The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-07-05
WRITES FROM CHINA
DIR. T. w. AYERS TELLS OF Elk.
THEME DROUGHT.
superstitiOns Of the Celestials Almost
Pass Belief--dandari ns Close
City Gates to Bring

Admission. July 4.-(Special.)--Dr j.
W. Ayers. formerly practic,ng physi-
clan and editor of this city, now In
charge Of the Warren Memorial Hos
pital at Swang- hien, North China, un-
der the auspices Of the Foreign Mission
Board. Southern Baptist Convention.
and sometime lecturer on medicine at
the Imperial University, has written q
letter to q citizen here, which gives an
interesting insight into some of the
Chinese superstitions.
He tells how the Chinese undertook
to overcome the drought and at the
suffering and barbarities In connection
Herewith.
His letter In mart Is as follows:
"Hwanghien, China, June 8, 1908.
~ returned last night from Chaoquen
City, and while there saw and heard
several things which will probably In
terest you. We have had no rain here
for about four months and the drought
Is really distressing. and In Chaoquen
City special efforts were being put
forth to secure rain.
"Our chapel there Is located Just in
side the south gate of the city, and on
my arrival at the chapel noticed that
the city gate was closed, 50 that no
one could enter frsn the south and
there was no exit from the north. I
was informed that this gate had been
closed. for twenty days by order of the
Mandarin, and that 1t was closed for
the purpose of securing rain. The
Chinese theory is that the fire comes
from the south, the rain from the
north, wood from the east, gold from
the west and dust from above. So by
closing the south gate the fire was
kept. out and 1t was made possible for
the rain to come. Think Of even the
high officials believing such supersti-
ton as this!
i'As soon as / arrived in Chaoquen
City the business men on the south
street implored me to have the manda-
rim open the gate, as they had been
without customers since the gate was
closed. declined to ask the Mandarin
to open the gate for the reason that
the Chinese believed this one OF the
ways of securing rain. and that 1t now
looked as IL 1t would rain, and IL I had
the gate opened and 1t did not rain,
they would charge that I prevented 1t.
Fortunately the first night>I was there
light rain came and the Mandarin
had the gate opened, to the great de-
light of the business men on that
street.
'Just back of our chapel in Chaoquen
City, is a large temple, and the first
morning I was there / went to the
temple to see what was being done.
The rain god had been bronght out In
front of the main temple building and
many were going to pray to this image
for rain.
Seated by the idol was Taoist
priest, who. as the petitioners adj
vanced to katow' (the Chinese, act of
worship, performed by striking the
head on the floor while in a genufiexive
position), would strike bell to let
the god know that the suppHant had
come. How inconsistent BY this he
confessed that the idol had eyes that
could not see, but while he Knew he
had ears that could not hear. he pre-
tended to attract his attention by
striking the bell. One after another,
these poor, deluded people would bow
their knees, strike their head against
the ground. and go away without hav-
ing uttered a word. The katow was
their prayer.
1.-THE most extreme measure they
have used to secure rain Is this: One
person forms the idea that the spirit
of one in the grave Is preventing rain.
He mentions the fact to one If his
friends, he to another, he to another,
until the community becomes enra ged
against the spirit of the individual who
Is preventing rain. They set a time, go
to the grave, take out the body, grasp
1t with iron hooks and drag It through
pieces. This Is simply fearful for
those who regard their dead as sacred
as do the Chinese.
Gwen in a large and enterp rising
city like Hwanghien, the south gate
has been closed for several days, and
the Mandarin. has issued an order that
one person from every family in the
city and county go to one of the large
temples on the same day and katow to
the rain god for rain. They went by
the thousands. This order was not Is
sued until there was appearance of
rain. and the day after they went to
the temple a small rain came, and of
course the natives think the rain god
sent 1t in answer to their prayers.
The drought has caused grain to ad-
vance greatly in prices, and there will
be much suffering among the poor this
year. Out West the drought is fear
full, and there have come from the
westerly counties great throngs of
beggars. There are probably a thou
sand in Hwanghien City now. They
have terrorized the business men in the
city.
During the rain professions no one
Is permitted on the street with covered
head. This week one of the Chinese
young men In our bSys school here.
not knowing of the procession. went on
the street with an umbrella over him
during the rain. and got a severe beat
Ing for it."