Evening star., 1954-06-21
Ch'uun Miuo Reoord
All Things us Living
Group in Western Chino
Believes in Supernatural

By Thomos R. Henry
There are people to whom years and
days are jolly fat men and motherly,
sweet-faced women, dashing college
boys and sylph-like sirens.
They are such in retrospect and an
ticipation. To some, months are colored
and weeks perfumed. To some they
are lions or horses.
Time intervals take the form Of liv-
ing things. This curious psychological
phenomenon perhaps reaches its climax
among the Ch'uan Mao of western
China, as described by DR.. David C.
Graham, Smithsonian Institution col
laborator. in comprehensive treatise
on these non-Chinese people who
number about 10000. DR.. Graham,
q former missionary, spent several
years among them.
Only after long association is it
possible to penetrate their strange
spiritual world. he says.
Even Sound Is Living.
They regard all things as alive and
sentient. The sun, moon, stars, noun.
tainS, rivers, rocks, trees, thunder. the
echo. the rainbow. beds, marriage.
swords, the harvest, the years, and
even the sound Of the ceremonial drum
are considered to be living things.
"A year is q living creature with q
head like that Of a human being. Noun.
ta1nS have heads, feet, hands. eyes.
ears. hearts, breasts. veins and arteries.
plain may be male or female and
has q mouth. heart, veins and sinews.
The sun and moon have parents. Rocks
and stones are male and female, grow,
have offspring and can speak, Thunder
is living creature, in size and shape
like rooster. It is small but powerful
and its call is the noise of thunder. It
has knife Of fire and when it throws
this there is lightning"
This universal animism, DR.. Graham
points out, has been Influenced some.
what by the neighboring Chinese,
especially in respect to worship of an
cestofs. But the Chu'an Mao retain
most Of their own concepts of the
supernatural world.
On top Of the sky. DR.. Graham says,
Is the ancient level land" where the
souls of the dead remain with their
ancestors after death. Here there are
no hills to climb and neither sickness
nor death. The sun shines every day.
People do not farm but gather fruits
and berries in the forests, which are
much as the forests were on the earth
in very ancient times.
At festivals each year the living
descendants of the spirits in the level
land provide them with food, clothing.
money and wine. Formerly. the people
believe, there was a ladder connecting
earth and sky but in recent times. they
say, this connection has been broken.
World Under the Earth.
Under the earth," says DR.. Graham.
"iS another world. land Of dwarfs
who are about two feet tall They live
much like people on earth, having
houses. farms. king, soldiers and a
government. One Mao once entered
this world through natural cave in a
mountain and remained so long that
the people on earth had forgotten him.
Another fell through a hole in the
floor Of the emperor's palace and after
two or three years was able to crawl
back onto the earth through a crack
caused by drought.
Some of the stories speak of dark
place inhabited by demons and pre-
sided over by a demon king. Demons
are the souls of human beings, birds,
reptiles or inanimate things. Idols in
Chinese temples are regarded as de-
mons. There Is one devil called Ulang
Da Lo, who is so big he can step from
one mountain top to another and from
the earth to the sky. He can kill
person with one blow of his thumb"
One of the Chu'an Mao deitieS is
called Ye SEQ. He is kindly, merciful
and Just and helps people, especially
the poor, who are in trouble. He often
is seen in the clouds and can make
himself visible or invisible.
Now, DIR. Graham points out, in the
Chinese province of Canton. the for
mer abode of the Chu'an Mao, the
name Jesus is pronounced Ye SEQ.
Does the use of the same name in the
western mountains. he asks, indicate
some ancient contacts with Christian
ity? He Is unable, however. to eStab-
lish any certain connections.
Certain kinds Of trees are sometimes
worshipped as deities. These generally
are trees on hills and mountains that
are old and do not shed their leaves
in winter. A strange custom is the
worship Of the door. This worship is
an elaborate ceremony in which pig
is killed. A warty toad is believed to
possess marvellous powers and to cause
hailstorms. During such storms men
shoot guns to frighten the toad.
There is dragon king who lives in
a palace beneath lake. Tigers, foxes,
snakes. banana trees, vines. rats, frogs.
cattle and eels are believed to change
into human form and vice versa.