Evening star., 1907-06-23
His Ancient Religions Have
Deteriorated Into Fear of De-
mons Of the Air-How He
Outwits the Spirits The
Llama Temple at Peking a
Vile Place.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.


Convripht 1907 by Joseph B. Bowles)
PEKING, China.-Wily Chinese nave sald'
in English speech and print, that, all IN all.
Confucianism is quite as GOOD as Shris-
tianitv. if not better, and they have more
than implied that it is an lmpertihehce iof
Christian nations to send missionaries to
their country. This matter Is iuiiod-
mentally important; any investigation of
missions must deal with the hati'e re-
ligions of the mission field. Moreover, as
1 am studying mission work at hrsl hahu'
and not from the books written about 1t
bv propagandIsts, 1 am bound to form my
conclusions of China's religion by observa-
ton of the life of the people, especially
with respect to their religious practices.
Broadly speaking, and apart from the
Christian adherents, the Chinese are less
religious than the Japanese, and more SO
than the Koreans One looks in vain for
the multitude of dolls and shrines which
are TO be met on every side in Japan. The
ido,atrv of the Chinese may almost be
ssid to have been exaggerated. While
a,...v house has it's Kitchen god," there
&c lacking the god shelf that is found IN
most Japanese homes, and the puoiic iooiS
are few, except in temples.
word about this kitchen god. He Is
oaner image before whom are p!aceu
rrapdles and incense, generaiy uhlshteu:
As all family affairs, even IN the~sIealese
households, find their way 10 tie hisvnrn' a,,nrn
thing Accordingly on New year Gay, pe-
lore sending him up to the realm oi oisiii
ities in smoke and flame, ms ups are
smeared with sweets. 1neh. VIII " ha
tn,inr he can only humble m-m-m'
which is esteemed gooo report.
John Chinaman seems 10 care more ioi
,ha uttle gods than for the big gods. Occa-
sionaTx one is met who regards the favor
=. heaven or worships the important hgures
in the national pantheon; but ninety-nlne
Ch;nasa ont of a hundred are chiefly So
noitous concerning the evil Spirits Of the
air. ;. .ao ~
ethics than a religion, Is the national creed
and Buddhism is supposedly the domhaht
faith but Taoism, which makes room 1or
an innumerable variety of spirits, holds the
greatest sway, If any one OF these three
blended religions may be sald 10 dominate
The ordinary Chinese is not Confuclanlst,
or q Buddhist or a Taoist; he is all three.
In a Buddhist and Taoist temple he wor-
ships in exactly the same way-aS, indeed
he does also before his ancestral taolels-
and 1t is difficult for an uninitiated person
to distinguish between the two temples.
None of them, as a matter OF fact, is over
rushed with business.
On New Year day there is considerable
patronage of the temples, with the burning
of unmeaSured incense and bushels OF paper
money and the offering of innumerable can
dies which last the thrifty priests quickly
extinguish and melt down, to be sold over
again There seems to be no moral idea con-
nected with Chinese worship, gambling
games run in full blast in the temple courts.
A proverb showing the contempt in which
priests are held runs, Every shaveling is
a rascal and every rascal Is a shaveling. -
| The priests are a despised lot
But the geomancer, the fortune teller,