Note 898 — Chapter IX · UNLUCKY DAYS
Reading edition
N. B. Dennys, The Folk-lore of China, London, 1876, pp. 30 sq. In China there is also the state almanac, which is annually prepared at Pekin under the direction of a bureau attached to the Board of Rites. By making it a penal offence to issue a counterfeit or pirated edition of this almanac, the government astrologers have monopolized the management of the superstitions of the people in regard to the fortunate or unfortunate conjunction of each day and hour. “No one ventures to be without an almanac, lest he be liable to the greatest misfortunes, and run the imminent hazard of undertaking important events on black-balled days” (S. W. Williams, The Middle Kingdom,² New York, 1883, ii, 79 sq.).