The record-union., 1894-01-22
BOGUS MONEY FOR THE GODS
One of the Curious Industries Carried
on IN the Interior of China.


on in the Interior of China.
correspondent of the North China
Herald, writing from the interior of
kiangse Province, mentions that one of
the Industries there is the manufacture Of
mock money tor offerings to the dead
Formerly the Chinese burned sham pa
per money, but in these days of enlight-
enment and foreign intercourse the ma
tives of Soongkong. Hangchow and other
places have come 10 the conclusion that
dollars are more handy to the ghosts than
clumsy paper money; hence they now to
great extent supply their ancestors and
departed friends with mock dollars.
| These are only half the size of real dol
lars, but there appears 10 be no more
harm in cheating the dead than there is
in cheating the living. Besides, the de-
| ceased are not supposed to know the diff
ference, for many of them departed this life
before silver dollars were imported into
China. A hundred mock carolus dollars,
done up in boxes, are sold for thirtyfour
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 Chi
nese paper, and when the upper board is
pressed down on the lower thickness of
tin remains. This is next cut up into
strips tour inches long, one wide, and an
! elghth or all inch thick. Some ten of
these strips are placed evenly together,
one on top OF the other, and one end is
| held between the fingers, when the work.
man proceeds to hammer them out till he
has beaten them so fine that they are now
three feet long and foot broad, and so
thin that they are not thicker than the
| thlnneSt paper This is next pasted on
| common cardboard, which is then cut
with punching machine to the size of
! halt-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, hammers
impressions OF dollars upon them. and
! the money is ready for use.
Another very curious instance Of the
practice OF cheating the gods is recorded
IN the same Journal but from quite a diff
ferent part of the country. 1t appears that
districts of the Anhui Province have
lately been ravaged by an epidemic, 50
that in many places the people were un-
! able to attend to the harvesting of the
crops. An attempt was then made to de-
ceive the gods by playing at" New
| Years Day, and pretending that Septem-
Der 1st was the first Gay OF the new year.
Every preparation for celebrating the
| bogus new year was made, such as burn
ing tirecrackers and pasting happy senti-
ments IN red paper on the doors. The
OpJecb was 10 make tne goa 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 ma
ture 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
permission and cooperation of the local
authorities, but so far no visible effects
for the better are apparent