Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-04-26
now THE CHINESE WORSHIP.
a Description OF Their Temples and tn
Curious Customs On Vogue.

Curious Customs In Vogue.
Every Chinese temple is house Of prayer or
worship, but no sermon Is preached. no priest
installed. no religious instruction given and no
seating accommodations provided, according
TO . recent census bulletin. There is always 40
least one shrine. the more frequented temples
having several, 90 that a number Of persons
can perform the usual ceremony. each for him
self. without being obliged 10 take turns The
vorshipers do not meet in . body, nor 10 any
particular time Get for devotious. When about
TO enter upon . new enterprise or TO take Q
journey. or when In doubt concerning any
particular course Of action, the Chinese
are careful to consult their GOD.
and patron saints. Every worshiper
provides himself with incense sticks. candies
and sscrincisl papers. which are generally TO
be had OF attendants At small cost Offerings
Of wine and meat are added on special oeca-
sions The candles and incense sticks are
lighted and placed IN their proper reeeptneles.
IL wine is used IL Is put in minute cups scarcely
larger than thimbles and these are placed in a
row before the shrine Tho meat offerings
may be roast chicken, roast pig or any other
table luxury. When everything is properly
placed the genufexions begin and the request
Is presented ~ the answer required Is q sim
pie affirmative or negative the worshiper drops
a pair OF !enticular pieces of wood on the foor
a number Of times aud calculates the answer
from the number Of times each face turns up.
Another method of obtaining responses, par
ticularly when fuller responses are desired. N
by shaking box filed with numbered slirs Of
bamboo. one OF which will fall out, and thea
consulting book containing numbered answers
In Chinese verse.
DECORATED rNTERIoRS
The interior Of Chinese temples (. often
highly decorated. The walls and ceilings ara
hung with tablets having inscriptions in the
Chinese character. and there are often rows OF
lanterns and embroidered elk umbrellas. Fine
wood carving il also 20 be seen. Tho deoora-
tions are the gifts Of worshipers
Most Chinese temples are free 60 all No
register is kept OF members. Or the four tenn
pies IN New York city, one. Chung-wa-kung-
saw, claims 1000 worshipers: Cbap-sing tong.
700; kok -san-kung-saw, 200; Lung -kong-kung-
saw, LOCO. Chung-va-kung-saw Is an oreaui-
cation in which every Chinaman in New York
10 supposed TO be interested. Chap -sing-tong
admits laundrymen only. and the other TEN plcs
airs supported by those Who come from Hok can
and lung-kong, respectively. launarymau
from the district Of Hok-san NAV therofo.u be
member OF three OF tho temples. For this
reason no statistics of members can be given.
Chinese temples are usually well supported
The revenues derived largely from the
privilege. sold at auction 90 the highest bidder,
OF selling the articles Of worship. winch every
worshiper must have. Thus the privilege OF
selling for the Lung-kong-kung-saw Of San
Francisco brought in 1880 si2, S65. so. and that
for the How-wang-mew in the same city
s3.96le0
According to the returns OF population there
are lo7.415 Chinese in the United Statea OF
whom 72.472 are in California. $50 In Oregon,
$500 in Washington. and 2, 935. the next largest
number, in New York In view of the fact that
one Of the four temples in New York city claims
1000 worshipers, while the whole state las q
Chinese population OF less than 5000. there
would seem to be large discrepancy. II that
one temple has 1000 worshipers. the number
of visitors must be greater than the resident
Chinese population. Doubtless 1000 is the
number that worship in the temple in the
course Of a year. In other words the same
individual is counted many times. consider
able number Of the Chinese are Members Of
Christian churches.