It is found that the Miao aborigines of Szechuen and Yunnan are a more
impulsive, vivacious, and by turns a more sulky race than the staid,
trim, mannerly Chinese. Missionaries, therefore, report that when they
Christianize the aborigines they find them delightfully frank and
vivacious companions, who grow to be liked heartily, as the cultured
Chinese is in comparison deeply respected. The Miaos (Now Su tribe)
show Burmese influence, too, for they burn their dead, a custom which
is abhorred by the Chinese masses, though some Buddhist priests do it.
The Miaos often worship a hill, and far to the east, even at Hongkong,
I have seen members of the aboriginal Hakka tribes worshiping a hill,
or a rock, or the seashore. On the hillsides of Hongkong jars will be
found on stones among the woods. These contain the bones of Hongkong
Chinese who have died in America and whose bones lie out in the woods,
waiting till the Taoist calendar reports that it is a lucky day for
burial. If you make the fee large enough the priest can grant you
absolution any day and you may bury with full assurance of good luck.
It then becomes a struggle between the priest’s determination and the
mourner’s stubbornness in the matter of securing possession of the
coins of the dead one! The body lies in an American graveyard until
the large bones only remain. These are manifested across the Pacific
as “fish bones” and are received at Hongkong by the Tung Wah Hospital
for the guild of which deceased was a member. The hospital turns the
bones over to the chief mourner, who places them in a jar, as already
related. While the Chinese abhor sickness, and will sometimes desert a
fever patient after loading his blanket with stones so that he can not
leave the bed, they have no abhorrence of coffins or bones. For long
periods they keep the coffin in the best room of the house, or the jar
of bones in the garden.
In selling goods by auction at the pawnshops, or inns, the auctioneer
does not permit audible bidding. The goods are passed through an
opening for inspection. Then the bidders walk to the window, and
by whisper, card, or squeeze of the hand, indicate the bid. This
encourages high instead of low bidding at the beginning, for it is
known that the first bidder who offers a fair price secures the
article.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account