
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t Yam (Yim), the lesser of the two dual powers, the female or recipient in nature.
15
This time both flat sides lay uppermost, yeung* pui, unfavorable.
The third time one lay with the flat and the other with the
rounded side above, shing pui, a favorable sign. The kdu pui are
thrown until three yam, yfang or shing pui are obtained in suc-
cession. This indicates the answer of the god, and is either an
indifferent, evil, or good omen, as the case may be.
Three shing pui were the fortune of the priest, but he would
know more of the future. He knelt and prayed again,—" O
Kwan Ti! I beg you will let me throw the ts'un u. If you
will, grant ine three shing pfii." Again the kdu pui were thrown,
and three shing pui indicated the answer of the god.
The ts'un it are numbered from one to one hundred, corre-
sponding with the numbers of the pages of a book entitled Kwan
Tai ling ts'im, the "Kwan Ti Divining Lots." Each page of this
book contains a verse of poetry referring to some well-known per-
sonage in Chinese history, and his life and conduct are supposed
to furnish a clew to the future of the individual whose fortune is
under consideration. A short explanation accompanies each passage,
but a very extended knowledge of the Chinese annals is consid-
ered necessary for the satisfactory interpretation of the oracle.
The priest knelt and prayed, and asked whether he would
make much money during the year. Then he rose, took the
box containing the ts'un ii, and after waving it thrice through the
smoke, knelt and shook it violently, until one of the sticks fell
upon the floor. He wrote the number of the splint on a piece
of red paper, and threw the ts'un u until all of his questions
were answered.
This accomplished, he took several narrow slips of paper, Mai
ts'in, pierced with holes, and said to represent as many cash
(ts'in) as there are holes, and wrapped them in some larger sheets
of paper, tai kong po,f upon which tin foil had been pasted, and,
* Yeung (Yang), the greater of the dual powers, the masculine.
t The sheets of tai kong pv are cup-shaped, and usually have the character thau, "long
life," cut in red paper and pasted on the silvered surface. Two sheets of the large kind, or
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hvp pairs of a smaller kind, are generally used.
1G
after waving the bundle three times before the altar, ignited it
and put the blazing mass in an iron pot, pb lb, where it was con-
sumed. During the entire ceremony—which lasted about half an
hour, and was conducted in the most reverential manner—he did
not speak a word.
After it was over, the attendants carried the roast meat back
into the kitchen, where it was cut in small pieces in the Chinese
manner of serving for the table, and again brought in, with other
dishes containing food, and all were placed on a low platform
before the shrine of the "Lord of the Land," the tutelary spirit.
The offerings were allowed to remain there for a short time, when
the wine was poured back into the jars from the cups before Kwan
Tf, and served with the carved meats for dinner to the assembled
company.
The shrine for the "Lord of the Land" may be seen in the
illustration, on the right of the table. It consists of a shallow
wooden pent house, shan lau, "assembly place for spirits," within
which is an inscription. The box is painted red and ornamented
with bunches of the tinsel flowers, kam fd; a lamp is usually
kept burning before it and cups for tea are placed within or on
the floor outside. Such shrines are erected in laundries and shops
after the owners have successfully carried on business for several
years. The inscription on the one represented is herewith repro-
duced. The three central columns are written on a tablet of
orange-colored paper within, while the outer ones are placed on
the panels of the shrine.
Above in the centre may be read Shang kam, "Producing
wealth." Below this, in the same column, T'ong Fan Ti Chit tsip
yan Ts'oi Shan, "Chinese and Foreign Lord of the Land receive
and introduce the God of Wealth!" The lines on either side are
complimentary titles bestowed upon the spirit ruler; Chin ts'oi t'ung
tsz\ "Invite Wealth Boy," and Tsun pb sin long, "Increasing
Treasure Sage."
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The outside couplets on the panels of the box read as follows:
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19
Sik nin wai Ti Chi)
Kam yat sh'i Ts'oi Shan.
"In former years (he) became a Lord of the Land,
"To-day (he) is a god (or spirit) of wealth."
The ghost of the first person who dies in a house is believed to
become its Ti Qui, "Lord of the Land," or, rather, "Lord of the
Place," and as such is thought to preside over and govern its other
ghostly inmates. Every house is thought to have its ghosts, either
the spirits of those who have died within it or strange ghosts who
have selected it for their dwelling; the shan lau is built for their
shelter, and when suitable offerings are made to them they are seldom
thought to disturb the living. The ghosts are always kindly spoken
of and their aid invoked, as may be seen from the inscription, to
bring wealth and prosperity.
Foreign as well as Chinese spirits are honored, but this is
done more as a matter of form than from any assurance that
they will understand or appreciate the attentions paid to them.
"Poor ghosts," I have heard said of them, "they cannot read our
writing; they do not care for the tea and rice, or even know why
we build the shrine. Alas! we have done all we could, but it is
of no use to them."
These foreign ghosts are much feared by many of the more
ignorant country people, and strange tales are told concerning them.
One man opened a laundry in a village near Philadelphia and
thought to establish a successful business, but every night after he
had extinguished the lights a human face appeared, floating in
the air. He left the place precipitately and abandoned the enter-
prise. The ghosts are thought to make their presence known
at night, when they disturb sleeping persons by pulling at their
bed-clothes and sometimes appearing in the form in which they
once lived. The spirits of their own countrymen are believed to
occasionally give trouble, and a house in which a Chinaman dies
is often reputed to be haunted.
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The chief use of the pictures of the divinities enshrined in
20
private houses is to tranquillize and drive away refractory spirits.
Cheung T'in Sz, Kwdn Tai, On T'dn, and Chung Kiv'ai, the
latter a man of the T'ang dynasty, now deified as a protector
against devils,* are considered particularly efficacious for this purpose.
Charms, such as the pat kwd or eight diagrams, with various
inscriptions, are sometimes placed on the panels of the doorway
to prevent the entrance of wandering ghosts.
In China the rites paid to the spirits of the dead constitute
the most important part of religious ceremonials, but here, where
no tablets to ancestors are erected, but few of the many customs
are observed.
In the spring-time, during the Third Chinese month, it is
customary to visit the graveyards, where those who die are tempo-
rarily buried, carrying dishes of roasted pork and cooked fowls,
and, after burning incense and reciting certain prayers, place the
dishes upon the graves. There the sacrifices are allowed to remain
for a short time, but after the ceremonies are over, they are car-
ried home and eaten by the mourners. These rites are only per-
formed when there remain some friends or relatives of the deceased
who preserve the memory of their comrade.
About the middle of the Seventh Chinese month, which falls
during our autumn, paper clothes, i chi, are burned by many in their
laundries and shops. They consist of oblong packages of tissue
paper of several colors, said to represent rolls of cloth or silk,
or small pieces of the same paper rudely cut and pasted in the
form of garments. K'ai ts'in and a kind of mock money, called
tai pin pb, or "large flat money," are burned at the same time.
This rite appears to be performed for the benefit of the spirit
world at large, both Chinese and foreign ghosts being propitiated
or honored. The belief is entertained that the paper clothes and
money actually meet the requirements of the spirits, and the inade-
quate size of the clothes is explained by the statement that the
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* S. Wells Williams, A Tonic Dictionary of the Chinese Language. Canton, 1856, p. 206.
21
ghosts are much more contracted in size than the bodies of those
they once animated. A similar reason is given for the position of
the shan lau, it being placed upon the floor in order that it
may be more accessible to the ghosts.
When wine is drank it is customary to first pour a portion
from the cup upon the floor as an offering to the spirits, the
libation being thrown backward toward the right.
The ceremonies connected with the burial of the dead are much
the same as those observed by the same class in China. Some of the
Sinning people lay a pack of Chinese playing-cards as a charm upon
the coffin. A large part of the savings of the deceased are fre-
quently devoted to paying the expenses of the funeral, and among
the / Hing this is often conducted with much formality, the mem-
bers of the society going in a procession to the grave.
The proprietor of the shrine in Philadelphia burns incense
daily, before a piece of red cotton cloth tacked on the wall in his
laundry, for the spirit of his dead brother, and on the eve of the
New Year he placed an offering of meat and rice before it, "to give
his brother in hell a good supper," as he explained to me. No
emblems of mourning are worn for friends or relatives who die in
America, but upon the news of the death of a parent in China,
many plait a blue cord in their queue, and some wear blue shoes
and other articles of dress of the same color for a certain period.
Dutiful sons often hasten home on these occasions to pay the
necessary rites.
In addition to the deities mentioned, shrines may occasionally
be seen erected in honor of Shing Mb, "the Holy Mother," the
goddess worshipped by sailors, indicating, it is said, the presence
of some of the tdnkd, or boat-people, among the immigrants.
These shrines usually contain a small, throne-shaped chair with
a red cushion, to serve as a seat for the divinity. Such objects
are brought from China, where they are said to be placed in the
bombs exploded by the gentry on festival occasions and eagerly
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sought by the people when they fall, and put in their domestic
22
shrines to invite good fortune. No representations of Slung 31b
are worshipped, but a tablet is placed within her shrine with an
inscription in which she is invoked as the Guardian of the State,
the Protector of the People, and the Queen of Heaven.
Yuh-hwang Sluing Ti, the "Pearly Emperor Supreme Ruler,"
the chief god of the Taoist pantheon, is regarded by the Chinese
here as the supreme ruler of the universe who governs all the
other deities, but no rites are performed in his honor nor is he
the object of particular reverence. Pak Tai, the Northern Ruler,
is the deity generally spoken of as Sluing Ti, but he is only
placed on an equality with Kwdn Tai, tin T'an, ami the other
deified heroes.
Many of the lesser deities are thought to be directly subject
to Chang T'een She, who has uuder him a multitude of spirits
who govern the invisible world. Among them are the Tb
Shing Wong, who rule municipalities, and the T'b ti Kung, or
street gods. No shrines to the latter are erected in our Eastern
cities, but in San Francisco each street in the Chinese colony
has its protecting divinity, the location of whose shrine is indicated by
the spirit's own choice, as revealed by throwing the divining blocks.
Yuh-hwang Sluing Ti, called here Yuk Tai, or the "Pearly
Ruler," is believed to reside continually in heaven. Kwan Ti,
Kwanyin, the To Shing Wong, T'o ti Kung, and other deified spirits
are thought to alternate between heaven and earth, and are spoken
of as p'b sat (Sanskrit, Bodhisattva), although the more learned
apply this term only to Kwanyin. Pdi p'b sat is the expression
commonly used for "worshipping the gods."
I have not attempted to define the religious belief of these
people, nor is it possible for us to say that they are either Tao-
ists, Buddhists, or Confucians. While they practise ceremonials
peculiar to all these religions and worship their several deities,
there seems to underly these observances a kind of fetichism,
primitive and instinctive, which constitutes the essence of their belief.
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Education has repressed it among the learned, but with the mass
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