[23] This institution is usually called by foreigners the “Provincial College.” [24] Called the “District College.” [25] A street in this neighborhood, entirely occupied by the shops of booksellers, is called Book Street. Here are met the students and _literati_, who, like the cultivated and learned men of other lands, are fond of looking after, and gossiping about, whatever is new and wonderful in their world of letters. [26] The respectable Chinese, after having taken a wife according to the prescribed forms, do not go through the marriage formalities with another woman during the lifetime of the first. A man, however, may introduce concubines into his family without any other ceremony than a contract with their parents; but they and their children are not only subject to the will of the wife, but serve her. CHAPTER IX. Many of the Buddhist temples are very ancient and wealthy establishments. Although ancestral worship is the chief idolatry of the masses in China, the Buddhists, by incorporating this superstition into their own heathen rites have gained almost unlimited power over the people. What makes this fact the more remarkable is, that, aside from this worship of Manes, the Chinese are said to care but little for the Buddhist faith, or for their temples. Only the priests and nuns, however, are called Buddhists,--the first of which are very numerous, and have great influence among all classes. Dr. Williams remarks that “the demonology of the Buddhists allows the incorporation of the deities and spirits of other religions; and goes even further, in permitting the priests to worship the gods of other pantheons, so that they could adapt themselves to the popular superstitions of the countries they went to, and engraft all the foreign spirits into theirs.” We had an exemplification of the truth of this at the Temple of the “Five Hundred Gods,” which was one of the most remarkable places that we visited in the western suburbs. The entrance to this temple was guarded by soldiers, but we were readily admitted, and passing on, were led to a veranda bordering the refectory, where the bonzes were at their mid-day meal. Leaving this apartment and entering the cloister, we made our way through several long passages, until we reached the great hall containing the gods.