# Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook/Chapter 14

CHAPTER XIV.
TREE AND SERPENT WORSHIP.
In spite of the many praises that have been lavished upon the Chinese for the comparative purity of their religions, it is nevertheless a fact that some of the lowest forms of superstition are to be found in Chinese popular worship. In saying this we do no injustice to the higher developments of the various national religions. We are not unmindful of the pristine monotheistic worship which prevailed in China centuries before Confucianism was known. We do not refer to the Worship of Ancestors, the belief in Fêng-shui, or even the baser developments of the systems of Buddhism and Tao. But we presume that in every country there may be found those who, irrespective of the religion they profess, have hewn out of their individual consciousness ideas unrecognised by their own sacred books, and adopted as objects of worship things which were never contemplated as such by the framers of the religion in question. We have known, for instance, of an Irish Catholic servant being found in the kitchen, on her knees, worshipping the moon; and not the bitterest Protestant will venture to affirm that Popery even in its extremest forms has any room in its pantheon for the lunar goddess. And so in China; here,—irrespective even of that form of Nature-worship of ​which we find traces in every issue of the Peking Gazette, where sacrifices are ordered to the Spirits of the Hills and Woods, and which may be found in the very earliest records of the Chinese,—still exists an active, though quite unauthorised, system of adoration, the objects of which are manifold and indiscriminate. For instance, treeworship may be found in China, as distinct in its character as that which existed in the olden days of Britain, when the chief Druid cut the sacred mistletoe from the hoary oak with a golden sickle. The favourite deity, or numen, of this worship is identified with the banyan-tree or sung shu, and his title is the Banyan Prince. It is affirmed that age has much to do with the divinity or "spiritual efficacy," to use the Chinese term, of this noble tree. The older it grows, the more it increases in spirituality, and the greater honour is paid to it. The chief seat of its worship is said to be Amoy, and some doubt exists whether it is worshipped in any other place. The peach-tree, again, is held in considerable veneration, it having been asserted that no Chinese will venture to burn its wood, lest the spirit which inhabits it should visit his displeasure upon them by an attack of madness. This tree, as we have already seen, is regarded as the symbol of longevity and marriage bliss. It occupies a prominent position in the mysticism of the Taoists, and the Fairy Mother of the West is said to have had one remarkable specimen in her garden which bore once only in three thousand years. Another tree which is superstitiously esteemed in China is that called the wu-tung shu, identified by Williams with the Elœococca verrucosa. This is said to occupy a position in this land analogous to that of the oak in England. It is ​the national tree of China; it is much admired for its stately appearance, as well as for the lightness, durability, and fineness of its wood, and venerated as being the chosen roosting-place of the mysterious phoenix or fêng huang, whenever that august bird condescends to pay a visit to the country. It is common enough in Japan, where its wood is used for boxes. But trees are not the only objects of this quasi-worship. Serpents are held sacred too, and are connected in the Chinese mind with the famous deity known as Hsüan T'ien Shang Ti, or Supreme Ruler of the Sombre Heavens, who is generally represented as using one as a footstool. It is not more than twelve years ago that Li Hung-chang himself fell prostrate before an insignificant water-snake, beseeching it to intercede with the great River Dragon to prevent another overflow of the Yellow River. "Five serpents," wrote an observer, about the same time that this truly pitiable spectacle took place, "of very large dimensions, such as are found sometimes among the mountains, and which are said to be over a thousand years old, are worshipped in Fukien with very great reverence. These are believed to have the power of transforming themselves into human shape when they have some fell purpose to execute on man. I have known a case where thousands of men and women have gathered round a serpent that had been killed by the roadside, and have worshipped it for nearly a month. The worship stopped only when it was found that the report of its efficacy to heal disease, &c., was untrue." Tortoises and turtles also enjoy an amount of reverence above most other crawling things; indeed, tortoise-worship may be said to have a somewhat extensive literature ​of its own, and dates back as far as 2900 years before the Christian era. Hedgehogs, too, have a faint aroma of sanctity about them, though we never heard that porcupines were similarly favoured; while even rats and mice are regarded with more reverence than they deserve by a few misguided polytheists. We confess to some feeling of surprise at having been assured that the members of that most respectable sect of native teetotallers, the Tsai-li Hui, or Fellowship of Reason, are addicted to these foolish forms of worship. There is no doubt that the Fellowship has decidedly degenerated during the last few years, both in ethical purity and reputation; but it is to be hoped that a veneration for vermin is not reckoned among the signs of its decadence. Perhaps the most dreaded of the brute-deities in China is the fox, which has the power of transforming itself into the likeness of a beautiful woman, and so deceiving the unwary. This superstition is probably universal, and was made use of in the Peking Gazette about a year ago in order to screen some faithless eunuchs suspected of complicity in stealing certain objects of value from the imperial palace. Fox-myths, in fact, are to be found well-nigh the whole world over, and nowhere are they so deeply rooted in the minds of the people as in China and Japan. It is the favourite plea of some gay Lothario who has not come home over-night, and presents himself haggard and pale the following day to his anxious family, that he was unlucky enough on his way home the previous evening to meet and be deluded by a "fox."