The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-10
SUPERSTITION IN CHINA.
ENGsHUI" PLAYS A GREAT PART
IN AFFAIRS OF THE RACE.
Doctors Are Consulted Ab0ut the
building of Houses and the Burial
of the Dead.

or the Rev. T. De Witt TalmaRes brother
Ior forty years a missionary in this dis
trlct' stands rock to which the hopes
OF the Amoyese cling. It is their 'Feng-
shul storms and tides have scattered
aiohs the shore a detritis from the cliffs
winch unnoticed, is resolving itself into
the wash of the sea; but so far as tradi-
tion runs back the Fengshui has oppesd
proud and unyielding front to the ele-
menus The people believe that should II
De dislodged Annoy will fall from her
estate as a port of commerce few
years ago a typhoon which dashed yhe
harbor scooped deep all around - hase
| OF the Fengshui and threatened n Leave
with nothing to stand on. Everybody
to"h alarm, and within a. few DAYS MANY
IONS OF granite blocks were built around
II TO the height of a Chinese house and
-. .Fiy cefllented in place, that an efficient
substitute might be provided for the sup
Pore that the typhoon had destroyed
cement is crumbling, many of the
utocks nave fallen away, leaving eaps
tnst storm of average violence would
surely widen. Fear. already excited for
ehe sa1ety of the rock yields in such af
Idlrs TO the laws of divination, and they
move slowly. Should a storm come nm
aware and topple over the rock. the
soothsayers will not be blame for their
ueiayS IN ordering repairs, but the mis-
s oItune VIII be laid to an act of fate
! I'm IN winch there was no escape, even
| tHoush IL may sound the knell Of Amov's
prosperity. Since such a, visitation seems
| not unlikely. concurrent with the effort
OF Japan to divert the Formosan tea
| - doe' on Whach Annoy mainly relies
! through Japanese markets foreign houses
may mold unorthodox opinions UNION the
| SUBJECT, but the Chinese SO far as thew
may consider Japan at all, will regard II
merely as an instrument provided to
ouI the DEGREES long foreordained
| change Vi
II may be that Fengshui counts for
more IN Annoy than in other parts of
emma, but it certainly has a nowerful
holo on the native mind here. Fengshui
comes with birth and is neyer-endine
II attends every important act, and com.
pines the functions of fortune. fate. and
Destiny. One may not undertake. an on
le1prise unless that spirit favors it, 1t
sets the time for marriage. and II must
be propitated before burial.
Inc compound is made of words that
| mean WIND and water, or that which can
not be seen and that which cannot he
grasped. No amount of speculation or re-
search by foreign inquirers has resulted
In making much more of it than this del
nnltlon. Since it thus symbolizes what
the human mind cannot easily compre-
mend, the Chinese not only accent II
without question, but as a reality per
| tanning to their own life and governing
| II.
| Inc great boulders that stud the hills
inclosing the harbor like giant black
pearls over the landscapes breast. must
Keep barren land that seems made FOR
FERTILITY, because the doctors of Fens
shu have declared that a clearing of the
neio would so disturb the elements as to
attract disastrous currents to all This
region. Yet nature elsewhere NAV he de-
faced, and the earth is ouarried ana
tumbled and upset and turned to human
pront- beyond this rugged boundary. mans
interest alone being considered No soil
In China makes more ready or more
generous response to tilling All the area
within the sullen coast barrier abounds
IN smiling products of farm industry and
IN bright-hued forests.
Afraid to Mine Coal.
This province needs little fuel except
lor cooking but the supply hardly salts
mes the most sparing use of wood. In
some places women and children nv
hunoreds md means of livelihood Nv
gathering stems, sticks, and leaves and
IN digging for roots which will always
oring good prices in copper cash. The
work has become almost an industry in
the adjoining province, where the search
ers for fuel trudge miles for it daily. On
the way to the hills where they gather
II they nave made path which has be-
come SO worn that it exposes a coal bed
along almost its entire length Outcron-
| pings elsewhere in the same section show
coal at hand over vast area. ready for
use ana to be gathered at infinitely less
trouble than the wood Is obtained from
the hills. 0'--
But doctors have declared that there
must be no disturbance of the coal beds
Ihe people bow as If to an inspired law
IL is permitted to deforest some of the
hills for fuel, and they are kept contin-
ually stripped by the thousands who
maze living by gathering wood and car
cying 1t back to the settlements The
| spirits generated by the wind and water
ana which occupy and develop the earth
| exact this burden upon toilng millions
who bear it patiently and without com
| plant.
1t is an essential purpose Of Fengshui
TO preserve the harmonies of nature. 1t
| aims at placid conditions The welfare
or the people is best to be served. so far
as anything approaching philosophy en-
| tiers into this sort of calculation, by leav-
| ing things as they always have been, in
| order that the spirits of earth and air
may forever move in the currents to
which they have become accustomed. so
| that there may be no distraction or an
noyance to provoke or ruff1e them. II
/ they are driven out OF their course
| through human agency. the penalty is
/ eXacted in human suffering.
! Hence all possible precaution is taken
to avoid that which will disturb them
and the interpreters of Fangshui must
be consulted on every occasion. It may
well be that the high regard which the
! Chinese have for precedent their intense
conservatism, and the quality of self salts
faction which enables them to feel super
Tor to the outside affairs or even to their
own mishaps is engendered by by the
faith that makes them fatalists.
The Revenge of Fengshui.
! An experience with Fengshui is stored
| in the memory OF the Episcopal Mission
! at Foo-Choo in connection with plans to
! build in that town a dwelling house on a
! hill. Some Of the natives got a notian
that building so placed would interfere
/ with their Fengshui. At about this time
came a typhoon, accompanied by flood
and fire Water rose in the streets to
! depth of six feet. washing away many
| houses, and fire consumed 1000 dwellings
| The house has not been built, but the
| intention to build IL accounted for the
| Irritation of the spirits which brought