| Show k Sa i 5 b. b P r tei i y b it O 4 Y 1 1 y t Ap r a e aw Chinese S e t Graves J Y r y I Unless S i o f i Ranso Ra t tt t t tY w is Paid I. I I It c i. i 3 l d t S 11 J 3 The Chinaman his ven 0 for his dead his ancestor k worship to the Occident sri c y i r rMon J TIIT Mon Mongolian Bandits Resorts to Ghoulish Form Formas of Extortion r Y t r as They Threaten Desecration 1 of the Sacred Celes Celestial al Dural J i A Ae J 1 ri d Grounds if Payment of e t I i Blackmail Is Not I Forthcoming f 1 J WHEN it comes ij I crime arme waves wave 9 and andt andi t i V crimes of the theS mes an abnormal variety t S United States it would appear is not nott t alone Jn having to deal with the unprecedented unprecedented unprecedented un- un activities of bandits and andi blackmailers i Recent news reports from China hint h nt at the reign of terror occasioned within the Flowery Kingdom among Chinese of wealth and prominence by bythe bythe the ghoulish tactics of mongolian brigands brigands brigands brig- brig ands in hi giving their victims n a choice between between between be be- tween paying over huge sums of money t I j or having their sacred ancestral braves graves S robbed 1 y T Nothing disturbs the so placidity of i the Chinese mind as the thought of having the ancestral burial ground del deo de- de o l spoiled Bandits are now reported fc reaping g a a. rich ch ha harvest est at the expense expense ft RED iS t of this ancient belief which has to do dort rt f with the superstition that spoliation of the family burial plot brings disaster 21 x upon the living v f 4 If an American business man discovered discovered discovered ered beside his breakfast plate some 1 V morning a letter advising him that on ont t Z t a certain date the grave of some cherIshed cher- cher shed forebear would be opened and despoiled despoiled despoiled de- de spoiled unless a certain amount of ran ran- ran ran- om som Eom was forthcoming g his astonishment and horror would scarcely know any any bounds Great as his consternation might be however it would figure only as a mere flicker of concern compared ri to the that takes place in the t mind of the Chinese at the thought of 1 even tampering g with a leaf on the tombs Iy Ji of his ancestors If a grave in China is des despoiled not only must the living living relative suffer the 7 pangs of knowing that what what- he loves lovest t has been subjected to indignity He must live livo on in fear and trembling j i. i j afraid of his own shadow and not 4 knowing what streak of bad luck will befall him next Perhaps one of his children will fall ill Most likely his b business will fail Bad ad luck no honors 7 f short life these life these will surely follow fonow J 1 1 TN TN CHINA CHIN exists the great tradition of J L ancestor worship Graves are selected c h with far more care than homes There j yay ar are expert who study the tho horoscope and Ufa a history of the deceased in order to find a tomb site exactly favorable to to proper and fitting slumbers If the ancestors do down in the Yellow Springs of the underworld under are properly honored honored hon hen ored and conciliated it means pros pros- prosperity prosperity honors and longevity for de de- de- de It is necessary to appreciate all this in order to realize the full fuJI measure of p panic nic and dismay running rife in cerl l 1 g P 4 Fear of h having the ving the gra graves es of their ancestors despoiled P V by bandits results i is natives of China paying large largeL arge L M 55 trams gums to brigands I V F The Chinese bandits have also done a rushing business in kidnapping kidnapping kidnapping kid kid- napping representatives of foreign foreign foreign for for- eign nations and missionaries whom they held for ransom The etching shows slows an A American Amen Ameri eri- eri can can Lee Solomon who was one of a party released so long ago by the bandits tain tamn sections of China at the present moment Bandits in America content conten themselves with snatching payrolls breaking into banks and holding up innocent innocent innocent in in- pedestrians on the highway but brigands in China have fastened on a ghoulish method of extorting money that strikes at the very mainspring of Chinese existence A practice almost as old as the country itself that of extorting extorting extorting ex ex- money from well well-to-do Chinese by threatening to desecrate or by actually actually ac ac- ac- ac desecrating ancestral graves has been revived A letter is sent to the eminently respectable respectable respectable re re- prosperous citizen It threatens threatens threat threat- ens to exhume the bones of parents to burn them or scatter them to the four winds if money is not deposited in a certain certain certain tain carefully selected trysting place by bya a certain night The recipient of the letter let let- letter ter nearly goes wild N matter what sum is asked if the thc victim possesses it he will pay The extortionist is as certain certain certain tain to get his ransom as if he held a aI at I t Y f x 4 1 u 1 K M w y K 4 d 5 S W The Japanese also hold their dead in great veneration and always prepare food for the soul on its long journey The ho accompanying etching shows the bier of Prince kawa who was killed in an automobile accident in m Paris Pans spread with fish game and fruit living g in place of a dead body in host age His hold is as effectual as if he no held the breast of a loaded revolver at the ona one victimized In their newest weird stunt of terrorization terrorization terrorization ter- ter the ba bandits in the black of small in night hills hilIs rove out to the bands Torches and sometimes snatches of rough song mark their path as they make their way to the the wooded grave grave- yards that Hiat Surround the town If the Chinese brigand were not so nefarious in his doings he would seem more like a child playing at being a pirate He likes the swagger the show the mys- mys tery Bonfires make a red glow from the dark hills The pioneer citizens of who have not been able to leave have watched them from rom the doorsills of their little homes So it has c bU 1924 1824 W by Public Le Ledger ler Comp j Ca The funeral of a Chinese dignitary Is one of of the most 1 pictures imaginable In the etching is shown the ceremonies at the burial buria of Feng K KUo Kito o Cheng former President o of China become well known that Chin Chinas China's s marauder marauder marauder ma ma- is not merely threatening He has fulfilled his threat in cases where persons have not been able to secure ransom against the despoiling of their deadA dead A A worship is as old as China itself It is one of tho the leading tenets of Confucianism The Chinese believe believe believe be be- lieve a fathers father's death merely changes the form of a sons son's obligations and duty toward him He can no longer care for his fathers father's physical welfare but he can bring happiness to his spirit by leading an honest life and bringing distinction and prosperity to the family name The ancestral graves must never be left un- un cared for far the tho periodical sacrifices never neglected the family property never wasted If any of these discreditable circumstances occur the spirits become angry and punish progeny for that most serious of all crimes in China lack China lack of filial piety At certain seasons of the year all an the members of the family go up to offer edible delicacies as sacrifice at their ancestors ancestors' ancestors ancestors' ancestors ancestors' an an- tombs and to prostrate themselves themselves themselves them them- selves on the graves On these occasions family reunions take place and they are looked forward to in China much as Thanksgiving and Christmas reunions are happily anticipated here There is plenty of feasting and jollity nevertheless less the visits to the tombs are looked upon as sacred duty The threatened disturbance of graves in China has often been the cause of opposition to the building of railroads and the opening of mines No amount of care is spared in picking out a propitious propitious propitious pro pro- site for a grave This has todo to todo todo do with the strange of feng eng which means wind and water A sheng hsien-sheng la is a master in the wind of wind and water who makes grave- grave site selecting his vocation The richer the client the longer the sheng hsien-sheng takes to settle on the burial place for forthe forthe forthe the deceased deceased relative If d n family has a run of hard luck the wrong site for the grave of the forebears forebears forebears fore fore- bears is often blamed T There ere are quack hsien in China who go about preying on this fear Here for instance is the statement drawn up by a burying burying- ground specialist whose good faith was doubted by the authorities and whoso whose case reached the court I Statement showing cause why ChaB Ying's mus mu's graveyard i id iA OJ situated and will cause misfortunes and f early deaths and why the situ site now selected se- se will be the source of a constant flow of unhappiness As regards the I 1 j present site Firstly all aU along the front fron of the graveyard there is la a gully deep as the height of two men This is ia un un- lucky The gully presses against the J tombs like a wall obstructing the passage pas pall passage J sage of benign influences Secondly a ai small stream of water from the graveyard graveyard graveyard grave grave- yard after flowing a distance of a halt half halfa R Ra a li Ii vanishes in the sand The result of this on the family is that children die In their infancy Worse foreboding followed before th th 1 hsien- hsien hsien-cheng hsien heng went on to tell how perfect the new site he had selected really was wae L LAws T AWS in China for tampering with J- J graveyards diverse di diverse di- di are as plentiful and j I verse as our traffic regulations here I Fines for penalties for offenses are arc very definitely established Signs in cemeteries cemeteries cema- cema T teries frequently read Cutting or mutilating trees A without authority 10 Cutting shrubs of grass 6 5 tiao 1 Pasturing cattle donkeys 7 or mules 5 6 tiao t Penalty is never designed for th the offense of despoiling the actual grave The offense is considered so heinous and unthinkable that it is virtually un- un known v China has haa always had its bandit gangs but not since the earliest days have they resorted to the method of exhuming exhuming ex- ex j or threatening to exhume bodies jj to add to their gold It Is popularly believed the cult of 01 ancestral worship is something peculiar peculiar peculiar pe- pe culiar to the Far East That ancestor worship or something similar was practiced practiced practiced by the ancient Egyptians is assumed assumed assumed as as- by many students because of the tho extraordinary precautionary measures they took to preserve their dead and j because of the great store of riches found in ancient tombs The extraordinary extraordinary extraordinary nary beauties revealed at the unsealing r of the tomb of King and the opening of the inner chamber gives weight to this belief The Tho he superstition cited on all sides when Lord Carnarvon died shortly after the unsealing of the tomb is scholars say simply a relic 0 of the tenets of ancestor worship d 1 |
