Note 7 — X.—SERPENTS, DRAGONS, FABULOUS ANIMALS AND MONSTERS.

Something more than mere traces of serpent worship are to be found throughout China. The San-chieh temples (三界廟) at Canton are also known by the name of Chʻing Shê Miao or “Green serpent temples,” the origin of which name is thus given in a compilation by the well-known author Chao Yi.7 “When offerings were made to the god a serpent came out and ate or drank what was laid before the altar. If any person made a vow and did not afterwards fulfil it, although he might be hundreds of li away, serpents would come and claim fulfilment of his promise. These were commonly called Green Serpent Messengers. At present the most famous of these temples is that at Wuchow-fu, where scarcely a day passes on which plays are not performed or sacrifices offered, at the expense of traders who thus celebrate the fulfilment of their entreaties at the shrine. At the time of sacrifices being offered a green serpent does in reality issue forth from the sanctuary or make its appearance from the rafters, or from within the garments of the God, to drink the wine and devour the eggs that are placed there without being deterred at the sight of the persons standing by. After finishing its meal the creature quietly glides away.”8 Monsieur de Beauvoir, in his recent work describing a visit to the East, speaks of a temple at Canton within the enclosure of which was a clump of trees near an altar, the residence of a sacred serpent. “A crowd of worshippers were pressing round the sacred bushes, bringing gifts to the ugly reptile, a snake two feet long, which crawled about close to some hot ashes.” I have not identified the temple, but the account is probably accurate, as native informants confirm it. Yet stronger evidence of the hold which serpent-worship has over the Chinese mind is afforded by the fact that during the height of the Tientsin floods, in the autumn of 1873, Li Hung-chang, a man distinguished for his clear common sense and administrative ability, joined in offering worship to a miserable little snake which had been picked up and placed in one of the temples, afterwards extolling, in a memorial to the Throne, the divine favour exhibited by the appearance of the wretched reptile. And in the following year the North-China Herald related an even more absurd instance of faith in the supernatural attributes of the serpent tribe. “In this case also,” says the journal in question, “the memorialist is a man of distinguished ability, which he has given evidence of both in connection with Foreign and Chinese matters. He reports wonderful miracles on the part of the river gods, in saving embankments and helping the men who were at work on them, over and over again. Apparently the Taiwang are credited with power to make the waters abate just at the critical moment, but not to avert such unfortunate crises altogether. The river god is, in every case, a small water snake, which popular fancy has converted into a deity. The story of Chen Ching-lung Chang-chün, one of the deities mentioned, is that he was inspector of the Yellow River, and being unable to repair a breach in the embankments, on account of the strength of the current, he in despair threw himself into the river. The water ceased to rise, the current slackened, and the breach was repaired. Chen was transformed into a River God for his noble devotedness, and constantly appears in the shape of a water serpent, to work miracles on behalf of his more fortunate successors in the difficult duty of checking the outburst of ‘China’s Sorrow.’ ”