were supposed by the Chinese to be spirits of the air, and, according. to Dr. Milne, are to be considered as cons, spirits or intelligences. In the Le- ke it is said that "if we speak of all the Shin collectively, we call them SHANG-TE (See SHANG-TE) (q.v.); but the very circumstance that the word Shin is a collective noun, and. never used with a numerical affix, shows that it cannot be considered as denoting the one supreme God.