On the twenty-fourth of the month every house is thoroughly swept out in preparation for the New Year's festivities. The object of this ceremony is not merely the practical and necessary one of cleanliness: the sweeping process will, it is believed, rid the house of all malign influences that may have collected there during the past year, and thereby render it fit for the reception of every kind of joy and good luck. This is an auspicious day for the celebration of marriages. New Year's Eve (_Ch'ü hsi_) marks the beginning of the Chinese holiday season, and is a day of mirth and feasting. In many families it is the custom to sit up all night; the phrase _shou sui_ has practically the same signification as our "seeing the Old Year out and the New Year in." In the evening, new red scrolls, such as adorn the outside and inside of nearly every Chinese house, are pasted over the old ones that have now become faded or illegible. The brilliant colour of these scrolls and the felicitous phrases, virtuous maxims and wise literary allusions with which they abound are regarded by the common people (who can rarely read them) as equivalent to powerful charms that will bring happiness and good fortune to all who dwell beneath the shadow of their influence. Fire-crackers, the delight of old and young in China, are let off at every doorstep, helping at each explosion to dissipate any traces of bad luck that may be lingering in the neighbourhood and to frighten away the last malignant spirit who might otherwise mar the happiness of the New Year. FOOTNOTES: [96] See pp. 336, 371-7, 382, 386 _seq._ [97] See pp. 95, 289. [98] The same tendency, with the same result, showed itself in Burma after the annexation to the Indian Empire. [99] This process, whereby the expelled one ceases to enjoy the rights to which his birth entitles him, is known as _ch'u tsu_,--"expulsion from the clan." [100] A _tiao_ is at present worth approximately eighteenpence. [101] Half a _tiao_. [102] Silk-worms are fed on the leaves of the scrub-oak on the open hillsides. [103] Literally, "not clear" (_pu ming_). [104] _Han tao mi._ [105] The Government fruit-grower has recommended the Black Hamburgh, Muscat of Alexandria and Malaya--which ripen in succession--as the best varieties of table-grapes for Weihaiwei, while of wine-grapes the most satisfactory are the Mataro, Alicante Bouschet, Black Malvoise, Grenache, Zinfandel, Charbons and Johannesburg Riesling. [106] See pp. 56, 57. [107] The local Government--not very wisely from the point of view of sound economics--levies small "wharfage-dues" on imported timber. [108] This is the _pai-la shu_ so well known in Ssŭch'uan in connection with the insect-wax industry, which is also carried on to a small extent in Shantung though not in Weihaiwei.