Chinese Ghost Stories (11 page)

Dao
—The infinite being, or Universal Life, whence all forms proceed: Literally, “the Way,” in the sense of the First Cause. Laozi uses the term in other ways; but that primal and most important philosophical sense which he gave to it is well explained in the celebrated Chapter XXV. of the
Daodejing
.
…
The difference between the great Chinese thinker’s conception of the First Cause—the Unknowable—and the theories of other famous metaphysicians, Eastern and Western, is set forth with some definiteness in Stanislas Julien’s introduction to the
Daodejing,
pp. x–xv. (
Le Livre de la Voie et de la Vertu. Paris
, 1842.)

Dogs of Fo
—The
Dog of Fo
is one of those fabulous monsters in the sculptural representation of which Chinese art has found its most grotesque expression. It is really an exaggerated lion; and the symbolic relation of the lion to Buddhism is well known. Statues of these mythical animals—sometimes of a grandiose and colossal execution—are placed in pairs before the entrances of temples, palaces, and tombs, as tokens of honor, and as emblems of divine protection.

Fenghuang
—This allegorical bird, corresponding to the Arabian phoenix in some respects, is described as being five cubits high, having feathers of five different colors, and singing in five modulations.… The female is said to sing in imperfect tones; the male in perfect tones. The
fenghuang
figures largely in Chinese musical myths and legends.

Fo
—Buddha is called
Fo, Fu, Fudu, Hu, Fat,
in various Chinese dialects. The name is thought to be a corruption of the Hindu
Bodh,
or “Truth,” due to the imperfect articulation of the Chinese. ... It is a curious fact that the Chinese Buddhist liturgy is Sanskrit transliterated into Chinese characters, and that the priests have lost all recollection of the antique tongue—repeating the texts without the least comprehension of their meaning.

Fuyin
—A Chinese official holding a position corresponding to that of mayor in the West.

Gaoling
—Literally, “the High Ridge,” and originally the name of a hilly range which furnished the best quality of clay to the porcelain-makers. Subsequently the term applied by long custom to designate the material itself became corrupted into the word now familiar in all countries—kaolin. In the language of the Chinese potters, the
gaolin,
or clay, was poetically termed the “bones,” and the
dun,
or quartz, the “flesh” of the porcelain; while the prepared bricks of the combined substances were known as
baidun yise.
Both substances, the infusible and the fusible, are productions of the same geological formation—decomposed feldspathic rock.

Gopia
(
or
Gopis)—Daughters and wives of the cowherds of Vrindavana, among whom Krishna was brought up after his incarnation as the eighth avatar of Vishnu. Krishna’s amours with the shepherdesses, or Gopia, form the subject of various celebrated mystical writings, especially the
Prem-Ságar,
or
Ocean of Love
(translated by East-wick and by others); and the sensuous
Gita-Govinda
of the Bengalese lyric poet Jayadeva (translated into French prose by Hippolyte Fauche, and chastely rendered into English verse by Edwin Arnold in the
Indian Song of Songs
). See also Burnouf’s partial translation of the
Bhagavata Purana
,
and Théodore Pavie’s
Kriçhna et sa doctrine
.… The same theme has inspired some of the strangest productions of Hindu art: for examples, see plates 65 and 66 of Moor’s
Hindi Pantheon
(edition of 1861). For accounts of the erotic mysticism connected with the worship of Krishna and the Gopia, the reader may also be referred to authorities cited in Barth’s
Religions of India
; De Tassy’s
Chants populaires de l’Inde
; and Lamairesse’s
Poésies populaires du Sud de l’lnde
.

Guangzhoufu
—Literally, “The Broad City”—formerly known in the West as Canton. It is also called “The City of Genii.”

Gui
—Gui, musician to the Emperor Yao, must have held his office between 2357 and 2277 bce. The extract selected from one of his songs, which I have given at the beginning of the “Story of Ming Yi,” is therefore more than four thousand years old. The same chant contains another remarkable fancy, evidencing Chinese faith in musical magic:

     When I unite my [
musical
]
stone— Be it gently, be it strongly— Then do the fiercest beasts of prey leap high for joy, And the chiefs among the public officials do agree among themselves.

Haoqiu zhuan
—This celebrated Chinese novel was translated into French by M. Guillard d’Arcy in 1842, and appeared under the title,
Hao-Khieou-Tchouan; ou, La Femme Accomplie
. The first translation of the romance into any European tongue was a Portuguese rendering; and the English version of Percy is based upon the Portuguese text. The work is rich in poetical quotations.

Heisong shezhe
—“One day when the Emperor Hiuan-tsong of the Thang dynasty,” says the
Daojiabingyashe,
“was at work in his study, a tiny Taoist priest, no bigger than a fly, rose out of the inkstand lying upon his table, and said to him: ‘I am the Genie of ink; my name is Heisong shezhe [
Envoy of the Black Fir
];
and I have come to tell you that whenever a true sage shall sit down to write, the Twelve Divinities of Ink [
Longping
]
will appear upon the surface of the ink he uses.’ ” See
L’Encre de Chine
, by Maurice Jametel. Paris, 1882.

Hua zhao
—The “Birthday of a Hundred Flowers” falls upon the fifteenth of the second spring-moon.

Jade
—Jade, or nephrite, a variety of jasper—called by the Chinese
yu
—has always been highly valued by them as artistic material. ... In the
Book of Rewards and Punishments
, there is a curious legend to the effect that Confucius, after the completion of his
Xiao jing
(
Book of Filial Piety
), having addressed himself to Heaven, a crimson rainbow fell from the sky, and changed itself at his feet into a piece of yellow jade. See Stanislas Julien’s translation, p. 495.

Jia
—“House”; but especially the house of the dead—a tomb.

Jianggu ren
—Literally, the “tell-old-story-men.” For a brief account of Chinese professional story-tellers, the reader may consult Schlegel’s entertaining introduction to the
Maiyu langdu zhenhua gui.

Kabit
—
A poetical form much in favor with composers of Hindi religious chants: the kabit always consists of four verses.

Kasí
(
or
Varanasi)—Ancient name of Benares, the “Sacred City,” believed to have been founded by the gods. It is also called “The Lotus of the World.” Barth terms it “the Jerusalem of all the sects both of ancient and modern India.” It still boasts two thousand shrines, and half a million images of divinities. See also Sherring’s
Sacred City of the Hindus
.

Lí
—A measure of distance. The length of the
lí
has varied considerably in ancient and in modern times. The present estimation of a
lí
is approximately 1,640 feet.

Li Sao
—
The Dissipation of Grief
, one of the most celebrated Chinese poems of the classic period. It is said to have been written about 314 bce, by Yuan Jiubing, minister to the King of Zu. Finding himself the victim of a base court-intrigue, Jiubing wrote the
Li Sao
as a vindication of his character, and as a rebuke to the malice of his enemies, after which he committed suicide by drowning. ... A fine French translation of the
Li Sao
has been made by the Marquis Hervey de Saint-Denys (Paris, 1870).

Li Shu
—The second of the six styles of Chinese writing, for an account of which see
William’s Middle Kingdom
.… According to various Taoist legends, the decrees of Heaven are recorded in the “Seal-character,” the oldest of all; and marks upon the bodies of persons killed by lightning have been interpreted as judgments written in it. The following extraordinary tale from the
Ganyingpian
affords a good example of the superstition in question:

     Wu Zhangzhun was Minister of State under the reign of Huizong, of the Song dynasty. He occupied himself wholly in weaving perfidious plots. He died in exile at Muzhou. Some time after, while the Emperor was hunting, there fell a heavy rain, which obliged him to seek shelter in a poor man’s hut. The thunder rolled with violence; and the lightning killed a man, a woman, and a little boy. On the backs of the man and woman were found red characters, which could not be deciphered; but on the back of the little boy the following six words could be read, written in Zhuan (
antique
)
characters: Zi chin Zhangzhun zhen—which mean: “Child of the issue of Zhangzhun, who was a rebellious subject.”—
Le Livre des Recompenses et des Peines, traduit par Stanislas Julien,
p. 446.

Pagal
—The ankle-ring commonly worn by Hindi women; it is also called
nupur.
It is hollow, and contains loose bits of metal, which tinkle when the foot is moved.

Qian
—The well-known Chinese copper coin, with a square hole in the middle for stringing, is thus named. According to quality of metal it takes from 900 to 1,800
qian
to make one silver dollar.

Qin
—The most perfect of Chinese musical instruments, also called “the Scholar’s Lute.” The word
qin
also means “to prohibit”; and this name is said to have been given to the instrument because music, according to Chinese belief, “
restrains evil passions, and corrects the human heart.
”
See Williams’s
Middle Kingdom
.

Qing ren
—“Men of Qing.” From very ancient times the Chinese have been wont to call themselves by the names of their famous dynasties—
Han ren,
“the men of Han”;
Tang ren,
“the men of Tang,” etc.
Da Qing Guo
(“Great Pure Kingdom”) is the name given by the present dynasty to China—according to which the people might call themselves
Qing ren,
or “men of Qing.” Williams, however, remarks that they will not yet accept the appellation.

San xian
—A three-stringed Chinese guitar. Its belly is usually covered with snake-skin.

Tang
—The Dynasty of Tang, which flourished between 620 and 907 ce, encouraged literature and art, and gave to China its most brilliant period. The three poets of the Tang dynasty mentioned in the second story flourished between 779 and 852 ce.

“Three Councillors”
—Six stars of the Great-Bear constellation (
), as apparently arranged in pairs, are thus called by the Chinese astrologers and mythologists. The three couples are further distinguished as the Superior Councilor, Middle Councilor, and Inferior Councilor; and, together with the Genius of the Northern Heaven, form a celestial tribunal, presiding over the duration of human life, and deciding the course of mortal destiny. (Note by Stanislas Julien in
Le Livre des Recompenses et des Peines
.)

Tian xia
—Literally, “Under-Heaven,” or “Beneath-the-Sky”—one of the most ancient of those many names given by the Chinese to China. The name “China” itself is never applied by the Black-haired Race to their own country, and is supposed to have had its origin in the fame of the first
Qin
dynasty, whose founder, Qin Shi Huangdi, built the Great, or “Myriad-Mile,” Wall, twenty-two and a half degrees of latitude in length.… See Williams regarding occurrence of the name “China” in Sanskrit literature.

Verses
(Chinese)
—The verses preceding “The Legend of Zhi Nü” afford some remarkable examples of Chinese onomatopoeia. They occur in the sixth strophe of
Mian mian,
which is the third chant of the first section of
Da ya,
the Third Book of the
Shi jing.
(See G. Pauthier’s French version.) Dr. Legge translates the strophe thus: