I.—INTRODUCTORY.

The attention which has of late been attracted to the study of European and Asiatic folk-lore happily renders unnecessary any apology for an effort to bring to the knowledge of English readers the vast, and as yet almost unworked, field of which it is the design of these pages to treat. The numerous and in many cases able works recently published have not only placed at the disposal of students a vast mass of facts bearing on the science, but have so fully vindicated its claims to the consideration of the ethnologist and philologist, that any introductory essay in the same direction is unnecessary. The labours of Professor Max Müller, the Brothers Grimm, Baring Gould, Kuhn, Kelly, Thorpe, Dasent, Wilson, Ralston, and Spence Hardy, of Muir, Bleeke, and others, have satisfactorily paved the way for successors in the field. The widespread traditions of the Aryan family, down to the homely superstitions of our own peasantry, the myths of Oceanica and the popular tales of Scandinavia, have alike received illustration, and often erudite comment from capable pens. In endeavouring to do for the folk-lore of China what has been so well done for that of other countries I shall in one respect enjoy an exceptional advantage. No serious attempt has yet been made to prove its kinship with the familiar beliefs of the Aryan races; and the following pages may therefore claim, on the score of novelty alone, an attention which might otherwise be denied them.

That a population so enormous as that which owns the nominal sway of the Dragon Throne—variously estimated at from 250,000,000 to 400,000,000—should present a field of most interesting enquiry, is less strange than that so few enquirers should as yet have essayed to explore it. The extreme difficulties of the language and the fact that few who study it for even conversational purposes do so except for a specific end, and to fulfil some defined duty, have doubtless mainly contributed to this state of affairs. Whatever the cause, however, the fact remains that the folk-lore of the oldest and most populous nation of the globe, rich in the traditions of a period to which modern history is but a thing of yesterday, has been hitherto almost ignored by even the most successful students of Chinese. Those least acquainted with the people and their customs need not be assured that in China, as in most other parts of the world, there are certain subjects regarding which quaint and curious superstitions, beliefs and practices obtain amongst the populace. Unlike the civilized nations of Europe and America, however, China numbers amongst believers in the truth of these superstitions a vast public of some pretensions to education—such as it is—and of social position in the eyes of their countrymen. The doings of every Chinaman, from Emperor to coolie, are affected and guided by astrological portents, divinations, etc., in which even the more highly educated, who affect to despise them, place a practical trust. The half-cynical disbelief of the mandarin and literate, becomes firm conviction in the peasant; and China presents the now-a-days singular spectacle of an entire nation, numbering over three hundred millions of souls, whose everyday life is framed to meet the exigencies of a puerile system of superstition.

Nor, when we leave the domain of what we may term domestic folk-lore—superstitions as to days and seasons, charms, omens, lucky numbers, &c.,—and ascend to that of myths and legends, is the parallelism between Chinese and Aryan belief less striking and interesting. We miss of course all that can be traced to Christianity; but the powers of nature have appealed as strongly to the wonder and dread of the sons of Han as they did to the races of whom we ourselves are the successors and heirs. “Language,” says a recent writer, “in its immature phases, has created, without any conscious exercise of imagination, most of the old-world, pathetic legends, which, different garbs notwithstanding, meet us like familiar friends in the early records of nations so widely divergent that it would be hard to discover any other trace of kinship.” I will not here pause to ask how fully this applies to Chinese. The myth-making faculty is in any case the common heritage of mankind; and narrow as are the limits within which it has been exercised by the Chinese, and grotesque as are the forms assumed by its productions, they evidence the same yearning to idealise the mysterious powers of the universe, the same poetic faculty, if more rudely expressed, as has characterized mankind since the Chaldean astrologers kept their lonely vigils, and found in the star-studded heavens materials for the mythic beliefs of the long-forgotten past.

A writer in the year 1798 remarked that “the study of popular antiquities (of which folk-lore is an important branch) though the materials of it lie so widely diffused, and indeed seem to obtrude themselves upon every one’s attention, does not appear to have engaged so much the notice of enquirers into human life and manners as might have been expected.” But the last seventy years have witnessed an activity in this direction which would allow of the formation of a small library of works dealing only with such matters. It is time that China were added to the list of countries whose folk-lore has been recorded for comparative purposes. And any shortcomings of execution on the part of the present writer will, it is hoped, be condoned on the score of its being the first attempt to deal systematically with the vast array of material at disposal.

Briefly tabulated, then, the Chapters will be arranged in the following order:—

A—Superstitions as to personal fortune. Birth, Marriage, Death. Days and Seasons. Portents, Auguries, Dreams, Lucky Numbers. Charms, Spells, Amulets and Divinations.

B—Superstitions as to various subjects.

C—Superstitions involving the interference of supernatural powers. Ghosts, Apparitions and Supernatural Beings. Witchcraft and Demonology. Elves, Fairies and Brownies. Serpents, Dragons, Fabulous Animals and Monsters. Superstitions regarding the Powers of Nature.

D—Legendary Folk-lore. Legends of Locality, Household Tales, &c.

E—Fables and Proverbial Folk-lore.

That it is difficult in all cases to draw the precise line in classification, those who have paid any attention to the subject will readily understand; and the most that can be done is to adopt some system which, however faulty, is handy for reference.

It does not appear that the great teachers of China have done much, except in an indirect way, to encourage popular superstitions. But faint references—and those chiefly to ceremonial matters—are to be found in the classics, nor does popular belief credit Confucius, Mencius, Lao-tzü, and others with more than inferential approval of the superstitions current in their own day. The principle of filial reverence for age has probably contributed more than anything else to imbue the minds of the people with a respect for anything, from a porcelain bowl to an aphorism or proverb, which savours of antiquity; and folk-lore shares with ethics the benefits of the national bias. As regards details, the folk-lore of China is much the same as that of Europe, with here and there some unexpected contradictions. Many of these superstitions are, and of course must be, equally childish, whether finding their home in a Cornish hamlet or a Chinese town; but it is none the less interesting to find that they often exist in almost identical shape in places so far asunder. To the mind of the present writer they convey far deeper assurances of a common origin between differing races than the often untrustworthy resemblances of isolated words in their respective tongues.

It will probably be found that the theory which refers the greater portion of the folk-lore of Europe to the Oriental cradle of the Aryan races, from whence it was disseminated by their migrations westward, is equally applicable to the folk-lore of China. The first-named supposition has been ably supported by Kelly and his brother workers, and if, as is believed, equally strong grounds can be shewn for adopting the second, a contribution of some importance to ethnology, and indirectly to philology, will have been made. And it is difficult, when the domestic superstitions of Scotland or the tales of New England witchcraft, the drear legends of Iceland or the myths of Thuringia are found to be almost identical with beliefs in little-known China,—when the almond-eyed mother of Kwangtung is found repeating to her offspring the mystic nonsense uttered by her Hindoo or Turkish sister, as she too, under other skies, listens to the prattle of childish tongues—it is, I say, difficult to deny that a strong case has been made out for a common fount whence the folk-lore of at least two continents has flowed Eastward and Westward in ever-accumulating streams. I need not here refer to such essentially related peoples as the Japanese, Tibetans, Mongolians, &c., whose superstitions are so analogous to those of the Chinese as to be fairly classed under the same head. Such information as has been available respecting them, will be found collated in its proper place.