File:Lion and dragon in northern China (1910) (14780963011).jpg

Identifier: liondragoninnort00john (find matches)
Title: Lion and dragon in northern China
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Johnston, Reginald Fleming, Sir, 1874-1938
Subjects: Weihaiwei
Publisher: New York, E. P. Dutton and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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upon Kuan Ti by the present dynasty, and he hasbeen raised to a theoretical equality with Confucius.Had the Boxers succeeded in driving all foreignersout of China it is possible that he (or the deifiedEmpress-Dowager herself) might have been raised toa position of something approaching pre-eminenceamong the gods of China. The walled city of Weihaiwei has, of course, itsKuan Ti temple, as we have seen in connection withthe story of the great fishbone found by one of theLiu family.1 In this temple there is a very large andheavy weapon which might be described as a kindof sword or spear. Weapons of this type are commonenough in China, though when of such great size andweight as that in the Kuan Ti temple they are intendedmore for show than for use, and accordingly find amore appropriate position in a temple or an officialyamen than on a field of battle. The Weihaiweisword—if such it may be called—is of sufficient fameto be specially mentioned in the local Annals. It is1 See pp. 26-7,
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IMAGE OF KUAN TI, WEIHAIWEI. p. 362) A CHINESE EXCALIBUR 363 there described, accurately enough, as being more thana chang in. length (say about twelve English feet) andone hundred catties in weight (say one hundred andthirty-three English pounds). The blade is made ofiron, and there is much skilful and delicate orna-mentation in copper. No other temple, says theChronicle, il has anything like it. Old folks havehanded down the tradition that it came out of the seawith a deep rolling sound (something like the lowingof cattle). The people of the neighbourhood heard thesound and went near the strange object. When theylifted it up and examined it, lo ! it was a great sword.So they carried it off and presented it reverentiallyto the spirit of Kuan Ti. The god of war, obvi-ously, was the proper person to possess a weaponwhich no human arm was strong enough to wield.The written account gives us no clear statement ofhow this Chinese Excalibur came out of the sea: butthe present warden of the

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