Chapter I: Introductory

Attention of Late Bestowed on the Study of Folk-lore—China Presents
a most Interesting Field of Enquiry—Little as yet Done to bring
together what is Known upon the Subject—Similarity between Chinese
and Western Beliefs—Our Own Recent Emancipation from
Superstition—The Myth-making Faculty Common to all Mankind—Previous
Allusions to Chinese Folk-lore—Arrangements of Subjects—Chinese
Folk-lore Extensive—Probable Derivation from the Cradle of the
Aryan Races—Importance of Popular Beliefs in Chinese Estimation,
pp. 1–8.