Yang

“ Yang, abandoning his primitive tackle, was ready with the landing-net, and the fish was killed. As the sport continued, Jack grew calmer, while Yang’s excitement increased. He trembled as if the ague were upon him. His stoicism was laid aside. He laughed, jabbered, and Jack was obliged to address him as the Chinaman had addressed the Judgess. Yang begged to try the rod, and by reason of his imitative faculties might have made good use of it, but he had to content himself with the net.
At last the lengthening shadows deepened into twilight, and the gathering darkness put an end to the sport. ”

“ Yang was a man of tried virtue, and had he been able to tolerate oculo irretorto, the loss of his money, the priest would have given him, not merely a cure for the bodily ailment under which he was suffering, but a knowledge of those means by which he might have obtained the salvation of his soul, and have enrolled himself among the ranks of the Taoist Immortals. ”

“ Peter shook his head. "I came on another errand, which has nothing to do with Len Yang. But"—he threw away the half consumed cigarette—"you have made a mistake, Kahn Meng. The first matter to settle is the more important one of identity."
"Take me just as I am," pleaded Kahn Meng earnestly. "We have one desire, I know, in common—to clean up that horrible city! You have visited Len Yang. You know the wretched condition of the miners—slaves, poor devils. Perhaps you have seen them at nightfall coming from the shaft, dripping with the blood-red of the cinnabar, starving—blind!" ”

“ Their conversation was interrupted by the opening of the door.
"It is the illustrious Yang himself, who spoke good words to the boy-correcting mandarin; may he be turned into a bamboo himself in the next world," exclaimed Chow with a writhe of remembrance.
"Thou art the son of the good merchant, my correspondent?" said Yang.
"The face of the worthy merchant, is welcome in the hour of difficulty," said Nicholas. ”

“ Yin is “the principle of darkness, cold, and death, standing in the universe diametrically opposite to Yang”.46 The chief source of Yang is the sun, which gives forth “shen” or “soul substance”; the chief source of Yin is the moon. Yang strengthens the vital energy, and is the active principle in various elixirs of life, including, as De Groot notes, “the cock, jade, gold, pearls, and the products of pine and cypress trees”.47
Yin and Yang are controlled by the constellation, the Great Bear, called in China “the Bushel”. ”

“ Lady Feng dragged Yüan Yang into a seat. "Have your meal with us!" she said. "You'll thus save another fuss by and bye."
Yüan Yang readily seated herself. The matrons came up and added to the number of bowls and chopsticks, and the trio went through their meal.
"From all I see," smiled goody Liu, "you people eat just a little and finish. It's lucky you don't feel the pangs of hunger! But it isn't astonishing if a whiff of wind can puff you over!" ”

“ What can a stranger like you have to teach me? 'I have a secret,' replied Hui Yang, 'whereby my opponent, however brave or strong, can be prevented from harming me either by thrust or by blow. Would not your Highness care to know that secret?' 'Capital!' exclaimed K'ang; 'that is certainly something I should like to hear about.' Hui Yang went on: 'To render ineffectual the stabs and blows of one's opponent is indeed to cover him with shame. But my secret is one which will make your opponent, however brave or strong, afraid to stab or to strike at all! ”

“ After the space of a few moments spent in arranging certain objects and in inward contemplation, Yang Hu crossed the chamber, still holding the half-filled vessel of gold-leaf in his hand, and drawing back the hanging silk, gazed over the silent streets of Ching-fow and towards the great sky-lantern above.
“Hiya is faithless,” he said at length in an unspeaking voice; “this person’s mother a bitter-tasting memory, his father a swiftly passing shadow that is now for ever lost.” ”

“ YANG CHU AND MO TI.
“Master,” said a disciple, “people all declare that you are fond of disputing; I venture to ask if this is so.” “It is not,” replied Mencius; “the fact is that I cannot do otherwise. Inspired rulers are no longer in power; the feudal barons have thrown off all restraint; and idle scholars are discussing unorthodox themes. The words of Yang Chu and Mo Ti fill the empire, and those who are not on the side of one will be found on the side of the other. Yang’s doctrine is Every man for himself, which means that he recognizes no ruler. ”

“ As a matter of fact, the elusive and subtle Yang did return each night after his seeming departure, to patiently stand watch for the purpose of shadowing any one who left house. Yang could have shadowed a ghost, so I was not taking nearly the risk that I seemed to be in letting the clerical gentleman go his way.
“How did you know—” he began for the third time, as if obsessed with some peculiar desire for information. But again I cut the question short, half-maliciously.
“I know much more than most people give me credit for. ”

“ Hwant-sung received the new doctor with condescension, and placed in his hand the document which he was required to make plain.
But Lí, casting a meaning glance upon Yang and Kau, said:
“Can an indifferent scholar like myself presume to know more than these learned men! Know, O mighty emperor, thy servant was deemed unworthy of favor by thy commissioners Yang and Kau—surely, then, they must be more wise than Lí.”
Charmed with the boldness of the youth, the emperor graciously smiled upon him, and motioned the two mortified examiners to withdraw. ”

“ At each successive door of the Yamên the attendant stepped back and covered his face, so that he should by no chance perceive who had come upon so destructive a mission, the instant Yang Hu uttered the sign with which Tung Fel had provided him. In this manner Yang quickly reached the door of the inner chamber upon which was inscribed: “Let the person who comes with a doubtful countenance, unbidden, or meditating treachery, remember the curse and manner of death which attended Lai Kuen, who slew the one over him; so shall he turn and go forth in safety.” ”

“ At length, nine times reverently knocking his head before Hwant-sung, Yang said:
“Let not the displeasure of Earth’s Glory, before whose frown the whole world stands affrighted, annihilate his slave that the gods have not granted him power to do the will of his majesty in this thing. He cannot read.”
Then did Hwant-sung call up one after another of those whose scholastic lore was famed throughout the empire. In vain. ”

“ She wanted them to say, "How lovely was Yang Yuhan, who walked with the grace of willow flowers. For her beauty, men would build cities, or lay them low. She was the most artful woman of China."
5.
Not long after sunrise the next morning, for the Chinese Court day begins early, the retinue of the young Prince Shou came for Yuhan. Outwardly the house of Yang was quiet and austere; within all was turbulence. Hearts were fluttering, tears were falling, though also there were smiles. Yang Yuan-kuei was proud of Yuhan, proud that he had played so important a part in her upbringing. ”

“ Phantoms seem to flicker in the darkness before one's tense eyes, and the over-alert ears report all manner of faint, suspicious noises. I was alone in the house, not that being alone at all disturbed me, but even I, who am sometimes thought to be without emotion, am much more susceptible than I will admit to the startling effect of solitary and tense darkness. Each night after he turned out the lights, Yang left the house, and had any one taken the trouble to follow him, that person would have been convinced that he did not return until morning, for Yang was very subtle and elusive. ”

“ At these words Yang at first appeared confused, [Pg 121] and changed colour; then, assuming a more confident expression, "What are you thinking of?" she asked, "and what fancies have you got into your head? If there were any intention of making you marry again, do you think there would be any difficulty? What is the good of throwing oneself into the water before the ship is really going to pieces?"
The moment the lady Wang heard this allusion to the ship, she understood more clearly the meaning of the secret conference of her brother-in-law with his wife. ”

“ For these reasons King-y-Yang was especially desirous of obtaining one whose spoken word could be received, upon all points, as an assured fact, and it was, therefore, with an emotion of internal lightness that he confidently heard from those who were acquainted with the person that Sen Heng was, by nature and endowments, utterly incapable of representing matters of even the most insignificant degree to be otherwise than what they really were. ”

“ We left Ku-Pei-Ko̔u the next morning, going our several ways—Saurin and Frater to Mongolia, Murray and I to the Tombs of the Mings, which I must tell you about in another letter.
As you interest yourself about Chinese curiosities and antiquities, I will add a few words about the Yang and Yin, to which I alluded in the early part of my letter.
You may have noticed on old porcelain and other ornaments this device. It is the symbol of Yang and Yin, the universal male and female principle of creation to which everything is referred. The celestial principle is male, the terrestrial female ”

“ The superstition is connected with the ancient Chinese philosophic doctrine of the Yang and the Yin—the complementary forces and qualities which pervade all nature, such as male and female, light and dark, warmth and cold, activity and passivity, positive and negative, life and death. It was supposed that all evergreens must have a greater store of the yang element (life, vitality) than other trees, because they retain their foliage through the winter; and of evergreen trees those prized most by the Chinese for their life-giving qualities were and are the fir and the cypress. ”

“ No one can gain any adequate idea of the magnitude of the Empire of China until he has journeyed up that great waterway, the Yang-tse-Kiang, and observed the millions upon millions of natives that throng both the river and its banks. For the first four hundred miles of its twisting, serpentine course, the Yang-tse seems to wind through one successive village, back of which the skilfully cultivated gardens and fields are visible. The people as a rule seem peaceful and plodding ”

“ For without taking Yüan Yang into account, what girl does not long to rise high, or hope to exalt herself, or think of pushing herself forward above the rest as to cast away the chances of becoming half a mistress, and prefer instead being a maid, and merely becoming by and bye the mate of some servant-lad?"
"Quite so!" Madame Hsing smiled. "But let's put Yüan Yang aside. Who is there, even among the various elderly waiting-maids, who look after the house, who wouldn't be only too willing to step into these shoes? ”

“ At Yang-lin, which is built on the south-western margin of the Sung-ming Lake, we occupied a room in a new inn, and were regaled with excellent fish from the clear water we had just passed. How easy it is for a Chinese official to show his contempt for a foreigner. On the way to Yang-lin, I was provided with an escort in the shape of a small boy of thirteen, wearing a sword nearly as long as himself, who turned out to be fonder of bird-nesting than of affording protection and assistance! ”

“ His friends tried to appease him by advising him to try at the further examination of the rejected, and when he urged that he had no money, they subscribed ten ounces of silver and started him on his way.
That night he dreamt that a man appeared to him and said, “Ahead of you there is one who can cure your complaint: beseech him to aid you.” The man then added—
“A tune on the flute ’neath the riverside willow:
Oh, show no regret when ’tis cast to the billow!” Next day, Mr. Yang actually met a Taoist priest sitting beneath a willow tree ”

“ If you listen to people's discourses throughout it, you will find that they have adopted the views either of Yang or of Mo. Now, Yang's principle is "each one for himself," which does not acknowledge the claims of the sovereign. Mo's principle is "to love all equally," which does not acknowledge the peculiar affection due to a father. But to acknowledge neither king nor father is to be in the state of a beast. Gong Meng Yi said, "In their kitchens, there is fat meat. In their stables, there are fat horses. ”

“ Just beyond the Han was Han Yang, once a fine city, but now in ruins, one of the results of the Tae-ping rebellion. Across the Yang Tsze, here a mile wide, was Wuchang, the residence of the viceroy of the Hupeh province. This place was supposed to be closed to foreigners, but Charley and I had made many a secret visit, and had some rare sport among the curiosity shops, with occasionally an adventure of a less pleasing description, about which I should like to tell you if I had time. ”

“ Goody Liu thanked her with vehemence, so Yüan Yang, in point of fact, produced several more articles of clothing, and these she packed up for her. Goody Liu thereupon expressed a desire to also go into the garden and take leave of Pao-yü and the young ladies, Madame Wang and the other inmates and to thank them for all they did for her, but Yüan Yang raised objections. "You can dispense with going!" she remarked. "They don't see any one just now! But I'll deliver the message for you by and bye! When you've got any leisure, do come again. ”

“ Being now within a step of Ping Siang and the completion of his undertaking, Yang Hu drew tighter the cords of his mask, tested and proved his weapons, and then, without further delay, threw open the door before him and stepped into the chamber, barring the door quickly so that no person might leave or enter without his consent. ”