A god, said to be some 300 ears old, which has changed its iplace} of residence on a number of occasions and still retains its original dignity and appearance (some dust, of course, spoiling the beauty of his. face and clothes) has been for some time past: attracting the attention of many of those who attend the sessions of the Mixed Court.
Being curious to know who this|N god is, why he sits in the building in the north ofthe courtyard faving three of the court rooms and why he accepts the offerings of incense and candles that are burnt in his honour and in his presence, a representative of the North-China Daily News" made a ow inquiries.
On Friday (October 20), the first day of the moon, a number of Chinese offered their respects in the usual form of incense, candles and kow-towing (which is the practice on the first and 15th of each moon and on festival days) and it appeared to be an excellent day to secure information.
The god,, we learn, was made, as stated, more than 300 years ago, and has been moved from years ago he was transferred to his present position from the Nanking Road temple. He is known as the Tu De Shun (the God of Earth) and is guarded by nine smaller images.
In the olden times the yamen runners took the place of the pre-Isent day court officials and detect-lives. Ib was their duty to serve warrants and, summonses as well as to_arrest robbers, murderers and criminals. Before they went out on their mission, they were sure= to prostrate themselves before Tu.
Shun and ask for his blessing and aid in securing success. Whenever they succeeded in their missions and returned to the yamen they offered their thanks.
Magistrates in the olden days performed more worship than their present day successors. On the first and 15th day of each imonih, they offered sacrifices (a thing which the present day magistrates do not do) and asked the gods to give them wisdom to, perform their duties as judges in a proper and upright manner, administering justice to all so that both the people would be satisfied and the god to whom they prayed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.