eans who believe in
fortune-telling and luck, the result might be startling. But in most
civilized countries such things are furtive and apologetic. In China
the strangest forms of magic and divination enjoy public esteem. The
ideas which underlie popular practice and ritual are worthy of African
savages: there has been a monstrous advance in systematization, yet
the ethics and intellect of China, brilliant as are their
achievements, have not leavened the lump. The average Chinese, though
an excellent citizen, full of common sense and shrewd in business, is
in religious matters a victim of fatuous superstition and completely
divorced from the moral and intellectual standards which he otherwise
employs.

Conspicuous among these superstitions is Feng Shui or
Geomancy,[570] a pseudo-science which is treated as seriously as
law or surveying. It is based on the idea that localities have a sort
of spiritual climate which brings prosperity or the reverse and
depends on the influences of stars and nature spirits, such as the
azure dragon and white tiger. But since these agencies find expression
in the contours of a locality, they can be affected if its features
are modified by artificial means, for instance, the construction of
walls and towers. Buddhism did not disdain to patronize these notions.
The principal hall of a monastery is usually erected on a specially
auspicious site and the appeals issued for the repair of sacred
buildings often point out the danger impending if edifices essential
to the good Feng Shui of a district are allowed to decay. The
scepticism and laughter of the educated does not clear the air, for
superstition can flourish when neither respected nor believed. The
worst feature of religion in China is that the decently educated
public ridicules its external observances, but continues to practise
them, because they are connected with occasions of good fellowship or
because their omission might be a sign of disrespect to departed
relatives or simply because in dealing with uncanny things it is
better to be on the safe side. This is the sum of China's composite
religion as visible in public and private rites. Its ethical value is
far higher than might be supposed, for its most absurd superstitions
also recommend love and respect in family life and a high standard of
civic duty. But China has never admitted that public or private
morality requires the support of a religious creed.

As might be expected, l