CHAPTER I

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INTRODUCTORY.

Attention of Late Bestowed on the Study of Folk-lore—China Presents a most Interesting Field of Enquiry—Little as yet Done to bring together what is Known upon the Subject—Similarity between Chinese and Western Beliefs—Our Own Recent Emancipation from Superstition—The Myth-making Faculty Common to all Mankind—Previous Allusions to Chinese Folk-lore—Arrangements of Subjects—Chinese Folk-lore Extensive—Probable Derivation from the Cradle of the Aryan Races—Importance of Popular Beliefs in Chinese Estimation, pp. 1–8.

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