Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-10-13

| sionaries would move A site was found,
chapel was erected and everything was
| moved away from the OLD chapel. which;
stands in the old place and does not seem
/ to in1ure the Feng Shua since the foreigner
has gone.
Practical Obstruction.
| All these Feng Shua difficulties do not
| occur. however, between the Chinese and
the missionary. When the railroad was be-
| ing surveyed from Tien Tsin to Pekin In
+, Vulnerable difficulties were found in the
| way, and the first thing that had to be
done in leaving Tien Tsin was to cut half
circle in order to get around the thousands
| OF graves. When the railroad was being
| surveyed from Canton to Wuchang the
| same difficulties occurred. Whenever it was
| proposed to make cut through a mountain
| the first question that arose was as to
| whether making cut Of that kind would
| spoil the Feng Shua of the place, for a.
| range Of hills to the north Of city or a
| plain acts as protection against the bad
| wind of the north the same the mound
| thrown up around a graveyard acts an g.
| protection to the graves, or ranges OF
| hills around the Ming tombs act as pro-
! lection to the remains of the emperors or
| the last dynasty. Feng Shua is more likely
| to be disturbed by alterations interfer-.
! enceS from the direction Of the north than
| from any other direction. For this reason
| graves are sheltered by edfhces, shutting
them of from the north.
Dragons of the Under World.
| Allied to this curious superstition is that
| which governs boring or delving into the
| earth. Dragons, 1t appears, inhabit the
| under regions, and TO disturb them Is highly
inadvisable, not to say perilous. Opening
! mines or boring for oil must be governed
| with strict attention to this important de-
| tail. There are certain localities where, II
the Taoist priests geomaucers should
forbid the opening Of q mine or the cree ting
| Of derrick a whole village or a score OF
10 QfiS md rlrfaf hn
intruding dragon disturbers out Of the
| country. The people Of these villages are
without heat and without light except that
| furnished by the burning Of weeds or corn
| stalks a tallow dip or dish Of grease or
| Oil, but that matters not.
| 1t may not be generally known that the
beautiful pagoda at Tung Chou was built,
! as perhaps most pagodas are, to preserve
the Feng Shua of the place by hampering
| the movements Of the earth dragon. Buried
| IN the earth near Tung Chou there is an
eye produces an earthquake. In order to
| prevent this calamity the geomancers were
consulted, and 1t was decided to erect a
large pagoda exactly on the dragons eye
| to prevent his winking since which time
| there has been no further trouble in that
| locality from earthquakes. Just how they
| located the eye 1t would be interesting to
know; but the geomancers won't tell. That
| Is one Of their secrets.
Foreigners are not always careful to avoid
antagonizing the Chinese unnecessarily in
81,
no Chinese woman Is ever allowed to go on
top OF the wall Of Pekin. but foreign ladies'
go there to walk as often as they please.
Women are also forbidden to enter many of
| the temples, as the Chinese hold that the
mere presence Of a woman there is defiling
but foreign ladies go in at will. And 1t not
tnfrequently occurs that foreigners conduct
themselves while In temple in a way in
which we would not allow a Chinese to-
conduct himself in one of our churches.
Foreign Vandalism.
On one occasion an American church dig.
n1tary OF high standing was being shown
through the great Lama Temple north OF
Pekin. Seeing little mud idol on one of
the affairs which he very much desired he
said to his guide, a missionary: See ri
you cannot induce the old priest to let me
No, no." the missionary answered. II
go through this temple often and 1 do not
care to propose to the priest anything which
might be distasteful to him."
Then turning to the old priest who waSj
said:
The old teacher would like to have that
little IDOL, but told him I would not ask
you for It" ~>
The old priest. after looking about him,
said, In an undertone:
Tell him to take it, but not to let any.
body him.
Thereupon the church dignitary backed |
up near where the idol was, slipped it in his I
Quarter
the old priests hand, who accepted II very
much as though he had stolen it. 1t looked
very much as II a high church dignftaryi
was trying to bride q Buddhist nr1est ~ !
sell an idol. which the priest refused to oo I
but allowed him to steal the idol and then
accepted the bride money.
In the court of this same temple there
Is large monument which was built over
the clothes of the Delai Lama of Thibet |
who was invited to Pekin to visit the En1
peror CHEN Lung. and while there died
of smallpox His body was sent back ~ !
Thibet and his clothes We're buried in this
temple grounds and this monument erected
to his memory. On the body of the monn !
ment are carved pictures Of the ten trans, !
migrat1ons through which Buddha Is sun. |
posed to have passed. In these pictures
there are delicate carvings of deer and
other animals, the legs of which have been
broken off and carried away by relic hunt
ing bandits from the west II Chinese
came to our churches or monuments and |
destroyed or defaced them in that way wa
would have them imprisoned.
superstitiOns About Foreigners.
Many Of these superstitions are real and
many others have been originated "a buea. \
boos to scare children. and then have be.
come real causes Of fear to whole commu.
mites. Among the former we may note the
superstition regarding the taking out OF |
the eyes Of the Chinese for use as medicine
or In photography. Millions of people he. 1
lieve this The great viceroy, In his won.
derful book. "China's Only Hope" particu-
larly mentions 1T as a superstition which
Is without foundation.
While the railroad was being construct.
ed between Tfen Tsin and Pekin a report
was circulated in Pekin which became
street rumor, that the foreigners were nut
ting Chinese child under each of the rail.
road ties. There is no doubt. I think, that
this originated from some nurse trying to
scare child by telling 1t that II 1t was not
good the devil would take it and put II
under the railroad ties.
Z Another story of the same nature as this
Is the cutting off Of the queue. Some one
tells Of a man who was lying on his brick
bed, or walking along the road, or street
and put his hand up to take hold of his
own queue only to find that 1t was gone.
and to see q foreign devil nearby Laughing
at him. This kind Of idle story spreads IN
Pekin like wild fire. Ask any one who tells |
X II he ever saw, any one who had had his
queue cut off, and he win tell You no, but |
at the same time there IL as much of a sen,1
satton caused by such q story in Pelxin asi
was caused about Park Row by the Span>i
tsh. or Boer war, or the Boxer trouble.
That mob scene was handled with splensd
Al - 4 a