Part 10
[4] This is a Chinese life story and is about twelve hundred years old.
[5] Mandarin dialect word meaning mother.
[6] Bamboo-hat:—A large umbrella-shaped hat, made of bamboo, and worn by the Chinese to keep off the rain.
[7] The Chinese idea of perfection of character is based on the three hundred and fifty laws of Confucius, the first law requiring honor and perfect obedience to parents—even in thought. The second law requires one to think of one’s own wrongdoing every day. So when Tsen-Tsze tried so hard to do right that each day he asked his parents and teacher, “Have I done anything wrong to-day?” he fulfilled the two highest laws of Confucius in spirit and in letter.
[8] Tsen-Tsze was one of the seventy-two most faithful pupils of Confucius, chosen from among this great man’s three thousand students because of his nearness to perfection in character. Most of the seventy-two students began studying with Confucius when they were children.
[9] That he did not show or even feel a spirit of resentment when his father beat him is considered a remarkable instance of honor and trust in parents.
[10] In worshiping, the Chinese bow a given number of times for each act of reverence to grandparents or dead ancestors, or to father and mother.
[11] In some parts of China this story is told the children to teach them not to resent punishment from parents. They are taught that whatever a parent does is for their good, and they must believe it unquestionably. When told this story they are asked, “Do you think you could feel that way toward your father after a whipping—or would you feel angry or sorry for yourself?”
[12] The Yen Tzi, or Kind Bird, is a species of the fly-catcher family found in China. They migrate in the spring and fall, and never winter where the weather is very cold. They are very tame, sometimes even building nests in the houses of the Chinese, and eating with the chickens at feeding time. They are very gentle, never fight among themselves or with others, share their nests with each other or even with other birds. Hence the name “Kind Birds.” They are also sometimes called “Sociable Birds,” because they always go in flocks and are never found alone.
[13] This story was told to his people by that good man Mong-Fu-Tsi (Canton dialect), who lived about five hundred years later than Confucius.
[14] The little children of China from three to six years of age are often sent to a subscription school to learn to talk, write characters, etc. The teachers of these schools are required to be men of very exemplary character. They must be gentle and kind and, above all, have no bad habits.
[15] “A man with wings.” This can not be translated into the word angel.
This story from the “Chinese History,” or life stories from the actual lives of the people, was taken from a district of China where Buddhism prevails. Tsing-Ching’s idea of a man spirit with wings after death was based on the belief taught by the Buddhist priests that man might live again, but that no one could attain again a state of consciousness if he killed, spilled blood, or ate flesh. Meat-eaters were consequently barred from ever wearing wings.
The idea of wings was not general, as the Buddhist spirit was never pictured as having wings, though being able to float through the air.
The hope of a future life was a little brighter for the Buddhist, however, than for the follower of Confucius. That great and good man’s law of life gave three hundred and fifty precepts, and man by following them might hope for eternal consciousness; but though they were a good basis for a moral character, they were the despair of those who tried to keep all three hundred and fifty of them in the hope of winning eternal life.
[16] Canton dialect word meaning mother.
[17] A title of great honor given to followers of Confucius who have been known from childhood to maturity by many people as having observed this law of Confucius faithfully.
[18] In China the country boys go in the water to fish with hand nets and become experts in diving and swimming under water. The hand nets are about two feet wide and three feet long.
[19] Pupils. Chinese school children in small country places sit at a long table to study. Sometimes there are from forty to sixty at one table.
[20] A huge oyster about three feet square and weighing twenty pounds, which is said to have existed at that time (about one thousand years ago), but is now extinct.
[21] A Chinese sauce.
[22] A Chinese mushroom which grows in the forests. It is very rare and much larger than the ordinary variety.
[23] Yot, yee, sarm are Canton dialect words for one, two, three.
[24] The Chinese picture the heart thus, with two sides:
To the larger side, everything is brought by the brain for the heart-judge, or conscience, to pass judgment on. If he pronounces the thought or feeling worthy, it goes into the memory, where it stays; otherwise it is rejected.
[25] Canton dialect.
[26] A choice Chinese candy.
[27] This is similar to the Occidental custom of shaking hands on an agreement.
[28] The Chinese farmers have a rice churn which takes the final husk off the rice. It holds about two bushels and works with treadle very much like our old-fashioned dog churns. It takes the women about half an hour to churn (or thresh) one churnful of rice.
[29] San Chi:—A large and beautiful mountain bird with one feather of rarest loveliness. This feather is blue, of a peculiar iridescence, and some of its long, curly fronds are white. The Chinese are superstitious about this feather and think it has healing qualities. They sometimes trap the San-Chi bird and pull its one beautiful feather, letting the bird go free. It is six years, the hunters say, until the lost feather is replaced. The San-Chi is very long lived, and its feathers are greatly valued for fans.
[30] At that time several nations were at war, and Confucius went to the king of each nation, trying to persuade him that it was better to be at peace. He went to the young King Loa-Bai first, as his was the strongest of the kingdoms.
[31] Bears’ feet are considered a great delicacy by the Chinese.
[32] The Chinese say that this is a true story which shows that the General Gui Süt Yun was a very good man and true. Otherwise the dream would not have been given him.
[33] In China the girls do not attend the private schools with the boys, after they are about twelve years old. A little education at home is considered enough for the girls, for the Chinese say, “We want our women to be gentle, kind and obedient, and too much wisdom might not be good for them.”
The attitude of the Chinese toward their women is paternal, but when the women become mothers and raise a family (especially if there are sons) their power and influence increase with the years, and the mother who lives in her son’s home is a person of great importance to her son and his wife, who must serve her. Her wishes are deferred to and she is granted willing service and obedience by all the household.
[34] In China the favorite lily is red.
[35] In China four names are given to a boy.
1st. The “mother name,” which is given the child by the mother when it is born.
2d. The “school name,” given when he begins school and which he keeps throughout his school days, his degree being given to him in this name.
3d. At sixteen, when he becomes legally of age, he takes a “given name,” which is a variation of his school name and is the name by which he is generally known throughout life.
4th. About the time his education is completed the young man selects a name by which he is known only to his most intimate friends.
[36] The literal meaning of “Lon-da-Tang” is, “Never stop growing.” This is a vine-like rattan brought from the Pang-Wu Island to China over a thousand years ago by some Chinese fishermen. It grows with wonderful rapidity, completely covering a house in about three years. It affords valuable protection from the hot sun to the thin-roofed Chinese houses.
[37] Mrs. Rose Tree:—The Chinese fables call all fruit or flower-bearing plants or trees, Mrs. or Miss. Trees, or plants that do not bear flowers or fruits, are called Mr.