_Kan-ing-p'ien_ affords
a good example of the superstition in question:--

Tchang-tchun was Minister of State under the reign of Hoei-tsong,
of the Song dynasty. He occupied himself wholly in weaving
perfidious plots. He died in exile at Mo-tcheou. Sometime after,
while the Emperor was hunting, there fell a heavy rain, which
obliged him to seek shelter in a poor man's hut. The thunder rolled
with violence; and the lightning killed a man, a woman, and a
little boy. On the backs of the man and woman were found red
characters, which could not be deciphered; but on the back of the
little boy the following six words could be read, written in
Tchouen (_antique_) characters:
TSE-TCH'IN-TCHANG-TCHUN-HEOU-CHIN,--which mean: "Child of the issue
of Tchang-tchun, who was a rebellious subject."--_Le Livre des
Recompenses et des Peines, traduit par Stanislas Julien_, p. 446.

PAGAL.--The ankle-ring commonly worn by Hindoo women; it is
also called _nupur_. It is hollow, and contains loose bits of metal,
which tinkle when the foot is moved.

SAN-HIEN.--A three-stringed Chinese guitar. Its belly is
usually covered with snake-skin.

SIU-FAN-TI.--Literally, "the Sweeping of the Tombs,"--the day
of the general worship of ancestors; the Chinese "All-Souls'." It falls
in the early part of April, the period called _tsing-ming_.

TA-CHUNG SZ'.--Literally, "Temple of the Bell." The building at
Pekin so named covers probably the largest suspended bell in the world,
cast in the reign of Yong-lo, about 1406 A.D., and weighing upwards of
120,000 pounds.

TAO.--The infinite being, or Universal Life, whence all forms
proceed: Literally, "the Way," in the sense of the First Cause.
Lao-tseu uses the term in other ways; but that primal and most important
philosophical sense which he gave to it is well explained in the
celebrated Chapter XXV. of the _Tao-te-king_.... The difference between
the great Chinese thinker's conception of the First Cause--the
Unknowable,--and the theories of other famous metaphysicians, Oriental
and Occidental, is set forth with some definiteness in Stanislas
Julien's introduction to the _Tao-te-king_, pp. x-xv. ("Le Livre de la
Voie et de la Vertu." Paris, 1842.)

THANG.--The Dynasty of Thang, which flourished between 620 and
907 A.D., encouraged literature and art, and gave to China its most
brilliant period. The three poets of the Thang dynasty mention