Elaborate preparations are being made by Chinese throughout the country to observe the Festival of the Water Spirits, known in Chinese as the Vu Lien Hui, which takes plice each year on the 15th of the 7th moon, toward the end of August or early in Septemb according to the western calendar 'The festival is a religious one and is sometimes called the Chung Yuan. Chieh, the Spirits' Festival. Chinese followers of the Buddhist re-Aigion in every, nook and corner. of country will observe the day with due relolengs. an the iginal idea is that, with the approach of the Spring (though, with the present heat, it is yet' early to speak of the Spring), all ancestral spirits must be attended to and fed.
Prior to the great day, the gentry elders of the various villages start financial campaigns for funds to meet expenses in connexion with the festival. Already, numerous Shanghai residents have been a} proached and not a few foreigners have contributed very generously. The contributor pays on the understanding that the spirits of- his cesters or of these who are without descendants will bless him for his generosity and for his mite, How foreigners are affected the writer 18 been unable to ascertain. "In eases where persons die without issue, subscriptions are offered simply in tue form of charity.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.