the deceased, small pagodas, white and blue flags, with vessels of perfumes. Behind the body are the children, and near relations, covered with robes of coarse linen. 24. These are followed by the friends and domestics, and last of all, at a little distance behind, appear the women with dishevelled hair, and broad white fillets round their temples, dressed also in the same coarse linen as the men, and bursting at intervals, as with one consent, into tears and lamentations. These processions, in cases of persons of distinction, sometimes extend more than a mile. After the coffin is covered with earth, and the ceremonies finished, an eulogium on the deceased is pronounced, and the company partake of meats offered to his memory.. SECT. 6. Religion. 25. The prevailing religion of China is a species of Shamanism, or the religion of Fo. But no religion is established, or connected with the government. There is no congregational worship, no public sacrifices, nothing to assemble the people together; yet the most absurd superstitions are common. Temples and pagodas are numerous, and daily open for the visits of devotees. They adore the Supreme Being under the appellation of Tien, and expressoften lofty conceptions of his attributes. SECT. 7. Mode of Living, Entertainments, Festivals, &c. 26. The mode of living among the lower orders is miserable in the extreme. Two or three jars, a few basins of coarse earthen ware, a large iron pot, a frying pan, and a portable stove, are their chief articles of furniture. They use neither tables nor chairs, but at meals all the family sit upon their heels round the large pot, each with a basin in his hand. 27. They take the rice from the pot with a spoon, and put it into the basin, which they hold in the left hand close to their mouths; and then with two slender sticks, or porcupine quills, between the two first fingers of the hand, they throw their food with great expedition into their mouths. Rice is their grea staff of life; their chief beverage is tea, boiled again and again; and this is taken without milk or sugar, or any other ingredient whatever, except a little ginger in cold weather. 28. They have little milk, no butter, cheese, or bread. Besides rice, they make use of millet and some other grain, with the addition of onions, garlic, a kind of cabbage, or beet, or some other vegetable, fried in oil. They are little scrupulous as to articles of diet; and rats, worms, and dogs, are eagerly eaten. The diet of the wealthy is plentiful and sumptuous, as that of the lower classes is poor and meagre. 29. The substantial articles of their ordinary meals are rice, pulse, pork, mutton, poultry, and fish. Some of their greatest delicacies are the paws of the bear, the fins of the shark, the sinewy parts of the stag and other animals, and the edible birds' nests, brought from the Asiatic Islands. Their dishes are mostly in the form of stews of fish, fowl, and meat, sometimes separately, and sometimes mixed with vegetables and sauces. Their drink, at table, is either tea, or an ardent spirit distilled from millet or rice. 30. Entertainments given by persons of distinction are generally sumptuous, accompanied with many fashionable ceremonies. Three invitations are given; one the eve ning before, another on the following morning, and a third immediately before dinner. They sit usually in pairs at small square tables, to each of which the same dishes are served. Their viands are served up in porcelain dishes, and eaten with spoons of porcelain. Those prevented from being present by illness, have a portion sent to their houses; and each guest next morning sends a billet of thanks for his entertainment. 31. Throughout the whole of China a grand festival is celebrated on the same day; it is called the vernal festival In the morning the governor of every city comes forth from his palace crowned with flowers, and enters the chair, in which he is carried, amidst the noise of different instruments which precede it. 32. A number of people, bearing standards, walk before the musicians, and the chair is surrounded or followed by several litters, covered with silk carpets, upon which are represented persons illustrious for the support they have given to agriculture, or some historical painting on the subject. The streets are hung with carpets; triumphal arches are erected at certain distances; lanterns are every where displayed; and all the houses are illuminated. 33. A large figure made of baked earth, representing a cow with gilt horns, comes next. A child with one foot naked and the other shod, which represents the spirit of labour and diligence, follows, beating the image with a rod to make it advance. Labourers, armed with implements of husbandry, march behind; and a number of comedians and people in masks close the rear, whose ro mantic appearance and attitudes afford entertainment to the populace. 34. The governor advances towards the eastern gate, as if intending to meet the spring, and then the procession returns to the palace in the same order. After this the cow is stripped of its ornaments, and a prodigious number of earthen calves are taken out of it which are distributed among the crowd. The large figure is broken in pieces, and distributed in the same manner. 35. The governor than puts an end to the ceremony, by making a short oration in praise of agriculture, in which he endeavours to excite his hearers to promote, by all means, so useful and valuable an art. The Chinese have also two other festivals, which are celebrated with still more pomp than that already mentioned. 36. One of them is on the commencement of the year, the other is called the feast of the lanterns. During the celebration of the first, all affairs, whether private or public, are suspended; the tribunals are shut, the posts stopped; presents are given and received; the inferior mandarins go and pay their respects to their superiors; children to their parents; and servants to their masters. 37. This is called taking leave of the old year. In the evening all the family assemble to partake of a grand repast. To this no stranger is admitted; but they become more social on the day following; and their whole time is employed in plays, diversions, and feasting, which is concluded in the evening with illuminations. The feast of lanterns is universal throughout the whole empire, and all China is illuminated on the same day and hour. 38. Every city and village, the shores of the sea, and the banks of the rivers, are hung with lanterns of various shapes and sizes. Some of them are seen in courts, and in the windows of the poorest inhabitants. Rich people |
