Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1894-01-26
CHINESE MOCK MONEY.
Made by the Celest.als to Dcfraud Tneir
Departed Ancestors.

Made by the Celestials to Dcfraud Their
Departed Ancestors.
A correspondent of The North China
Herald, writing from the interior of
Kiangsr province, mentions that one OF
the industries there is the manufacture
of mock money for offering to the dead.
Formerly the Chinese burned sham pa
per money, but in these days Of en-
iightenment and foreign intercourse the
natives of Soongkong, Hangchow and
other places have come to the conclu-
sion that dollars are more handy to the
ghosts than clumsy paper money; hence
they now, to a great extent, supply
their ancestors and departed friends
with mock dollars. These are only
half the size of real dollars, hut there
appears to be no more harm in cheat
ing the dead than there is in cheating
the living. Besides the deceased are
not supposed to know the difference,
for many of them parted this life before
silver dollars were imported into China
a hundred mock carolus dollars, done
up in boxes, are sold for 81 cash.
The operation Of making this money
is Interesting. First of all there are
blocks of tin which are melted down
and then poured between boards lined
with Chinese paper, and when the up
per board is pressed down on the lower
a thickness Of tin remains. This is
next cut up into strips inches long,
one wide and an eighth of an inch
thick. Some 10 of these strips are
placed evenly together, one on top of
the other, and one end is held between
the fingers, when the workman pro-
ceeds to hammer them out till he has
beaten them so fine that they are now
feet long and foot broad and SO thin
that they are not thicker than the thin
nest paper. This is next pasted on COM
mon cardboard, which is then cut with
a punching machine to the size of half
dollars, and this having been done a
boy takes the cut out pieces in hand
and with two dies, one representing the
one side and the other the reverse, ham
mers impressions Of dollars on them,
and the money is ready for use.
Another very curious instance Of the
practice of cheating the gods is record
ed in the same journal, but from quite
different part Of the country. It APP
pears that districts of the Anhui prov
ince have lately been ravaged by an
epidemic, SO that in many places the
people were unable to attend to the har-
vesting of the crops. An attempt was
thenmade to deceive the gods by s'play-
ing at'' New Years day and pretend
ing that Sept.1 was the first day of the
new year. Every preparation for cele-
brating the bogus new year was made,
such as burning frecrackers and past
ing happy sentences in red paper on the
doors. The object was to make the god
of sickness think that he had made
mistake in the seasons and had erred in
bringing an epidemic on the people at
time when no epidemics in the course
of nature should appear. AS any action
contrary to nature done by the gods is
liable to punishment by the king of
heaven, the actors in this farce thought
that the god of sickness would gather
his evil spirits back to him for fear of
the displeasure of his superior divinity.
This child's play received the permits
sion and cooperation of the local au-
thorities. -London Times.