One  of  the  vexatious  things  which  the
foreigner  in  China  has  to  encounter  is  the
"  feng  shui,"  a  peculiar  geomantic  supersti-
tion by  which  the  good  luck  of  sites  and
buildings  is  determined.  The  literal  render-
ing of  the  term  is  "wind  and  water,"  but
its  real  meaning  is  the  harmony  of  the  air
and  water  spirits  with  buildings  and  the  cir-
cumjacent region.  If  one's  house  is  not  on
the  right  spot,  the  "feng-shui"  will  be  bad,
and  all  sorts  of  calamities  will  befall  its
occupants.  If  on  the  right  spot,  it  will  be
good,  etc.
As  only  the  geomancers  or  soothsayers
can  determine  this  point,  the  application  is
rather  arbitrary.  The  railroads  are  very
antagonistic  to  the  "feng-shui,"  because
they  are  generally  straight,  while  good
spirits,  as  is  well  known,  always  travel  on
curves.  One  company  of  wealthy  Chinese
merchants  bought  an  English  railroad  at
Shanghi  twelve  miles  long,  and  destroyed  it


6i<i


PERILS   TO   FOREIGNERS    IN    CHINA.
to  placate  those  same  spirits.  In  several
cities,  whole  streets  of  houses  are  shown
only  two  stories  high  which  were  originally
intended  to  be  three,  but  had  their  con-
struction stopped  on  account  of  those  oppo-
site being  no  higher,  and  consequently
provocative  of  a  very  bad  "  feng-shui."

Massacre  at  Tien-Tsin.
It  is  said  that  the  real  cause  of  the  terri-
ble massacre  of  Europeans  at  Tien-Tsin  in
1870  was  owing  to  the  erection  of  a  high
tower  for  the  French  cathedral,  which,  as  it
overlooked  all  other  structures  in  its  vicin-
ity, was  peculiarly  bad  "feng-shui"  for
that  part  of  the  city  and  religiously  re-
sented.
