Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1897-12-29
.CHINA'S
She Stin Sticks to Her Ancient
Tradition.
Chinese Cling to Their saDerstitisns
Rswarding Family Bones and
Teach Parent worshiD
With Iron Hand.

of foreign customs and the absorption
of European ideas are found in the
English and ~vernacular newspapers of
China. Reforms are adopted very slow
ly in China. The law remains as ii was
1000 years ago, and all the customs hat
pertain tothe worship of ancestors and
the upholding Of paternal authority
cannot be altered / 70 much as a hairs
breadth without pr ~oting a storm of
protest which not even the highest au-
| thority could afford to ignore.
A case illustrating the remarkable
| hold that superstition has even on per-
sons of wealth n intelligence comes
| from a place south of Canton. 1t seems
| that the persistent ill-fortune of a re-
| spectacle family of some wealth was
traced to the fact that they had select
| ed an "unpropitious" site for the burial
| of the bones of the head of the house.
| The Chinese custom is to exhume the
coffin after three years, n to wash
the bones and put them in a large jar.
| This jar is then buried in a shady place,
usually under a tree, and over it h
sons do ancestral worship hat assures
the happiness of the departed. The
son of this unfortunate family dug up
the two jars containing ancestral bones,
cleaned them carefully and then re-
buried them. But recently a neighbor
by nance exhumed the jars while he
dug for something else. This was re-
garded as a bad omen and the jars were
taken out and cleaned for another re-
moval.
The wiseacres of the town said that
/ cavaro1 uisforfunaS Ebinh had hafallan
the family were due to the u~npropitious
site selected for these jars, and when
the European who records this incident
visited the village he found the relatives
and friends engaged in solemn discus
sion of tie proper place to rebury the
bones. This family belonged to the
respectable, educated class, yet be-
lieved in these gross superstitions as
fully as any ignorant coolies.
Paternal authority is still supreme in
China, and when the old family law
comes into conflict with the state law
it is the state that must yield. An in
cident illustrating this comes from HUI
nan. A doctor named Liu was found
dead on the highway. All the evidences
of a deliberate murder were present.
But while an inquest was being held the
dead mans father appeared and coolly
declared hat he had slain his son be-
cause of the young mans unfilial con-
duct. 1t seems that the son had beaten
the father, as well as other members
of his family, and he had even chastised
several elderly men of his clan who had
gone to demonstrate with him. So the
father had killed him, as the law en-
-1--a-.l H., 80 IL Tha r.a.-a&a
referred the whole case to the board of
punishments, as he did not feel author
lied to condemn the father, especially
as the graybeards of the Liu clan testi-
fled that the son had received only his
due.
Another recent ease of the punish
ment of a rebellious son was recorded
in the Picking Gazette. In this case
the empress dowager melted put the
penalty. The offender was Prince Tsai
Shu, the eldest son of a widow. He
showed open contempt for his mothers
wishes by feigning illness when her
birthday anniversary festivities oc-
CURED. To cap the climax of his of
lenses, he failed also to return thanks
for the empress ~dowager's birthday
gifts to his mother. The matter was re.
ferred to h empress dowager, who
prescribed so blows with the rattan
and the perpetual Imprisonment of the
undutiful son within the foul walls OF
an empty room" The emperor con
firmed this edict. SO the son will have
ample leisure to repent of his offense.
The Shantung Peninsula, on which
were h Notifications of Wei-hai-wei
and which was overrun by the japanese
in the late war, is the last place one
would look for evidences of foreign
improvements or inventions. Yet a let.
ter from Wei-hai-wei says that in the
interior of the province the bicycle
fever RACES among the wealthy natives.
and no fewer than 200 American wheels
have been imported. With great in.
genuity some native g~unsmiths and
b~lacksmiths ave turned out limitations
of the foreign wheels. and these are
said to do good service. Instead of the
pneumatic tires these Chinese wheels
have solid tires of plated hemp covered
with rawhide.-N. Y. Sun.