Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 7/Vendor
The Itinerant Vendor
Pedlars sell spirit charms from such idols as the Ling kwan and the T‘ien shih; both are to prevent or to heat diseases.
They sell the spirit cat which is the figure of a cat painted on paper with the charm 勅令, chih ling, written on it. Also the pictures of Chung K‘uei (鍾馗), which ward off demons. He was a scholar of the T‘ang dynasty. Scholars take his pictures to the examination boxes to keep away demons during the examinations.
They also sell pictures of the hills and valleys, of flowers and bamboos (generally as scrolls), of various birds and animals, also a well-known set of four Chinese pictures of fisherman, woodman, farmer and student.
Imitations of ancient styles of writing are also hawked about.
Mai hsin wên is the news vendor. Sometimes the news is purely of an idolatrous and superstitious nature, at others it is political and agitating.
Chu-ko Liang is believed to have written a number of prophetical sayings, which he had engraved on stone slabs and buried; every now and then one of these is reported to have been dug up and the inscription printed in cheap book form and sold as reliable news. There is an unlimited supply of words and examples from the lives of eminent men printed and sold, as well as stories of the efficacious and healing power of the idols, or how these idols meted out retributions to the wicked, or prescribed a medicine to stop a plague.
Another work sold is the prophetical utterances of the celestials as contained in the Kuan Yin ching or the T‘ai Yang ching.
Others sell ch‘uan su ko (勸俗歌), ballads which exhort the people against gambling, wine and fornication, or illustrated booklets which describe the evils of opium.