which the Chinese delight to express painful
or repulsive subjects. No emperor ever "dies," he becomes "a guest on
high." No son will say that his parents are "dead;" but merely that
"they are not." The death of an official is expressed by "he is drawing
no salary;" of an ordinary man it may be said that "he has become an
ancient," very much in the same way that we say "he has joined the
majority." A corpse in a coffin is in its "long home;" when buried,
it is in "the city of old age," or on "the terrace of night." To say
grossly, then, that a man took poison would be an offence to ears
polite.

CHAPTER VIII--RECREATION

To return, after a long digression. The age of manly sport, as above
described, has long passed away; and the only hope is for a revival
under the changing conditions of modern China. Some few athletic
exercises have survived; and until recently, archery, in which the
Tartars have always excelled, was regarded almost as a semi-divine
accomplishment. Kite-flying has reached a high level of skill. Clever
little "messengers" have been devised, which run up the string, carrying
fire-crackers which explode at a great height. There is a game of
shuttlecock, without the battledore, for which the feet are used as
a substitute; and "diavolo," recently introduced into Europe, is an
ancient Chinese pastime. A few Manchus, too, may be seen skating during
the long northern winter, but the modern inhabitant of the Flowery Land,
be he Manchu or Chinese, much prefers an indoor game to anything
else, especially when, as is universally the case, a stake of money is
involved.

Gambling is indeed a very marked feature of Chinese life. A child buying
a cake will often go double or quits with the stall-keeper, to see if he
is to have two cakes or nothing, the question being settled by a throw
of dice in a bowl. Of the interval allowed for meals, a gang of coolies
will devote a portion to a game of cards. The cards used are smaller
than the European pack, and of course differently marked; they were the
invention of a lady of the Palace in the tenth century, who substituted
imitation leaves of gilt paper for real leaves, which had previously
been adopted for playing some kind of game. There are also various games
played with chequers, some of great antiquity; and there is chess, that
is to say, a game so little differing from our chess as to leave no
doubt as to the common origin of both. In all of these the money elem