her husband's mother. These acts lead
at once to family feuds, which sometimes end in bloodshed; more often in
money compensation; and the known risk of such contingencies operates as
a wholesome check upon aggressive treatment of the weak by the strong.

Divination and fortune-telling have always played a conspicuous part in
ordinary Chinese life. Wise men, of the magician type, sit at stalls
in street and market-place, ready for a small fee to advise those
who consult them on any enterprise to be undertaken, even of the most
trivial kind. The omens can be taken in various ways, as by calculation
based upon books, of which there is quite a literature, or by
drawing lots inscribed with mystic signs, to be interpreted by the
fortune-teller. Even at Buddhist temples may be found two kidney-shaped
pieces of wood, flat on one side and round on the other, which are
thrown into the air before an altar, the results--two flats, two rounds,
or one of each--being interpreted as unfavourable, medium, and very
favourable, respectively.

Of all Chinese superstitions, the one that has been most persistent,
and has exerted the greatest influence upon national life, is the
famous Wind-and-Water system (_feng shui_) of geomancy. According to
the principles which govern this system, and of which quite a special
literature exists, the good or evil fortunes of individuals and
the communities are determined by the various physical aspects and
conditions which surround their everyday life. The shapes of hills,
the presence or absence of water, the position of trees, the height of
buildings, and so forth, are all matters of deep consideration to
the professors of the geomantic art, who thrive on the ignorance of
superstitious clients. They are called in to select propitious sites for
houses and graves; and it often happens that if the fortunes of a family
are failing, a geomancer will be invited to modify in some way the
arrangement of the ancestral graveyard. Houses in a Chinese street are
never built up so as to form a line of uniform height; every now and
again one house must be a little higher or a little lower than its
neighbour, or calamity will certainly ensue. It is impossible to walk
straight into an ordinary middle-class dwelling-house. Just inside the
front door there will be a fixed screen, which forces the visitor to
turn to the right or to the left; the avowed object being to exclude
evil spirits, which can only move in straigh