Page:010 Once a week Volume X Dec 1863 to Jun 64.pdf/161

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sleep.

ONCE A WEEK.

1864.]

.

daylight on

New

Year's morning

over, and the streets are silent and deserted as the grave for a short space of time, all is

the only signs left of the night's excitement being the remains of crackers, which strew the streets so thickly as to redden the pavement,

some places even to deaden the sound About of the footfall that passes over them. Fannine o'clock a slight movement begins. tastically and beautifully dressed children and women creep out and lounge about the doors of shops and houses to see and to be seen and a few visitors may be observed, likewise and

in



elaborately clothed, on their

New

Year

way to make

their

Shop shutters, however, remain closely shut, and the streets show no signs of business or activity, save here and calls.

selling sweetmeats to the children, a juggler or fortune-teller amusing the idle, or a gambling-table-man fleecing his

there a huckster

victims in some quiet porch or nook. So still is the whole city, so clean and smart the shopfronts, so smiling, decorous, and well dressed

the few people to be seen .about, that it is hardly possible to realise that it is the same scene that but the day before was remarkable

only for filth, smells, smoke, noise, and every other disagreeable peculiar to a Chinese

The following day, however, visiting comn: in good earnest, a shop or two opens, and people begin to move about ; the activity in-

—

creases proportionately the day after, and ere a week elapses the city has returned to the

seething,

smelling,

which marks

its

roaring,

every-day

busy

condition

life.

The ya-muns, or government-offices,

close

their doors to all business about ten days before the New Year, and do not open them

again until about the same lapse of time after it. This closing is a very formal proceeding.

The great gates are not only shut, but sealed, by having pasted across them long strips of paper, inscribed with the dates from and to which they are to remain unused. The official seals, which in China are attached to every document, and take the place of the signature with us, are solemnly returned to their state case, which is then bound up in yellow silk, and sealed in the same way as with the gates

of the

office.

Official

correspondence has, from necessity, to continue to a certain extent during the recess, and proclamations have to be issued to provide against this need, they

the seals before closing to a quantity of blank sheets of paper, and stamp alongside " Ante-sealed in the impression the words affix

—

blank."

The mandarins may worship at the temples on New Year's Eve like everybody else, privately and incognito, if they wish so to do, but

153

they are obliged to meet in full conclave, and attired in court costume, at the temple of the

God of War, or some other suitable shrine, in order to do homage to the presumed presence of the Emperor. This is an imposing ceremony, and one well worth witnessing. In a large city the number of mandarins is very considerable, and they all have to kneel in the order of their rank in front of the imperial tablet, which is simply an upright slab of wood, set in a gilt frame formed of carved dragons, and inscribed with the words " Long live, long live, long live, long live, long live, His ImThe highest official takes the perial Majesty." front and centre place, the two or three next in rank

arrange themselves behind him, the four or five next lower behind them again, and so

on down to the lowest

officers present,

when

the whole mass of kneeling mandarins forms a triangle, with its apex nearest the tablet, and its base stretching out in a line of some twenty They perform very persons in the last row. much the same series of bows and genuflexions y described, only these are increased to

three times three, and each posture is made at il When all is finished given by music.

they solemnly, with one voice, say, "Long live, etc., His Imperial Majesty," and then retire. Each official being dressed in the

and handsomest of furs, satins, and capped with the court hat, with its red

richest silks,

and coloured button, and furnished with rich carpets and cushions according to their several ranks, and the whole ceremony being performed with that solemnity, dignity, and grace of manner, which the Chinese are so capable of exercising, the whole forms a scene imposing even to the European observer, and no one should omit seeing it who has the floss fringe

opportunity of doing so. Such is the mode in which New Year's Day is kept in China. There is, of course, in it much that is odd and ridiculous but there is also much worthy of our cordial admiration. What practice can be more commendable than

punctuality and scrupulousness in monetary transactions such as that here described ? How good a trait, too, does it show in the that

hearts of these idolatrous Chinese, that they are so careful to mark the lapse of one year

and the entrance upon another, by a religious acknowledgment of Divine protection during the past, and seeking direction in the future. AVe think, also, that there is something highly praiseworthy in the loyalty exhibited in the special ceremony by which their respect to a loyalty in which their Emperor is shown we, perhaps, of all people can most sympathise,

as we so heartily do, "Honour the King."

cherishing,

precept,

that popular