The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-10-20
DRAGONS THAT YEX CHINA.
PART THAT FENG sHUA PLAKS IN
MAKING ANTI-FOREIGN

Chinese Character Missionaries in the
Way of Luols-A Pagoda to Keep n
Dragon From NVnlsing False Stories
Spread by Boxers.
In the reconstruction Of China, which
must come in spite of the present Box
er disturbances, monster difficulties
will meet the foreigner at every step of
the way. The reconstruction or refor-
nation must In the nature of the case
by the work Of the foreigner. The Chi
naman is not able to accomplish IT,
Nevertheless, it must be done by the
cooperation of either the majority or a
most powerful minority of intelligent
and influential young Chinese.
Among these difficulties there will be
none perhaps more difficult to overcome
than superstition; first, because super
stition is so nearly related to the reli-
gious nature of the Chinaman, and, sec
,ond, because it is so deeply and firmly
rooted in the character Of the people.
This difficulty will be enhanced by the
fact that the Chinese are people of
character beyond that of almost all
n-Christian peoples. Moreover, su-
perstition will be added to superstition
because of the ideas they hold regard
ing the foreigner-that is, that he Is a
Kuei tou, or devil; literally, son of
devil"
The Chinese idea of a devil is that of
red-haired, -whiskered, blue-eyed
individual who quails at nothing.
story is told of red-haired red-whis-
kered, blueeyed British consul at Can
ton. One day, when Chinese official
was calling, the consul asked him:
''Why is it that the Chinese call us
devils?"
The official at first hesitated, and
finally said. ST do not wish to tell
you"
"But I should take it as great ia
vor if you would tell ME. I am very
anxious to know"
"But you will be angry if I tell you"
''By no means. On the other hand, I
shall be greatly obliged to you"
Being thus pressed until he was una
BILE to refuse, the official finally an
swered: "Well then, it Is because you
look like devils"
The natural superstitions of the peo-
pie have been taken up by the Boxers
and have been circulated still more
widely by all kinds of placards, both in
prose and in verse. / have before me
one in verse, part of which reads as
follows:
The devils are not human beings like
you.
If you doubt what I say,
You may see any day
That the eyes of the devils in color are
blue
In the original this reads:
Kuei tsu shih-jen so ch'uan,
Ju pu hsin
Tzu hsi kan,
Kuei tzu yen shu tou ia Ian.
superstitions are not only connected
with the religion of the people, but with
their natural science as well. The Ia |
-4eist priests as alchemists have organ
lied all that they know and do not
know about the powers of nature into
a system of superstition called Feng
Shua literally, wind and waterO, |
and this enters into the daily life of the |
people. Everything they do must be
done in such a way as not to interfere
with the Feng shua of the place or the
Immediately surrounding country |
1ieved by high and low alike, as may be |
seen from the following incident:
Opposite the Methodist compound in |
Pekin is the residence of a Huang Tai |
Tzu, or yellow girdIe man, a man who
is Of direct descent from the royal fam
lily. Now, the Chinese house has no |
chimney, bur at the risk of being out
of the fashion the foreigners prepared |
to- construct chimneys on their houses. |
One of these chimneys, 1t happened, |
rose exactly opposite the front gate of |
the yellow girdle mans house. Now,
all this mans children were girls. Of |
course he wanted to know the reason.
He called in the geomancer, who on ex-
animation, discovered that our chimney
had destroyed the Feng Shua of his !
place.
One day the old man dressed himself
in his best silk garments and came over
to call on the foreign teachers He
spent half an hour or more in pleasant
conversation on various topics which
led up to the luck of the place and the
value and importance of male children,
and then explained the nature of his
visit, which was to ask if the foreign
teacher would not tear the chimney
down to a level with the highest part
of the roof in order that his miserable
home might be blessed with the hope of
male offspring"
OF course, the foreign teacher con-
scented, the chimney was torn down,
and, behold, as a confirmation of the
acumen of the geomancer and the pow
er Of the principles of Feng Shua, the
yellow girdle mans next child was
boy!
Within the walls Of the city of Flu
chao there is a hill which the inhabi-
tants of that city look upon as very
important in governing the health and
controlling the general prosperity as
well as happiness Of the city and peo-
pie. In the earlier days some English
missionaries bought property and built
upon that hill, when the people, fearing
that the Feng Shua of the city would
be injured, arose and destroyed the en-
tire property of the mission, consisting
of a church, schoolhouse and dwelling. |
AGAIN the death of an official in Hang
chao was believed by the people to have
resulted from a mission building on a | ,
hill not far from his official residence. | ,
The people here were more considerable
than those in Fuchao and requested the
a ~ t. ~