Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1900-07-05

The new crisis in the east, Wnlch
has suddenly arrayed all the great
Christian nations against China, hav-
ing been precipitated by the appeal OF
the Boxers to native religious preju-
dices, a glance at the religious and So
cial characteristics of the Chinese Is OF
timely interest.
Confucianism is now well under
stood, and both Buddhism and Taoism
have been so thoroughly explored that
1t is hard to believe that anything OF
importance relating thereto is to be
discovered. At least one more book
upon this topic however, remains TO
be ompiled-namely, Chinese myth
illogical dictionary. Such work
should contain an account Of all the
principal divinities actually worship
ped by the Chinese, with authentic de-
tails of such as are historical, to-
gether with a record of the steps by
which many of them have been pro-
NOTED in the Chinese pantheon, until,
like Kuan-Tf, the god of war, from
very humble beginnings they have be-
come "adjuvant of heaven" The
number of these divinitles is very
large and includes many that have
been continuously worshiped for over
a thousand years.
Whether the Chinese have ever at
any time in their long history had per-
ception or conception OF one true God,
Father and Creator Of all things" Is
a question that has been long and
learnedly discussed by scholarly stu
dents of their classical writings. 1t is
still an open question. But there Is no
doubt at all that for many centuries
past they have worshipped the sun,
the moon, the stars and a host of an-
cestral deitles All the gods of China
may be said to have been dead men.
and, by the right of ancestral worship,
1t may be affirmed that in sense all
the dead men of China are gods.
Temples are constantly erected, by the
consent OF the emperor, to men who
while living. have in various ways
distinguished themselves. Ii Is i'm
possible to say that any one of these
men may not. in the slow evolution OF
ages. rise to the highest place among
the national divinities. There can.
therefore, be no doubt whatever that
as a nation the Chinese are polytheis-
tic.
Worship of Nature.
That there was a tendency among
primitive mankind toward the worship
of nature is well known. The recog-
Of
forces led to their personifcation and
to external acts of alteration, based
upon the superstition that these forces
are sentient. Hence many pagan peo-
pies erected temples to the gods of
wind, thunder and fire. In China the
north star is an object of constant
worship. There are temples TO the
sun and to the moon in Pekin in con-
nection with the imperial worship.
But in some regions the worship
of the sun Is a regular act OF routine
on the part of the people generally on
day in the second month, which
they are pleased to designate his
birthday" Early in the morning the
villagers go to the east to meet the
sun and in the evening they go about
toward the west TO escort him on his
way. This ends the worship OF the
sun for year. An exceedingly COM
mon manifestation of this nature
worship is in the reverence for trees,
which in some provinces (as, for ex-
ample, in northwestern Honan is so
exceedingly common that one may pass
hundreds Of trees of all sizes, each
of them hung with bannerets, indlcat-
ing that il Is the abode of some spirit
Even when there is no external symbol
of worship the superstition exists in
full force. II fine old tree is seen
standing in front of a wretched howell
1t is morally certain that the owner of
the tree dare not cut it down on ac-
count of the divinity within.
II has been popularity understood
that the emperor is the only individual
in the empire who has the prerogative
of worshiping heaven. The very sing
ular and interesting ceremonies which
are performed in the Temple OF
Heaven by the emperor in person are
no doubt unique. But IL would be
news to the people of China as a
whole that they do not and must not
worship heaven and earth each for
themselves. The houses often have a
small shrine in the front wall facing
the south and in some regions this is
called the shrine to heaven and
earth" Multitudes OF Chinese will
testify that the only act OF religious
worship which they ever perform
(aside from ancestral ritesl is a pros
tration and an Offering Ito heaven and
earth on the first and dtteenth of
each moon or in some cases on the
beginning OF each new year. No
prayer is uttered. and after a time the
Offering is removed and, as in other
cases, eaten.
What is It that at such times tee
Chinese people worship? Sometimes
they say that 1t Is heaven" and again
they call 1t the Old Man OF the Sky
(lato t'ien yeh). The latter term has
led TO an inference that the Chinese