Chinese Sketches | Page 5

the most loathsome in the long
category of diseases. He had not been vaccinated, in spite of the known
prevalence of smallpox at Peking during the winter season. True, it is
but a mild form of smallpox that is there common; but it is easy to
imagine what a powerless victim was found in the person of a young
prince enervated by perpetual cooping in the heart of a city, rarely
permitted to leave the palace, and then only in a sedan-chair, called out
of his bed at three o'clock every morning summer or winter, to transact
business that must have had few charms for a boy, and possessed of no
other means of amusement than such as he could derive from the
society of his wife or concubines. Occasional bulletins announced that
the disease was progressing favourably, and latterly it was signified
that His Majesty was rapidly approaching a state of convalescence. His
death, therefore, came both suddenly and unexpectedly; happily, at a
time when China was unfettered by war or rebellion, and when all the
energies of her statesmen could be employed in averting either one
catastrophe or the other. For one hundred days the Court went into deep
mourning, wearing capes of white fur with the hair outside over long
white garments of various stuffs, lined also with white fur, but of a
lighter kind than that of the capes. Mandarins of high rank use the skin
of the white fox for the latter, but the ordinary official is content with
the curly fleece of the snow-white Mongolian sheep. For one hundred
days no male in the Empire might have his head shaved, and women
were supposed to eschew for the same period all those gaudy head
ornaments of which they are so inordinately fond. At the expiration of
this time the Court mourning was changed to black, which colour, or at
any rate something sombre, will be worn till the close of the year.
[*] Such terms as "Brother of the Sun and Moon" are altogether
imaginary, and are quite unknown in China.
For twelve long months there may be no marrying or giving in
marriage, that is among the official classes; the people are let off more
easily, one hundred days being fixed upon as their limit. For a whole
year it is illegal to renew the scrolls of red paper pasted on every

door-post and inscribed with cherished maxims from the sacred books;
except again for non-officials, whose penance is once more cut down to
one hundred days' duration. In these sad times the birth of a son--a
Chinaman's dearest wish on earth--elicits no congratulations from
thronging friends; no red eggs are sent to the lucky parents, and no
joyous feast is provided in return. Merrymaking of all kinds is
forbidden to all classes for the full term of one year, and the familiar
sound of the flute and the guitar is hushed in every household and in
every street.[*] The ordinary Chinese visiting-card-- a piece of red
paper about six inches by three, inscribed with its owner's name in
large characters--changes to a dusky brown; and the very lines on letter
paper, usually red, are printed of a dingy blue. Official seals are also
universally stamped in blue instead of the vermilion or mauve
otherwise used according to the rank of the holder. Red is absolutely
tabooed; it is the emblem of mirth and joy, and the colour of every
Chinese maiden's wedding dress. It is an insult to write a letter to a
friend or stranger on a piece of plain white paper with black ink.
Etiquette requires that the columns should be divided by red lines; or, if
not, that a tiny slip of red paper be pasted on in recognition of the form.
For this reason it is that all stamps and seals in China are /red/--to
enable tradesmen, officials, and others to use any kind of paper,
whether it has already some red about it or not; and every foreigner in
China would do well to exact on all occasions the same formalities
from his employes as they would consider a matter of duty towards one
of their own countrymen, however low he might be in the social scale.
[*] Mencius. Book v., part ii., ch. 4.
Certain classes of the people will suffer from the observance of these
ceremonies far more severely than others. The peasant may not have
his head shaved for one hundred days--inconvenient, no doubt, for him,
but mild as compared with the fate of thousands of barbers who for
three whole months will not know where to look to gain their daily rice.
Yet there is a large section of the community much worse off than the
barbers, and this comprises everybody connected in any