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CHINESE SUPERSTITIONS - University of Oregon

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— 274 —<br />

2°. Those who used false weights, adulterated goods, and<br />

coined false money (1).<br />

3°. Those who received letters to be delivered but withheld<br />

them, opened<br />

injure<br />

the addressees.<br />

them and used the information contained therein to<br />

4°. Those who stole bricks from a temple, or when placed in<br />

a street or near one's door.<br />

5°. Those who pilfered oil from the sanctuary lamps.<br />

6°. Rich and well-to-do folks who never gave alms.<br />

7°. Those who promised to lend, but repudiated<br />

their word.<br />

8°. These who having remedies withheld them from the sick ;<br />

or those who knowing some popular nostrum,<br />

the secret there<strong>of</strong>.<br />

refused to disclose<br />

9°. Those who encroached stealthily upon the grounds <strong>of</strong><br />

others, or damaged their property.<br />

10°. Those who cursed the Spirits (Kwei-shen % jjitjj).<br />

11°. Those who threw out into the street the dregs <strong>of</strong> tea,<br />

broken tiles, sweepings<br />

or dirt.<br />

12°. Those who spread abroad weird rumours to terrify people,<br />

will be struck with lightning, and wandering as dead ghosts, Tsih<br />

r M (2), ^ e y will De debarred from transmigration.<br />

Means <strong>of</strong> avoiding<br />

this hell.<br />

Those who, on the 18 th <strong>of</strong> the 2 nd month (3), firmly resolve not<br />

(1) Also those who put insufficient cash on the cash-strings (formerly<br />

Chinese coins had a square hole in the centre, and were strung together for<br />

convenience in carrying a" large quantity); those who made pr<strong>of</strong>its at the<br />

expense <strong>of</strong> simple folks, pedlars and beggars. Wieger. Moral Tenets and<br />

Customs in China, p. 361.<br />

(2) Tsih 'M, a murdered ghost. When a man dies, he becomes a dis-<br />

embodied spirit; when this disembodied spirit is killed, it becomes a Tsih ^,<br />

something so horrible that it terrifies all spectres. Williams. Dictionary <strong>of</strong><br />

the Chinese Language. — Chinese Superstitions. Vol. II. Preface, p. IV —<br />

.<br />

Wieger. Moral Tenets and Customs in China, p. 398. note 19.<br />

(3) This being the birthday <strong>of</strong> the President <strong>of</strong> the Fourth Court, he is<br />

on that occasion in a most forgiving mood. See Chinese Superstitions. Vol.<br />

V. p. 573; Vol. VII. p. 272. note 1.

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