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yV)/^    )^3t?f>
THE
RELIGIOUS SYSTEM
OF
CHINA.
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Frontispiece.
The Front.
The Back.
Longevity Garment.
LICHTDRUK V** EM*1K ê ilNGER , MAAHLEM
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J\'4°5!S
THE
RELIGIOUS SYSTEM
OF
CHINA,
Jts Ancient Forms, JSroLVTios, HisroRr and Presext Aspect.
Maxxers, Ci stoms axd Soa al J xstitctions coxxected therewitu
HY
J. J. M. DE GROOT, PH. D.
PUDMSHED WITII A SUBVENTION KROM THE DUTCII
OOLONIAL GOVERNMENT.
VOLUME I.
BOOK I.
DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD,
Part I. Fnneral Ril es. — Part II, The Idean of Resurrection.
LEYDEN,
E. J. BRILL.
1892.
RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT TE UTRECHT
A06000023012044B
2301 204 4
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All rights reserved.
PR1KXED BY E. J. BR1LL AT LEYDEN.
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TO
J. T. CREMER, Esq., of The Hague,
AND
P. W. JANSSEN, Esq., of Amsterdam,
BT WHOSE MUNIFICENCE IT IS NOW PÜBLISHED,
THIS WORK IS GRATEFULLT DEDICATED
BT THE AUTHOR.
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GENERAL PREFACE.
Many books, and many good books, have been written on China.
Yet the state of our knowledge of the Chinese Religious System is
not such as to exclude all further study in the wide field it embraces,
or to render unnecessary a publication of the results of new researches
made therein. Consequently no apology is needed for the appearance of
this work.
From what has heretofore been written on the subject in Europe
and America, it is tolerably manifest that Religion in China is but little
more tban a great art, or combination of arts, for promoting wel-
fare in this present life and future salvation, by following certain lines
of conduct and by propitiating or rendering harmless certain classes
of invisible beings and agencies. This art is regulated by customs,
rescripts, and partly also by written laws issued by the Imperial Govern-
ment; it is controlled to a certain extent by philosophy, and to a much
larger extent by precedents set by the ancestors of the people. Many of
these precedents have been unearthed by Western scholars, who have dished
them up according to their lights and drawn from them many interesting
conclusions. Some philosophical treatises have been translated in their
entirety. But the present Religious System of the nation such as it lies open
to the world has never been made a subject of serious study, neither
has a picture ever been drawn of the Rites, Ceremonies, Rules of conduct
and Discipline which are virtually practised by the people, nor have
the ideas and doctrines which enforce them ever been sketched on an
elaborate ecale. In other words, Sinologists have never taken any
serious pains to penetrate into the intimate Religious Life of the nation.
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GENERAL PREFACE.
VIII
Therefore it cannot be a matter of wonder that the scanty existing
works which aspire at exhibiting the Religious System as a whole, are
simply pictures patched together from insufficiënt material giving but a
very poor likeness of the original, nay, sometimes even a caricature.
The present work is an attempt at depicting the Chinese Keligion
as it is really practised by the nation, and at sketching on a broad scale
its influence on Domestic and Social Life. It is the fruit of an intimate
contact with the Chinese race for several years. Since first setting foot
on the wide field of Sinologicaï studies, the author has adopted a course
of systematically committing to paper whatever customs, usages and
religious observances presented themselves to his view either in the
Middle Kingdom or the transmarine Colonies where Chinese emigrants
have settled; no opportunity of acquiring an insight into the different
phases of Social and Religious Life of the Chinese has been allowed to
escape him. The liberality of the Government of the JJutch Indies placed
him in a position to pursue for years this line of investigation on the
Chinese soil, where he lived in close contact with the people, periodically
joining their family circles and spending much time in their Convents
and Temples. He had thus an opportunity of gathering a rich harvest of
scientific material in an extensive field hitherto unexplored. Priests of every
sect, exorcists, necromancers, men of letters, professors of geomancy, in
short, whoever might be presumed to stand in any relation with religion,
have been constantly consulted; large numbers of books, tracts and
manuscripts have been collected, copied and translated; thus light has
been steadily derived from the one side to elucidate the other, and vice-
versa. If the results of these labours should prove to be of some little use
to Science, the latter will be indebted in the first place to the assistance
and protection affbrded the author by the Government of the Dutch East
Indian Colonies, at that time represented by Their Excellencies Dr. J. P.
Sprenger Van Eyk as Minister for Colonial Affairs, and Mr. O. Van Rees
as Governor-General. It is here the agreeable duty of the author to
publicly express his gratitude to these Statesmen.
It is scarcely necessary to say that it is impossible for any man to
extend his researches in the boundless field of Ethnography and Religion
over the whole area of the Chinese Empire. Iie would naturally find him-
self confined to a small part of it. For such purpose the writer has selected
the south-eastern departments of Fuhkien province, and in particular the
town and is land of Amoy. However, whenever the subject demanded it,
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IX
GBNBIUL PRKFACE.
his investigations have been pushed mach farther. Thus lengthy references
will be fouud in this work to matters personally inquired into in the
provinces of Kwangtung and Kiangsi, in the cities of Nanking and
Peking and their environs, and in many other parts of the realm; the
data on the monastic life of the Buddhist clergy have all been collected
in the northern districts of Fuhkien, because in the south of this pro-
vince large Convents are now-a-days conspicuous by their absence. The
exiguity of the field wherein the researches have been chiefly pursued,
cannot be a drawback. Observations made in different parts of China hav-
ing only proved that, throughout this empire, the Customs and Manners
in the Social and Eeligious domains aro remarkable for their great uniform-
ity on the more important points, consequently any part of the nation
may safely be taken as a type of the whole, and local deviations do not
seriously diminish the value of a picture drawn from such a type. On
the other hand, there certainly is a great advantage in limiting the field
of one\'s researches within narrow confines. It allows of an opportunity
to check the correctness of each observation over and over again by
repeated observations, thus ensuring exactitude and affording a valuable
eafeguard against serious errors and misinterpretations. The method
hitherto so generally pursued of wildly grasping about for facts in different
eub-divisions of the empire and presenting a compendium thereof as
a picture of the whole nation, has rendered no good service to Science.
On the contrary, Science has been led astray by being thus entangled in
a mass of confused information, much of which had to be cast aside
as utterly unfit for use, no one knowing to what part of the country it
referred. Suppose for a moment that Spanish, Swedish, öreek and British
customs were grouped together without any reference to the particular
country in which a peculiar custom prevails, and presenled to the world
as a sketch of European Jife in general, would not every European im-
mediately condemn the work as a ridiculous caricature? Yet, books on
China are written in this way, and no single word of protest is heard; they
meet with the general approval of the world, run through several
editions, and Science is thrown back upon them as authorities, nay, as
Standard works!
The plan of this work being essentially different from that hitherto
foliowed by most writers on Chinese Religion and Ethnography, very
little material collected by them can enter into its composition. In one
respect this is very satisfactory to the author, as this will stamp the
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GENBRAL PRBPACB.
X
present work as an entirely new production, drawn up independently of
all previous writers.
The question bas long occupied the mind of the writer whether
it would not be preferable to confine himself strictly to a description
of the Beligious System in its narrowest sense, and thus considerably
reduce the bulk of the work. This idea, however, has had to give way
to the consideration, that such would entail a renunciation of the
chief article in his programme, which is to depiot the influence of
Eeligion upon society in its several degrees. The reader will soon be-
conie aware that, as with semi-civilized peoples in general, so in China
religious ideas and usages pervade social life to its inmost recesses, that
these are, so to say, the backbone of the marmers and customs, of the
domestic and political institutions of the nation, and to a large extent of
its legislation. Whoever is acquainted with its religion, knows the people.
It may be asked whether it is not too venturesome to undertake a work
embracing such an extensive field, The answer to this is that the author\'s
store of materials will enable him to complete it, if life and health be
granted him. And should the present writer not finish his task, others may
thereby be encouraged to take it up and complete it.
All the Manners, Customs, Religious and Social institutions are
founded upon the past and are the embodied ideas of earlier generations.
So, rightly to understand them, a knowledge of Antiquity is necessary.
For this reason, the Manners, Customs, Practices and Rites dealt with in
this work are as far as possible traced back to their fountain head,
such as they are described in the literary remains of Ancient and
Mediseval China. Native books which throw light on the actual state
of things, are also made to serve as safeguards against misstatements
and as useful guides to prevent our swerving from the path of truth and
rectitude.
This method has one great drawback. It swells considerably the
bulk of the work and renders the contents less attractive to the general
reader. But, considering that the high stand-point which modern Science
has attained, implicitly demands light from every reliable source from
whence light may be drawn, no otber plan was open to the writer. More-
over, nobody will deny that, apart from the plain facts gleaned from actual
life, nothing is at present so much needed with regard to China as the
translation of the treasures buried in the native literature. Giving due
weight to this point, the author has not scrupled at q uut ing even more
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GENERAL PREFACE.
XI
texts than were strictly necessary for the elucidation of his subject.
Nine at least out of every ten of these extracts it will be found have
never been uneartbed before. Where the length forms no impediment,
the original Chinese texts are quoted at foot, that Sinologists may judge
for themselves of the correctness of the English translation.
In thus describing the Religious and Social Institutions of China in
botb their ancient and modern form, the present work , when complete,
will be found to present a picture of the growth of culture on yonder side
of the globe. It will also be found to give a synopsis of the Philosophy
of the empire, in so far as this has virtually struck root in the mind of the
nation and operated upon its Religious and Social Life. It will review a
great part of the domain of the Mythology of China; legends, popular tales
and even childish superstitions will be reproduced in its pages in con-
siderable numbers, as useful materials for attaining a knowledge of the
conceptions and ideas of the people and of the true condition of their
mental culture. By facts produced from both Chinese literature and actual
life it will confirm as well as refute many conclusions arrived at by Western
authors in the field of Ethnology, Sociology and the Science of Religion.
China may, in fact, be considered a valuable touchstone for many of
our theories in these branches of science, this being greatly due to its
spirit of conservatism, now proverbial, which scarcely ever allows the
nation to drop a custom bequeathed to it by former generations. Many
rites and practices still flourish among the Chinese, which one would
scarcely expect to find anywhere except amongst savages in a low
stage of culture.
The task of comparing the Religious and Social customs of China
with those prevailing elsewhere on the globe must, however, be left
to others. For many years the author regularly noted down in his
manuscript whatever parallels he came across in the course of his
readings, but in the long run he had to discontinue this method, which
proved too great a demand upon his time and encroached too mucb upon
his studies of Chinese works. Moreover, if he had pursued such a
course to the end, his manuscript would have swollen so enormously
as to render its publication an impossibility. Therefore, in carrying
this first volume through the press, all references to other tribes and na-
tions, with the exception of a few brief notes, have been eliminated,
and the same rule will be observed in all subsequent volumes. The reader
will, however, soon become aware that those references have left a distinct
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GENERAL PREFACE.
XII
mark upon this work, a mark chiefly manifested by the fact that the
author has foliowed the beaten track of Science for the study of Reli-
gions and Sociology in general.
So far for the general scope of this work. A few words now remain
to be said on its arrangement.
It will be subdivided in Books, each Book dealing with a separate
part of the Religious System of China. Each succeeding Book will depend
on the data supplied by the previous Books, so that the whole will
form one catena, from which, however, any link may be detached and
freely made use of separately. The two first parts of Book I are now
before the reader and they may serve to convey a general idea of the
method to be pursued to the end of the work.
The reason why the Usages connected with Deaths have been made
the starting-point of this work, is set forth in a few introductory sentences
on page 1. The third part of Book I is now going through the press
and will be ready for publication next year as a separate volume.
It embraces the whole series of Customs, Practices and Institutions relat-
ive to the Tomb and the Body, after the latter has been placed therein.
Besides suggesting a theory which may explain the origin of burying
the dead, it deals with the ancient custom of depositing property,
inclusive of wives and slaves, in the grave and depicts the profound
influence this practice has exercised over society ever since, as also the
customs which it has created in course of time, such as mourning,
fasting, sacrificing the semblances of men, animals and things to the
deceased, and the like. It contains elaborate descriptions of Tombs
and Burial grounds of both ancient and modern times, and of the Imperial
Mausolea ot the late Ming dynasty, the only Chinese monuments
of the kind which have escaped the ravages of time and the hand
of man. It reviews the public and private prolection which in China
is awarded to the dead and tbeir resting places, as also the legis-
lation on this point. Many pages are devoted to the prevailing system
of placing the graves under the beneficient influences of nature, in
order that they may be rich sources of happiness to the survivors, a
system which, while passing for the outcome of the profoundest wisdom
and the most sublime science, has, under the name ofFung shui,
ever exercised a most tyrannical sway over the mind of the nation. Besides
numerous other subjects, the same volume elaborately treats of the
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XIII
GBNEHAL PREFACE.
exceptional methods of disposing of the dead, such as by cremation,
water-burial, partial burial, and so forth.
The Second Book will deal more especially with the Soul. After
reviewing the Chinese theories, ancient and modern, about the human
duplicate, it will expatiate on Spirit-lore and Demonology, on the influence
exercised everywhere by disembodied spirits upon the fate of man, on
the numerous methods of rendering such influences harmless, methods
which to a certain extent form the groundwork of Chinese medical
science, if science it may be called. Mach attention will be bestowed
on the superstitions connected with names and the avoidance of the use
thereof with a view to deceiving evil spirits, which practice has given
rise to an elaborate system of conferring titles and honorary names
on both the living and the dead. Some chapters will treat specially
of benevolent spirits and the part they play in the Universe, showing
the various methods, ancient and modern, of consulting these beings
with a view to being guided by their revelations and so ensuring
success to undertakings of any importance. Several chapters will be de-
voted to the systematic propitiation of the deceased ancestors by sacrifices
and acts of worship both in the family circle and in temples dedicated
to them, with which the soil of the empire is studded in incredible numbers.
Taoism was originally a compendium of customs and practices
framed upon the prevailing ideas concerning the human soul. Adopting
these as its own, it cast them into a system of Philosophy, Alchemy
and Religion. This system is accordingly first dealt with after the
Soul, in a separate Book. Under Taoist influence the primitive notions
of a future existence developed into well defined doctrines about Paradises
and Hells, which will consequently form one of the principal subjects of
the Third Book.
The Fourth Book will be devoted to the widest ramifications of
the Religious System of China: the Worship and Propitiation of Human
Souls beyond the circle of their own family or tribe, by the whole
nation or a considerable part of it. Souls which are the objects of so
much attention, whether they be identified with the powers of Nature and
the constituent parts of Cosmos, or with animals, plants or lifeless objects,
may be said to have been raised to the dignity of Gods and Goddesses,
and indeed they have been generally so denominated by European authors
ever since China was opened to them as a field of study. Important
and comprehensive though this expansion of the Ancestral Worship be,
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GENERAL PREFACE.
XIV
but very little attention has hitherto been paid to it by Sinology; scarcely
any pains have as yet been taken to study the rites and ceremonies, by which
the people uninterruptedly propitiate those divinities within their domestic
circle and in the numberless temples sacred to their worship throughout the
realm. The writer of this work has therefore been especially careful in
collecting, during many years, whatever feil within the sphere of his
personal obserrations on this point. Besides detailed accounts of the people\'s
every day practices with regard to their Gods, the Fourth Book will
contain descriptions of the Yearly Festivals instituted in their honour, of
the Sacrifices, Masses, and Ceremonies to conjure epidemics, droughts and
conflagrations. Much will be said about the Priests connected with this
peculiar branch of the Religious System, as also about the Exorcists and
Physicians who make it their vocation to be at times possessed of thegods
and to act as the mouthpieces of their will. Large portions of the Book
will consist of detailed monographies of all the principal Deities who
actually perform a part in the field of Religious Life.
Buddhism, being an importation from a foreign country, must in
turn be treated of next after the Religion of the native soil. While
studying this Church in China, the writer foliowed the same plan
which he had adopted with regard to the other branches of the
Religious System, always directing his attention in the first place
to the actual state of matters. He spent certain periods of time in the
principal Convents of Fuhkien province, and long notes on the daily life
and the religious performances of the Monks were committed to paper.
The many unknown facts thus collected may probably be found useful
to Science, information as to the actual monastic life both in China
and other Buddhistic countries being, it is well-known, scanty in the
extreme. Translations of the Laws of this Church, and of such of its
Sacred Writings as really play a part within and without its pale, will
also be inserted in the Fifth Book at considerable length, by far the
greater part of such writings never having been rendered into any
European tongue before. Much pains will be taken to define the place
which the different branches, sects or schools of Buddhism occupy in China
at the present day, as also to show the influence of this Church over
the laity, an influence which is chiefly manifested by the creation of
Vegetarian Sects with strongly pronounced eclectic tendencies, about which
scarcely anything is as yet known, only hazy references based on mere
hearsay evidence having got into print.
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XV
GENERAL PRBFACE.
The Sixth Book will describe the State Religion, which is an official
combination of such rites and ceremonies as are mentioned in the
ancient Classics and consequently believed to have been practised by the
first dynasties. It is quite an artificial religion standing apart from
that professed by the bulk of the nation. Hence it is best to treat it
last of all. The work will be completed with a history of the Taoist and
the Baddhist Ghurches.
Each volume will be illustrated by zincographical figures and photo-
typical plates, all of which have been reproduced from photographs taken
by the author himself in China, or from objects collected by him and
now in the possession of several Museums, the greater part being at the
Musée Gruimet at Paris. The authot much regrets that this comprehensive
collection, made methodically so as to form one unbroken chain illustrating
the most important pages of the religious life of China has had to be
broken up into several parts, thus depriving it of much of its scientific
value. And he deplores yet more that it has been lost for ever to his
native country, in consequence of the behaviour of the Director of the
National Ethnographical Museum at Leyden, for which institution he
had destined it.
And now it only remains to request the reader\'s indulgence for the
many defects in this work. No one can be more sensible of them than
the writer himself. The book is intended less as a scientific production
than as a store-house of facts, carefully gleaned from actual life and
exponnded by data collected from the literary relies of bygone ages. Many
of the explanations given of Practices, Rites and Customs may at first sight
seem rash and venturesome. But let the reader in such cases suspend
his judgment for a while, as these will afterwards be found to be per-
fectly justified by facts adduced in other volumes. If notwithstanding
all its imperfections this work should prove useful to Science as a
leaf in the great book of human life, the author will feel himself amply
rewarded for the hardships he endured on Chinese soil in collecting data
during some of the best years of his life.
Lbtden, Fehruary 1892.
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REMARKS
ON
THE ORTHOGRAPHY AND PrONUNCIATION
OF
ë
Chinese Words occurring in this Work.
The vowels are pronounced as in German.
a is short when foliowed by k, p, t or ng.
I and o are short when foliowed by k or ng.
o has the sound of aw in the English word stram.
e is pronounced as the first letter in the word ever.
The diphthong at is pronounced like ie in lie, ao or au as oio in
now. In the combinations el, la, io, la, o», oe, al, each of the
vowels must be distinctly heard, though without their sound being
exaggerated; in la, lo, la and oa the last vowel is accented, and in el,
oc and al the first. In oal, ai is accented.
A small m, n or ng suspended at the end of a vowel indicates
that the corresponding word in literary style actually ends in m, n or ng,
but that in the spoken language of Amoy these letters are no longer pro-
nounced and, instead thereof, the whole syllable has become nasal.
The consonants are pronounced as in English, but
g is always hard.
li is never silent, except at the end of a word, where it indicates that
the vowel preceding it is short and abrupt. When it follows k, p or
t, it always represents a distinct aspiration; hence, ph is never pro-
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XVII
ORTHOGRAPHY OF CHINESE WORD8.
nounced as f, nor «li like the English tb. In many cases, as after ch
and ts, the aspiration is indicated by the sign c, suspended above
tbe line.
» is always sharp.
ch is always pronounced as in chance,
ng always as in song,
sh as in .i/we.
In order that the reader may immediately distinguish words in the
Mandarin language from those in the spoken tongue of Amoy, the former,
with the exception of proper names, are spaced, the latter italicized.
An exception has been made for the titles of native works; these, though
given according to tbe Mandarin pronunciation, are printed in italics.
In indicating the tones of the words derived from the colloquial
language of Amoy, the same system has been foliowed as was adopted by
Dr. Douglas in his Dictionary of that language. As this Standard work
must be on tbe shelves of every student and scholar wbo takes a real
interest in the spoken tongues of China, it would here be superfluous to
describe that system by repeating what the above mentioned author has
already done so well in his Introduction.
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REMARKS
o.v
SOME OF THE CfllNESE STANDARD WoRKS ,
LARGELY CONSULTED IN THE PREPARATION OP THIS HURK.
The method foliowed in this work in dealing with the Religion,
Manners, Customs and Institutions of the Chinese in their historical
growth and development, has necessitated frequent reference to the
principal historical works of the Empire. These works are the so-called
Twenty-four Histories, Zl "f~ H jij, collectively styled the Authentic
Histories, J£ jjj, each embracing the period of the reign of one
or more dynasties. All the quotations made from these valuable docu-
ments are taken from an edition published in the fourth year of the
Khienlung period (A. D. 1739) by Imperial command, which edition
is undoubtedly the best now extant. Wherever this author oould do so,
he has traced back the iuformation found in other books to these Standard
Histories.
The following is a list of the Twenty-four Histories. After each is
stated the period it embraces; thus the list will prove useful and con-
venient to the general reader, being a short dynastie and chronological
table to which he can at any time refer while perusing this work.
1. SAi ki & j|jJ, Historical Records. Dating from Remote Antiquity to 122
B. C. They embrace the dynasties of Hia g (2205—1766 B. 0.),
of Shang fö or Yin jgg (1766—1122 B. C), of Cheu }$ 1122—
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CHINESE STANDARD W0KK6.
XIX
249 B. C), and that of Ts\'in ü (249—206 B. C.); also a small part
of that of Han g|.
2.  Tfien Han shu ^g j||| ||fe, Books of the Early Han Dynasty. From
206 B. C. — 24. A. D.
3.  Heu Han shu fè g| §, Books of the Later Han Dynasty. A.D. 24—221.
4.  San kwoh chi £|» [g| ^, Memoirs of the Three Kingdoms. A. Ü. 221 —
280. These comprise the histories of the three short dynasties
Shuh -§j, Wei ^| and Wu J^, which bore sway at that time in
different parts of the Empire.
5.  Tsin shu H g£, Books of the Tsin Dynasty. A. D. 265—420.
6.  Sung shu ^^, Books of the Sung Dynasty. A.D. 420—479
7.  Nan Ts\'i shu ^ ^ ^j£, Books of the Southern Tsci Dynasty. A. D.
479—502.
8.  Liang shu Mi ^, Books of the Liang Dynasty. A. D. 502—557.
9.   Ch\'en shu $$ g£, Books of the Ch\'en Dynasty. A. D. 557—589.
10.   Wei shu H g£, Books of the Wei Dynasty. A. D. 386—557.
11.  Poh Tsci shu fó ^ =[£, Books of the Northern Tsci Dynasty. A. D.
550—577.
12.   Cheu shu Jfft :§£, Books of the Cheu Dynasty. A. D. 557—581.
13.  Nan shi f^| jjl , History of the Southern part of the Realm. A. D.
420—589.
14.  Poh shi fö jfe, History of the Northern part of the Realm. A. D.
386—581.
15.  Sui shu pj| ||£, Books of the Sui Dynasty. A.D. 581—618.
16.  Kiu Thang shu 1|I |Êf j£, Old Books of the Thang Dynasty. A. D.
618—906.
17.   Thang shu 11* ^fe, (New) Books of the Thang Dynasty, embracing the
same period.
18.   Kiu wu tai shi ^ 3l ^ ]£ > Old History of the Five Dynasties.
A. D. 907—960. This is a history of five short dynasties, called
Liang if£, Thang fë, Tsin |f-, Han j$|, and Cheu ^ , which
existed betvveen the downfall of the Thang dynasty and the rise
of the house of Sung.
19.   Wu tai «i» ï |^ jt i (New) History of the Five Dynasties. A
second historical work of the same period.
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CHINESE STANDARD WORKS.
XX
20.   Sung thi ^ ]&, History of the Sung Dynasty. A. D. 960—1279.
21.   Liao thi ^ ]$!, History of the Liao Dynasty. A. D. 906—1168.
22.  Kin thi <fe j£, History of the Kin Dynasty. A. D. 1115—1234.
23.   Yuen thi ^ j£, History of the Yuen Dynasty. A. D. 1206—1368.
24.   Ming thi Hfl gt, History of the Ming Dynasty. A. D. 1368—1644.
As Standard authorities for the historical parts of this work we have
also very frequently consulted the so-called Five Canons, 3£ ^, known
respectively as:
1.  Tih hing J^ ^ , Canon of Metamorphoses.
2.   Shit hing ||£ J[|Z, Canon of Hisiory.
3.   S/ii hing |^p |Ég, Canon of Odes.
4.  Li hi flj|| gj*, Treatises on Ceremonial Usages.
5.   Chcun (tciu 5ö* ^ 1 Annals, i. e. those of the state of Lu ^ , where
Confucius was bom, and said to have been written by the sage
himself.
Further we have largely made use of the Four Books jJIJ ^, which
are known as:
1.   Lun yü sjjjj |B.} Discourses and Conversations.
2.   Chung yung p£| ]j^, Doctrine of the Mean.
3.   Thai Aioh -J£ ^, Grand Study.
4.  Ming ttze j^£ ^f. , (Works of; Mencius.
The above nine works, which form important sources of our
knowledge of China during pre-Christian times, are well known to
Western science, having been translated into more than one European
language. Numerous other native books have also been consulted in the
preparation of the present work. A list of which will be given at the
end of each Book.
The reader will observe that nearly all the quotations in this work
are taken directly from Chinese literature. Cyclopsedias, which abound
in China, have only been made use ot exceptionally, wben the author could
not succeed in tracing any desired information to its fountain head, or
could not obtain access thereto. This has been done to insure cor-
rectness, because Chinese encyclopsedists are very inexact in quoting from
other works, and consequently highly unreliable as authorities. One
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XXI
CHINESE STANDARD WORKS.
striking exception to this rule there is, viz. the K^in ling ku kin thu
aAu tsih cliing ^ ^ "jjijf ^ ||§j ^ ^j| J|jJ|j, or Complete Collection of
lllustrations and Literature, drawn up under Imperial Authority. This
work, the largest ever compiled by the hand of man, was brought out
under the Imperial auspices in 1725; it embraces nearly the whole
native literature arranged under classified headings, each extract being
retained in its original shape and unabbreviated. In composing the present
work, the author has made great use of such trustworthy evidence.
t
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CONTENTS
OK
VOLUME I.
Page.
Book I. Disposal of the Dead.
INTRODÜCTION.................. 1.
Part I. Funeral Rites.
Chapter I. The Decease........... 3.
»          II. The Interval between Death and the Dressing
of the Corpse.......... 10.
»         HF. Dressing the Corpse.
1.   The Grave Clothes........40.
2.   Dressing the Dead........07.
»         IV. Sacrifices and Rites between the Dressing
and the Coffining........70.
»           V. The Coffining...........87.
»          VI. The Interval between Coffining and Burial 102.
» Vil. The Burial............140.
» VIII. Usages after the Removal of the Coffin
and after the Burial.......232.
»          IX. The Relationship between the ancient and
modern Funeral Rites. Final Remarks . 235.
Part II. The Ideas of Resurrection...........241.
Chapter I. Calling back the Soul. The Death-howl.
1.    Recalling the Soul........243.
2.   The Death-howl.........254.
»           11. On postponing the Dressing of the Dead,
Coffining and Burial.......2G3.
»         III. On placing Precious Objects in the Mouth
of the Dead..........209.
»         IV. On Coffins and Grave Vaults.....280.
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CONTENTS.                                                                    XXIV
Page.
Part II. The Ideas of Resurrection (Continued).
Chapter V. On some other Usages prompted by the
Belief in a Resurrection.
1.   Washing and Dressing the Dead . . . 331.
2.   Keeping the Dead unmutilated . . . 342.
» VI. On the Cohabitation of the Soul and the
Body after Death........348.
»         VII. Placing Food in the Mouth and by the Side
of the Deceased.........356.
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BOOK I.
DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD.
INTEODUCTION.
As in the case of many, if not of most barbarous and semi-
civilized peoplcs, the human soul is in China the original form of all
beings of a higher order. lts worship is therefore the basis of all
religion in that country. As such, this worship begins already as
soon as life is extinct, then manifesting itself chiefly in the treatment
of the mortal coil, which survivors think continues to be inhabited
by the soul and may perhaps return to life again. Therefore, in pur-
suing a systematical study of the rcligious system of the Chinese, it is
quite natural to start from the manner in which they dispose of
their dead. A rich store of information, highly valuable for the
knowledge of the ideas really prevalent amongst the people regarding
the condition of disembodied souls and the resurrection of the body,
is in this way acquired. Besides, it atfords data calculated to fully
explain numerous important points and phenomena in such higher
branches of the religious system as have either grown up from
the worship of the dead, or, at any rate, developed themselves
side by side with it, being incapable of withdrawing themselves
from its mighty influence.
The customs described in this Book as observed by the Chinese
of the present day are by no means conformed to by all classes
of society. As has been remarked already by the ancient Li-ki
(chapt. 4, leaf 40), »the rites and ceremonies do not go down to
the common people" \\ whose means are small and manners rude.
1 lÊZ-Tfö; ASection OU.1.*
i
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2
INTRODDCTION.
As a basis for our descriptions we have selected the well-to-do classes
and fiiniilics of fashionable standing, amongst whoni, in China,
we chiefly moved, and these may be said best to maintain the
whule system of the rites and ceremonies prescribed by the laws
of custom.
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PART I.
PÜNERAL RITES.
CHAPTER I.
TUK DEOEASE.
As in Western lands, so it is in Amoy a matter of great con-
cern, a most sacred duty on the part of the nearest relations, to be
present when a beloved and respected kinsman breatlies his last.
Wives, sons, daughters, grandchildren , brothers and sisters should
not be absent at a death-bed. Neither are daughters-in-law allowed
to stay away, as, in virtue of an established social law, any
married woman has to behave in every respect towards her parents-
in-law as if they were the very authors of her being.
In order to enable the relatives to be present in good time, they
are, when the sick man is bad enough to cause the worst to be
feared, as frequently as possible informed of his condition. Those
who live far off do not even shun difficult journeys tor the sake of
exchanging a partiiig-word with the beloved senior and receiving his
last instructions. It is, indeed, generally in presence of the wholc of
the nearest kindred that last dispositions are made, or, as Amoy
people call it, » orders are given about the things totiome", hoan-hu
//ö-sü1; — they may, of course, be taken down on paper as they
come from the lips of the dying man, but written wills made be-
forehand while still halo and healthy are, in Fuhkien, quite excep-
tional. This is the reason why, if there is something to be bequeathed,
the presence of interested parties as witnesses can not be dispensed with.
A dying person is scarcely ever allowed to remain on his bed till
he has expired. Even before matters take this fatal tarn, he is trans-
ported to a couch of three boards supported by a couple of trestles
or benches and covered with the same mat on which he was lying
sick; sometimes, however, they give him a new one, if there is
\' l#Ptt^#-
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4                                                  FUNEItAI. RITES.
one at hand. This peculiar death-bed goes by the name of tsüi-
tifnc/1, »water-bed", because the moribund is to be washed on it.
In many cases, especially with the rich, it is screened from view
by nieans of a white sheet hanging down from the ceiling at a
distance of a few feet — obviously a very old custom, as in chapt.
XI (leaf 17) of the Li-ki1 we read: »Tsang-tszë (a disciple of Confu-
» cius) said: \'Because the ornanients are not yet put on the corpse,
»they curtain off the main apartment of the house, and when the
» slighter dressing is over, they remove the curtain\'. Cliung Liang-
»tszë\' said: \'They curtain the main apartment off because husbands
»and wives are in confusion at that time, but after the slighter
» dressing they take the curtain away\' " 3.
As a rule, the water-bed is put up in the principal apartment,
or the so-called thiaW \\ Any one who has been in a Chinese
1  fc)fc-
2   jjjjt §R, <>i\' "Treatises on Ceremonial Usages". A famous Classic, compiled
during tho house of Han from ancient documents, a great part of wlricli gö l>ack
certainly as far as the Cheu dynasty. In Max Miiller\'s series of Sacred Books of the
Kast (vol. \'27) Dr. Legge lias given a translation of the whole work witli an ex-
position of its origin and history, to which we refer the reader.
As that learned Sinologist justly remarks, more may be learned about the reli-
gion of the ancient Chinese from this Classic, than from all the others together
(page 13). Consequently, in tracing the social and religioua customs of the present
day hack to their most ancient forms, we shall have to make more frequent re-
ference to it than to any other book. Hut nowhere shall we slavishly follow Dr.
Legge\'s translations, admirable though they may be from a philological point ot
view. The reason is not that we object to the lingnistic correctness of his render-
ings; but we have to take into account a commentary as valiiable certainly as
any paper one, viz. a body ot customs and manners in as active force at the pre-
sent day as in the very ages the Li-ki deals with. No doubt Dr. Logge himseh
would have modified his renderings on many points, had he also had a living
commentary like ours at his service.
All our (piotations are taken directly from tho great edition of the present
dynasty, which bears tho title £Jj tf? ijjffi gfl j|g Sj?, «Report on the mies laid
down in tho Li-ki, confirined by imperia! sanction". This was commanded in the
l.\'Uh year of tho Kliienlung period (1748) by an imperia! rescript, and executed by
a connnittee of 85 scholars and dignitaries, who, likewise in obedience to that
rescript, also issued a new edition of the I-li and the Chcu-li, two other great
works of the Cheu dynasty which the reader will find mentioned respectively on
p. 6 and p. 19.
i
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THE DECEASE.                                                     5
dwelling is sure to remember that central part of it, just behind
the inain entrance, sometiines separated from this by iin inner
court-yard. Guests are received and entertained here; moreover, it
is a place for sacrificing to the tutelar divinities of the house and
to the family-manes, who, in the sbape of images and vertical
wooden tablets which we shall treat of more at length in our Second
Book, occupy there an altar erected in the rear against the wall, just
opposite the main door. Henceforth we shall call that apartment the
hall. As it is a domestic temple in the true sense of the word, it
bears a close resemblance to the atrium of the ancient Romans,
which also contained the lararium or altar with the guardiair
divinities of the home.
Before the dying man is removed to the hall, the said altar
together with the objects of worship is taken to another apart-
ment, it being considered inconsistent with the respect due to the
sacred (mes to allow them to have the shocking and unpleasant spectacle
of death before their eyes. But if there is no room in the house
spacious enough to contain the altar, it is simply covercd over
with a white sheet, white being the colour of mourning.
The water-bed is not invariably placed on the sanie spot in the
hall. If the dying person is a senior of the family, that is to say
a father or mother whose own parents have died before, or, in a
family of orphans, an elder brother, unless the grandfather or
grandmother is still living, it is put up on the place whence the
altar has been removed, this being the chief spot, the place of
honour in the house. The moribund is, in this case, placed on it
with his head to the left, or, as the Chinese express it, to the
east, the front of the hall being considered to face the south\'.
But a junior member, and a concubine, unless she has given birth
to a son who is the pride of the family because he occupies an
official position or has been promoted to a considerable rank, is,
as a rule, laid out along one of the side-walls, or on the east or
west, as Chinese say, where are the places and seats of second and
third order. In such a case the feet must point to the door. And
as for childless concubines, slaves, servants and the like, they
are not allowed a place in the hall at all, but are simply laid
down to die in some inferior apartment of the house.
The transportation of the moribund to the water-bed goes by
1 Anciently all buildings of importancc faced tlio south in point of fact.
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6
FIJNERAT, RITES.
the term poa"-p/iol, »to remove or transmit the bedding". When
it has boen duly performed with the necessary care, his whole
body is wiped clean with a towel and lukewarm water in which
in some cases leaves of the banian or peach-tree have been de-
cocted. Tliïs ablution is performed by tlie wife, or a daughter-in-
law, and only in dcfault of such next-of-kin by any one else. They
also shave his head and face and change his clothes, that he may
depart clean and in a neat attire from this world of cares: indeed,
souls appear in the other world in the same state in which they
leave this material one. Finally the body is covered with a sheet
and allowcd to remain where it is, to breathe its last quietly.
People in more favourable pecuniary circumstances generally have
the shaving and clcansing of the head performed by a barber. This
man is not paid the customary fee due from a healthy cliënt, but
charges much more, in proportion to the wealth of the family. It is a
rule of etiquette to hand him the money wrapt up in a piece of red
paper, red being in China the symbolic colour of good fortune
which dispels all inauspicious influences resulting from the contact
with dcath. If the family can afford the expense, the hair of a
dying feinale, after having been carefully dressed by the other wo-
men, is adorned with natural and artificial fiowers, gems, silver
hair-pins, and the like.
If the dying man possesses grave-clothes made during his life-
time, it is usual tor the family to arrange thein now around
him. They place the boots by his feet, the gowns and trousers by
his side, and the hat behind his \'ïead, with the object of making
the man in the last moments of his life rejoice at the prospect that
he will be most fashionably attired in the regions beyond the grave.
In return, the moribund, if he has not yet fainted away, will
express his gratitude to the bystanders for their dutiful care in
ensuring his future happiness.
Like many other customs now-a-days observed by the Chinese,
that of removing a dying man from his sick-bcd and changing his
clothes can be traced to very ancient times. The I-li2 has in chapt.
2 <ilfk SB, or »Rites and Ceremonial Usages". It is another grand collection
of the same cliaracter as the Li-ki, but for superior to this classic in the methodio
al arrangement of its subjects. lts re-appearance in Uie beginning of the Han dynasty
has also been disoussed by Dr. Leg\'-\'e in the introdnction to his translation of the
Li-ki; hence we may remain silent about it. Tlie l-ti contains a detaileddescription
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TUK DECEASK.                                                    7
31 (leaf 1 seq.) the following passages, referring to the ages prior
to the Han dynasty: » An ofticer is placed in the prineipal back-
» chamber, and lies down there with his head towards the east, under
» the northern wall. If sick, he composes his mind, and those whoattend
» on hira all conipose their minds too. Lutes and lyres are removed.
» When the illness is extreme, they sweep the premises both inside
»and out. They take the contaminated clothes off and put new
»ones on the sick man. i\'our attendants sit down to hold his
»limbs, and males and females change their dress. Some fine floss
»of cotton is put on the mouth and nostrils, to mark when the
» breath is gone. A man does not expire in the hands of women,
»nor a woman in the hands of the men\'. They go and address
» prayers to the five objects of sacrifice, and at the deraise the chief
»mourner cries, and the brothers wail. They tlien erect a bed
»with mats near the lattioe-window. As for these sleeping mats,
» one of jfcw-straw is placed under, and one of fine bamboo above.
»They place on the bed a pillow for the head, and subsequently
»transfer the corpse to it"2. Nowhere is it said that the patiënt
was allowed to expire on a bed; so it would follow that, while
still alive, he was merely laid down upon the ttoor. This is, indeed,
admitted to be so by commentators, who base their opinion on this
passage in ch. 57 of the Li-ki (leaf 1): » When the illness is extreme,
» he lies down with his head towards the east under the northern
» wall, having left his bedstead"\'.
of the funeral rites for oflicers and their parents, wives and eldest sons, extend-
ing over six chapters to wliich we shall have to refer very often in this
liook. All our quotations are taken directly from the great imperial edition
mentioned in the foot-note on page 4, and which bears the title ^* £j?
iÊk /ÏÏb Üë $$L\' B^eF)0r\'\' on the rules laid down in the l-li, confirmed by im-
perial sanction".
•1 All this, except the second sentence, is also to be found in ch. 57 of the
Li-ki, leaf 1, witli a slight alteration in the sequence.
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B
FUNK RA f, RITES.
Although, in thosc timea, pcoj)lo of distinction were not allowed
to die on a bed, it was considered bad form to leave the body on
the floor while preparing it for the cottin. Hesides the abovequota-
tion from the J-H, it is proved by the following clanse, taken
frorn chapter 11 of the Li-ki (1. 22). »Pen, the superintendent of officers,
» said to Tsze-yiu (a diseiple of Confucius): \'I beg permission to
»dress the corpse on a couch\', whereupon Tsze-yiu said: \'I allow
»you to do so\'. Hien-tsze, on hearing this, siiid: \'How arrogant
» is this senior, he privately allows people to do what is the pro-
» per rule\' \\
In the age of Confucius some classes, however, seem to have
deeuied it sufficiënt to ensure a happy and fashionable demise
if the sleeping mat of the dying man was simpjy changed
for a fresh one. Chapter 9 of the Li-ki (1. 38) says: »Tseng-tsze (a
» diseiple of the sage) was lying in his charaber very ill. \'Yuen,
»said he (to his son), get \\ip and change niy mat.\' But Tseng-
» Yuen replied: \'The illness of my master is extreme, therefore it
» may not be changed. If we are so happy as to see you survive un-
»til the morning, I will heg your leave to reverently change it\'.
»To which Tseng-tsze\' replied: \'What do I ask of you, nothing
»but to die in the correct way\' — whereat they took him up
»and changed the mat. Wlien he was replaced upon the mat, he
» expired before he could compose himself"8.
The doctrine that a dying person must give up the ghost on a
water-bed is, novv-a-days, far from obtaining as a peremptory
customary law. The »removal of the bedding" before life is extinct,
on the contrary, occurs only in case the dying man is so
wasted by the infirmities of old age, or is in such a desperate
condition by slow and continued illness as to make the family
give up all hope of recovery. In any other case, nobody would
suffer the dying man to be touched as long as there remained a
single sign of life in him. Conscquently, numbers of people are not
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9
THE DECEASE.
washed and laid out until they have actually breathed their last,so
that not so many have their end hastoned by the process as one
might at first surmise1.
Before leaving this subject of the water-bed, we must refer to a
curious specimen of popular superstition connected with it. For
some obscure reason, perhaps for no reason at all, it is, as we
saw, made up of three boards. This is a sufficiënt ground for most
natives of Amoy nevcr to lie down or to sleep on a bed consist-
ing of this number of boards: if they did so, they might meet
with an untimely death, anyhow fall a victim to misfortune. For
the same reason it would bc excessivcly rude, even impudent, to
offer a guest a couch or a bed made of three boards. Once, in
1877, on one of our journeys through Fuhkien province, having
put up for the night in a small boat because there were no
better lodgings in the place, our servant, otherwise a very intel-
ligent specimen of the »boy" class, obstinately refused to sleep on
the ftoor of the cabin, simply because he had noticed two parallel
seams there; he took up his quarters for the night on the open
poop, under a rough November sky. No doubt this superstitious fear
must be classed with the objections which many of ourselvcs would
certainly raise on being ordered to sleep in a case shaped exactly
like a coffin.
Before passing on to the customs and ceremonies which play a
part subsequent to death, we must note that, when the time of
dissolution is evidently drawing near, the orthodox and notable
among the citizens have their hall and premises swept and cleaned,
with a view to the sympathizing friends and kinsmen, who are
expected to come on the news of the death to offer condolences
to the afflicted family. This is confessedly in harmony with both
the I-H and the Li-ki, that say, as we saw on page 7 : » When the
illness is extreme, the premises are swept clean both inside and out".
1 Perhaps it is worth observing, that the custom of placing the corpse upon
boanis immediately after death, prevails also in some parts of Europe. »In Orkney,
according to Gough, funeral ceremonies are rauch tlie same as in Scotland, tiie
corpse being laid out after being stretched on a board tilt it is coflined for burial.
And Pennant records that, on the death of a Ilighlander, the corpse is stretched
on a board and covered with a coarse linen wrapper" (Brand, Observations on
popular Antiquities. Customs at Deaths).
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CHAPTER II.
The interval between death and the
dressing of the corpse.
The death howl.
Until the fatal moment of death, the relatives confine the ex-
pression of their sorrow to a good deal of suppressed sobbing and
tears. But scarcely the last gasp over, they all break out intoloud
wailing and passionate lamentation. The voices of the women are
loudest in this dismal concert; kneeling down at the water-bed and
hülding a piecc of white cloth to their eyes, they pour forth at
times with great vehemence bitter crics and piteous wails of woc.
It is a melancholy concert of death dirges, a catenation of complaints
addressed to the dead, in accents of reproach for leaving them. A
son, in a slow, doleful cadence, asks: God pë eh, li tsai thang
tsö li klit, pang god m tsidn\'J lang1, »My father, can you allow
yourself to go and leave me behind not yet grown a man!" And
a wife wailingly chants: God ke-khaó eh, li, tsai thang tsö li k/u,
am toe Idi hai li2, » My husband, how can you allow yourself to
go! The dark regions will harm you", and su forth.
It appears that in ancient China the dead were bemoaned in
much the sanie way. Besides the testimony of the I-H, as quoted
on page 7, we have in chapter 57 of the Li-ki (1. 10 and 13):
»Immediately after the deinise, the principal mourners cry, the
»brothers\' wail, and the women wail and stamp their feet....
» Whenever they wail beside the corpse in the back-chamber, the
»chief mourner, while wailing, holds up the shroud with both
» his hands" \\
That loud and clamorous bewailing of the dead is by no means
1 n^^^^mm^.nn^mA
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11
THE DEATH HOWI-.
the expression of a deep eraotion of the soul, of bitter sorrow or
painful grief. It is, on the contrary, mainly a ceremonial observance
prescribed by customary law, part of the conceived duties of
nearest relatives towards a departed one, in a word, a mere rite. The
sole fact that both the I-U and the Li-ki formally presciïbe it, is
sufficiënt to testify to the correctness of this view. No doubt we
have here a relic of uncivilized ages, as savages are well known
to be verv clamorous in their grief. This matter will be made a
subject of closer attention in the second part of this Book, chapt. I.
We shall there demonstrate that, instead of an expression of feel-
ings of woe and sorrow, the rite in question is intended as a
regular attempt to induce the wandering soul to come back and
revive the corpse\'.
Closing the eyes.
In case the dcad person does not close liis eyes and mouth liimself,
this is taken as a sure evidence that his departed soul feels uneasy
about some matter. His wife, son, or another near relative will
then try to comfort him by declaring in a coaxing tone of voice
that there is nothing to depress his mind, everybody being sure
to take the greatest possible care of his body and grave, to faith-
fully execute his last dispositions, and to regularly sacrifice foocl
and clothing to his soul for years and years to come. After this,
thcy gently close his eyes and mouth, thus dealing with their
beloved dead as we are accustomed to deal with ours*.
1    We note here, tl.at the Chinese custom of addressing the dead in temis ot
reproach for having gone, is exactly paralleled amongst several uncivilized tribes,
though in slightly varying fornis. To confine onrsolves to one authority. Spencer
says:... «This introduces us to the widely prevalent practico of talking to the
«corpse: primarily with the view of inducing the wandering duplicate to return,
»but otherwise for purposes of propitiation. The Fijian thinks that calling sometimes
«brings back the other-self at death; and we read that the Moondes, or Hos, even
»call back the spirit of a corpse that bas been burnt. Cruikshank says that the
«Fantees addressed the corpse \'sometimes in aecents of reproacli for leaving them
•at others beseeching his spirit to watch over and protect them from evil.\' During
«their lamentations, the Caribs asked \'the deceased to declare tlie cause of his de-
«parture from the world\'. In Loango, a dead man\'s relatives question him for two
»or three hours why lio died; and on the Gold Coast, \'the dead person is himself
»interrogated\' as to the cause of his death: a statement of Beecham confirmed by
»Winterbottom." (The Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, ch. 12, § 83).
2   It is almost superfluous to mention the fact, that the practice of closing the
oyes and lips of the dead bas always prevailed very widely, if not universally, in
our western world. Acconling to Pliny, it obtained as a holy custom among the
ancient Romans; the eyes were opened again, however, on the funeral pile, because
-ocr page 42-
12
FIJNER AL R1TK8.
We remember the following tale was circulating in Amoy in 1886.
A notable citizen of that port, in dying, suddenly began to bleed
at the nose. Ilis son, a bad character who knew himself to be
such, was so afFrighted at the sight that he dropped on his
knees, solemnly proinising henceforth to behave better, whereupon
the blceding stopped imraediately.
Opening the sly-light.
lf the dead died in the flower of life or in full manhood, one
of the first things for the familv to do is to open one of the sky-
lights, in order to allow the disastrous inrlucnces, which have
caused the death and might attiick others also, to escape from the
house. But in the case of an elderly man or woman this wise pre-
caution is as a rule dispensed with, such a death being attribut-
ed rather to the natural course of terrestrial matters than to
abnormal influences operating in an unnatural way. Never, how-
ever, is this neglected when death has resulted from leprosy, for,
owing to the loathsome character of this disease, the contagion
emanating from such a corpse is dreaded far more than any other.
Many Chinese hold that the window is siniply unclosed for the
convenience of the soul, which ouglit to bc allowed to wander freely
in and out\'.
Closing the shop.
Knowing that people generally dislike visiting places where they
may corne in contact with death or anything connected with it,
no man was allowed to receive the last look of a being and it would liave been
a crime to rob it from heaven (Historiae Naturali*, 1. XI cap. 37, de natura pupillae),
Valerius Maximus (I. 11 cap. C>) cillls tbis stipremum opprimendorum ocitlorum officium.
With the ancient Greeks, the closing of the eyes was likewise a matter of high
importance, as may be inferred from this wish of Penelope:
üi, precor, hoc jubeant, ut, euntibus ordine fatis,
Ille meos oculos comprimat, ille tuos.
1 lf the Chinese are right in that suggestion. we may again connect a custom
of theirs witli analogous practices in otlier parts of the globe. «During tho blessing
»or \'saining\' of a corpse in Scotland\', says Dennys (The Folk lore of China, ch. II)
»all tlio windows of the house are opened so as to give the soul free egress. When
»a death takes place, in many parts ot Europe, all the <loors and windows should
»be unfastened, as it is thought that tlie fust pains of purgatory are inflicted by
»the soul squeezing throngh the closed doors. We have something like this in
«Swift\'s Journey from this World to the Next, where the spirits, conversing on
•their way to the throne of Micros, relate to each otlier how they had to wait
»till an open door or window in the house in which the deatli had taken place,
«enabled them to get free from it. There is a curious superstition in Devonshire
-ocr page 43-
13
(JI.OSINR THE SHOP.
any family of shopkeepers that has a death to bewail will, if the
house is small, close the preraises on the street-side by means of
the wooden shutters which are used in ordinary times during the
night to keep out thieves. In this way they silently intimate that
the trade stands still for the time being. No such measures, how-
ever, are taken in many cases when the dweiling is large enough
to allow business to go on quite separated from the funeral rites,
a friend or distant relative being then, as a rule, charged with
the management of the shop, whereas the nearest kindred have no
time to look after it themselves until the coffining or the burial is over.
Procurinff sackcloth (jarments.
Among the requirements of the funeral rites, clothes of brownish
sackcloth of the coarsest description stand foremost. They are worn
by the nearest relatives by way of deep mourning-dress whenever
they have to go through a rite of importance connected with the
disposal of the dead, sons and grandsons then unbraiding their
cues, and laying aside the silken cords, which in ordinary times used
to be twisted in them to make them longer. It is, indeed, requi-
site to have the hair hanging down upon the back disheveled and
neglected when in deep mourning; but the daughters, daughters-
in-law and wife of the deceased need not unbraid their plaits. They
only lay aside the ornamental pins, ftowers and the like, not to
use them again until the burial is over.
The said sackcloth garments, which will be described in full detail
in the third part of this Book, ch. VI, are, in most cases, hired for
money in a kind of establishments called fcó-c/fe-iièw1, lit. »shops
of drums and wind-instruments", or hun-ting-tiem*\\ »shops ofsoul-
pavilions", where everything required for the equipment of funeral
trains and bridal processions may be procurcd for temporary use,
inclusive of the music. Well-to-do pcoplc sometimes have the clothes
made for themselves at home, which, owing to the low quality of the
»tliat the departuro of lifo is delayed where any lock is closed in the dweiling
»or any bolt shot." Similar ideas prevail also in Celebes: amongst Mie Bugis and
natives of Macassar, says Van Eek, when any one lies down in the agony of death,
doors and windows are thrown open, and everything in the house that is locked
and bolted is unfastened, all to facilitate the departure of the soul (Indische Gids,
January 1882, page 71).
2 zdj TB» tf*". The meaning of this name may be learned from chapter 7, where
those soul-pavilions and their part in the funeral processions are described.
-ocr page 44-
II
PUNKK.AI, R1TKS.
material, requires but very little time and money; but nobody ever
keeps them in his house ready made, as they would exercise a deadly
influence over the inmates, and very likely entail cases of untimely death.
Washing the dead.
Attired with that coarse apparel, all the sons and grandsons,
even those who are scarcely able to walk, silently repair to
some well in the vicinity, the eldest carrying a bucket in his hand.
On their way they mournfully droop their heads, so that their
eyes behold nothing but the pavement of the street. Arrived at the
well, the eldest son throws in a few coppers as an offering to the
water-ghost, who does not like to be deprived of a part of his
property without being paid for it; then the son draws some wa-
ter and takes the bucket home, all his brothers in the rear keep-
ing up the aame kind of lamentations and death dirges which the
family chant and wail at the moment of the decease. As soon as
the females, who have staid at home, become aware of their ap-
proach, they join in the melaneholy concert. In many cases, the
eldest of the water-fetchers may be seen going along the street
supported by a friend, or, if he is a stout and heavy man, by
two friends, one on eitlier side, for a mourning son or grandson,
who understands his duties well, ought to be, or at least appear
to be so bowed down with grief and sorrow as to be unable to
walk without assistance.
The ceremony described, which has for its object the procuring
of water for washing the dead, is at Amoy called khit-tsüi \\ »to
beg for water." If the family is of some standing, the »water-
beggars" are accompanied by a servant who carries the bucket and
draws the water, it being incompatible with high-life to perform
any coarse labour whatever. But, while the dipping of the bucket
is done by the servant, the sons loosely grasp the end of the rope,
to take at least the appearance of doing the work themselves. In
default of sons and grandsons, the duty of fetching water devolves
on the wife, the daughters-in-law, or the unmarried girls. And if
the eldest male descendant is a baby, he is borne in sackcloth
garments to the well in the arms of a full-grown person who,
having put the coppers in the hand of the little one, opens it,
thus causing them to drop into the water.
The office of washing the dead is, as a rule, performed by one
* t;*
-ocr page 45-
15
WASHING THE DEAD.
of the female inmates of the house, or if there are none who
dare do the work, by an elderly woraan, whoin experience has
rendered faniiliar with matters of this kind. The corpse is not
stripped for the washing, but the hand is passed under the gar-
ments, it being simply wiped clean with a wet towel. In very
exceptional cases, e. (j. when death has been caused by a loathsome or
contagious disease, or if the deceased has become very unclean while
dying, in short, whenever there is nobody in the fainily who dares
do the washing, the intervention of hirelings is secured, who are ac-
customed to demand a comparatively high pay for the unpleasant job.
As no one cherishing any respect for the beloved dead can allow
the substance which is generally excreted at death, to remain
about the body, the custom of washing the dead undoubtedly pre-
vails all the world over. And, so, it can not be a matter of aston-
ishment to find it obtaining also in other parts of the Chinese
empire, far from the one we are more specially dealing with. In
the ninth volume of the China Review (page 397) we read: »Rites
» performed for the dead; ^ -jj^ (*\'. e. to buy water). When a
» mother or a father of a family dies, the son will take a basin
»and two cash and go to the water-side — in Hongkong
»a hydrant will do as well. The cash are tlirown into the
» water, and some water is dipped up in the basin. This is taken
» back to the house and a mock-washing of the body is performed;
» not a drop of water is allowed to fall on the body or on its
»clothing, but the sou stands near the body, and with a towel
»dipped in the water pretends to wash it." Dr. Gray, China,
ch. 12, writes: » Should a person die unexpectedly, or before his
»relatives have had time to dress him in his best robes, the next-
»of-kin attires himself in sackcloth, and hastens to the nearest
» river or well to buy from the IIoi-Loong Wong\' or River Dra-
»gon King, water wherewith to wash the face and body of the
» deceased. Eour cash, and in some instances a live fish as well,
» are cast into the stream by way of payment. The fish is supposed
» to inform the river-god that the water has been bouglit and paid
» for. The nearest of kin is accompanied to the well or river by
» sevcral friends, two of whom support him, one on each side, for
»he is supposed to be bowcd down with grief. The procession is
» headed by two or more minstrels, the discordant sounds of whose
* $iï-
-ocr page 46-
16
FUNERAL RITES.
» musical instruments cannot easily be forgotten by one who has
» once heard thcra."
The practice of buying water for washing the corpse is also
mentioned by Williams, in lus Middle Kingdom (ch. 18). It was
observed at least seven centuries ago on the extreme south-western
part of the Chinese coast, as is shown by the Ling-w<d-tai-tah\',
which has in its sixth chapter: »When a native of Khin1 has
» died, the filial sons forthwith unbraid their hair, put on a hat of
» baiuboo, take a water-dipper, a jar and mock paper money, and
»repair to the water-side. Here they lament bitterly, cast the
» money (the paper money aforesaid?) into the water, and, having
» dipped up water, return home to wash the corpse. They call this
»\'to buy water.\' ]f they do not act in the way described, their
» neighbours and fellow villagers will look upon them as unfilial people.
» Now-a-days, the natives of Khin use water, purchased for money ,
» for their meals and for the supply of their kitchen. They call it
»\'sold water\', and it is reputed to avert fatal events"3.
Neither can we wonder at tinding the custom, now under our
notice, in ancient China. The 1-li, describing the funeral rites of
ordinary otticers, their parents, wife and eldest son, has:
»The overseers of the waste and cultivated grounds dig a pit
» between the steps4, a little towards the west-side, and contrive
»a furnace under the western wall (of the court-yard) with its
» frontside facing the east. Water-basins, washing tubs, a water*
^ Tuf ^r Tv \'t? \' "Answers relative to matters beyond the Mountain-ranges".
It is a remarkable little work by Cheu Khü-fei B9 .±. jt, an official of the
twelfth century, full of interestinp; notos on the geography and ethnograpby of the
sotithern pro vinces of tho empire and foreign Asiatic countries, extending even to
the far west of China, and to Sumatra and .lava.
2 The extreme western coast district nf tlie present Kwangtnng province.
®. & m tÈmnmn* m mu® p m z n &&
w\\MM.Mi&r^^mA%mMmüMytfö
mmzte&%mwm&.
\\ Any building of importance was, in ancient times, erected on a squaro
terrace having two llights of steps in front. As the front faced the south, the steps
were on the east and the west.
In order to assist the reader in botter understanding many an extract from the
ancient books inserted in this work, we give a rongh plan of an oflicial dwelling
during tho Cheu dynasty, compiled from illustrations in the Khienlung edition of
the l-li, which wei\'e drawn from information contained in the old works.
-ocr page 47-
PL. I.
PLAN
AN OFFICIAL MANSION
DURING THE CHEU DYNASTY.
Walls are indicatcd by doublé lines.
\' "            -----
:z=z=zz=^=
=z:
Back Charuber,
Also calleil
Apartnient,
Aji.-irtiiiciil ,
Door
HALL.
o
Western Pillar,
o
Easlern Pillar,
*fi
*fi
Stand,
Stand,
I                I
H»
»
Westera Steps, FJfi Uff
Eastera Steps, IJfe Effi
COURT-YARD,
Inner Gate-room E.
ftm^
Inner Gute-ioom \\V.
ft ffil&
ft PI
Inner Gate,
Ouler Gate-room E.
Uutor Gute-rooui W.
Te\'in Gate,
Outer Gate, ^fh
ar
Gate-rooiu.
Gate-room
Gate-room.
Great Gate,
Gate-room.
«•Al
SOUTH.
-ocr page 48-
17
WASIIINO THE I)KA1>.
vdipper, a vase without fcet, and double-caldrons *, all new, are
»washed clean at the foot of the western steps\'. The servant in
» charge of the apartments draws water, and without removing the
» rope from the bucket, coils it on lus hand \\ The Invoker (after
»the manner of the Hia dynasty)\' rinses rice in the hall, turning
» his face southwards and using a water-basin (wherein to pour the
►> rinsings)5. While he perfornis this work, he separates, on filling
»the water-basin, the bad grains from the good ones6.
» The servant in charge of the apartments now ascends the whole
» flight of steps. Without going so far as the hall, he receives the
»rinsings and boils them on the furnacc, eraploying a double-
»caldron. An attendant for the outer apartments occupied by the
»males accepts the thus prepared wash for the hcad and enters
»with it; the principal mourners all leave the door to stand out-
» side with their faces turned to the north, after which the hcad is
»washed, combed, and wiped with a towel. Subsequently, the
1 So called, because tliey were raspended on a wooden cross, whicli, looking
likc a doublé gallows, was styled va doublé" f& ."We shall say more about it in Kook II.
Chapt. 26, leaves 34 and 35.
3   Ho bad to use the rope again, having to go for water more than once.
4   In its cbaptors on funeral ceremonies, the I-li makes frequent mention of
Hia-chuh W jj^£, Shang-chuh ï§? jgO,and Cheu-chuh ffl jjf}£, or »Invokers
after the manner of the Hia, Sliang and Chen dynasty", all of whom performed
active parts in the proceedings connectcd with tho disposal ol the dead. But the
informations the ancient books afford about the functions of those sacerdotal officers,
are extremely scanty. The Cheu-li describes indeed, in its \'25th chapter, the functions
of a Great invoker -T? ffiü , a Sub-invoker A\\ atff , an Invoker for the Imperial
hunting-parties •^fll jjfö , an Invoker for sworn conventions s^ jjtö , and an In-
vokcr for funeral rites ^B nfö , but it is quite uncertain whother there existed a
relationship between them and the three functionaries mentioned above. In eb. 52
of the Li-ki (1. 8) we read: »The Invoker of the Ancestors regulates the rites in
»the ancestral temples, and the Invoker after the manner of the Shang dynasty the
.funeral ceremonies" % WLW ¥ %<M Z M ,M Mffi4 %ÏÊ.
(Sect. fiÖ| =B , III). That Invoker of the Ancestors is generally supposed to have
represented the office a la Cheu.
jfc. Ch. 27, I. 1 and 2.
fi WföftrXiÊt&Z Chapt. 31,1.12.
-ocr page 49-
is
PDNBRAX RITE.v
» body is washed with towels and wiped with bathing clothes\',
»that is to say, the four attendants lift up the shroud, and so
»the washing is performed. There is then no mat upon the coach.
» At the death of an ofticer\'s mother, the washing is done by attend-
»ants of the inner apartments where the women live; no hair-
» pin is in this case put in the coiffure1.
»The washing water is cast into the pit. The nails are pared
»and the beard trimmed as on other days (before death); the
» coiffure is bound with a tape and the hair-pin put into it. They
» then place the grave-clothes on the body, the chief mourners finally
» entering and repairing to their places"3.
A sirnilar account, very likely referring to Rulers and Great
officers also, is given by the Li-ki (ch. 57, 1. 35 and 3G). It runs
as follows: —
» The servant in charge of the apartments draws water. Without
» removing the rope from the hucket he coils it on his hand. He
»then ascends the whole flight of steps, and without going so far
»as the hall, hands the water to the attendants, who go in to
» wash the corpse. While four lower servants hold up the shroud,
»two attendants perform the washing. A basin is uscd for the;
» washing water, a ladle to pour water over the body; the washing
»is performed by means of towels of fine dolichos, and in drying
» the body they use bathing clothes, just as in former days. A lower
» servant pares the toe-nails, and the rest of the washing water is
» thrown away into the pit. At the death of a mother, attendants of
» the inner apartments hold up the shroud and perform the washing.
»The servant in charge of the apartments draws water again
» and hands it over to an attendant, who, separating the bad grains
» from the good, prepares, up in the hall, the water for washing
»the head. This wash is, in case of a Ruler, made of spiked mil-
»let, in that of a Great officer of panicled millet, in that of an
m&fr, a.±aw& fH, urn* ntk.m.&
ffl r|j. fö ffi il > fd m fó & Ch^- 27- \'• 2-5
-ocr page 50-
L9
WASIIING THE CO&PSK.
»ordinary officer also of spiked millet. A furnace has been made
» at the foot of the wall on the west by the oversecrs of the waste
» and cultivated grounds, and double-eiddrons have beenbrouglit out by
» servants in charge of the earthenwarc. The servant in charge of the
»apartment having now received the wash for the head, boils it
»(in the said caldrons, on the furnace), using fuel made of the
» stubble removed froni the north-west side of the ancestral temple,
» and provided by the overseers of the waste and cultivated grounds.
»This done, the servant in charge of the apartments hands the
» Wiushing water to the attendants, who thereupon wash the head,
»using an earthenwarc vessel for the purpose. The head is dricd
» with a towel, as used to bc done in former days; a lower servant
» clips the nails of the fingers and cuts the beard, and the wash-
» ing\' water is thrown into the pit"\'.
During the Cheu dynasty, othcr substances besides water and
washings of rice and millet werc, in the case of llulers, used for
cleansing the dead. Wc have ample evidence of this in the C/teu-li*.
ft, ik mm &. fömnü.wmfóii.iiaz n.*
1f AR #»#,»*£***£: ±.#*S*A
* * m, ± * s.49 a & fi n m mT.m a üj m
mmmz.m\\^tm^^m^^m%mMm
IE1
2 B| jjjBl) or «Hitual of the Cheu dynasty". This is the tliinl of what the
Chinese call the San It ^^ jjjÉ| or »Threc Rituals", viz. the Li-ki, I-U and Cheu-li.
It contains a long series of descriptions of the functions and duties of the various
officers during the Cheu dynasty, the whole thus giving a higldy valuable picture
of the organization of government in those ancient times. It is not a ritnal work
like the f-li and Li-ki, but a constitutional one; henco the original name Cheu-
kwan B3 V?, «Official Book of Cheu", was more correct than the present one,
which dates froni the Thang dynasty. We shall havo to refei\' to the book very often in
the course of our work.
A translation of the Cheu-li was made by Edward Biot, and published after liis
-ocr page 51-
20
FUNEIiAT, IUTKS.
» When the sovercign dies, at the grcat exposition (of his body on
»the couch), the Underintendent of Religious Worship washesthe
» corpse with fragrant spirits made from inillet1. — The Master of
»Collocation (whose function is to arrange the seats and implc-
» mcnts at sacrifices), at great funerals, when the gresit washing
» with fragrant spirits takes place, puts up the cooking implements2.
» — When, at a great funeral, the great washing of the body is pcr-
» fornied, the Officer of the Millet-wine lays out the ladles and
» furnishes the millet-wine for perfuming the corpse\'. — At a great
» funeral, immediately after the demise, the Great invoker washes
» the corpse with the millet-spirits set out at the exposition of the
» body, assists in putting rice into the mouth of the dead, helps
» with the dressing, and removes and puts out the sacrificial imple-
»nients\\ — And the Sub-invoker, at a great funeral, assists at
»the washing of the corpse, sets out scorched grain, and erects
»the banner which is inscribed with the name of the dead5."
To return now to modern China, — in case the family should
have the grave-clothes quite ready when the washing is over, they
at once procecd to dressing the body in the way describcd in
the next chapter. Otherwise they first leave the corpse in the
clothes that were already put on it when death was imminent (see
page 6), or change those clothes again, in each case, however,
doath at Paris, in 1851. We refer to this work tliose of our readers who are
anxious to know more about a most remarkable legacy of antiquity. We are, how-
ever, sorry to say that we do hy no means sliare the enthusiastic views, expreseed
hy Dr. Legge about the book on page 5 of his translation of the Li-ki. The blun-
ders in it are very numerous, though not the result of any disabihty to under-
stand and analyse Cliinese text*, but rat lier of the translater\'s want of a general
knowledge of ancient China as depicted in the Classics. Indeed, he nowhere shows
us that he has made a study of those works. Therefore, in giving extracts from
the Cheu-li, we are in not one instance indebted to M. Biot, but liave trans-
lated everytbing directly from the great Khienlung edition mentioned in the note
on page 4 and Ijearing the title ^jj Jr? BI *& §(& jBF, »Report on the rules laid
ilown in the Cheu-kwan, confirmcd hy imperia! sanction".
• * m ib, ï u * &. & n \'S m <»»*»«. >•21
2 mm,*m, *m\\n i, m m& c" *• %
$L H .Cl.. 25,1.14.
•• >* üL*K>Jt£9.Rlk 3 ft c"-25\' \'•22-
-ocr page 52-
LIGHT1NG A CANI)I,E OR LAMP.                                  21
covering the body with a white shroud over which coines a red
sheet of smaller dimensions. This hiding the dead froiu view is
considered a matter of great importance, because it represents a
saered custom handed down by holy antiquity. Tt is, indeed, men-
tioned by both the I-li and the Li-ki, as niay be seen from the
extracts quoted on page 18; moreover, the latter Classic (ch.
57, 1. 34) says: »Immediately after the demise, the corpse is trans-
» ferred (from the ground, see page 7) to the couch and covcred with
» the shroud that is to be used also at the subsequent dressing; and
»the garments in which the last breath was drawn are taken off"\'.
Placing a light near the corpse.
The Li-ki (ch. 57, 1. 24) also has: »In the case of a Rider,
»there are two candles above in the hall and two below. Tn that
»of a Great officer, the numbers are respectively one and two,
» and in that of an ordinary officer, one and one" \'. And the J-H
says: »At night they light a torch in the central part of the
court-yard" \\ The ancient custom, to which these passages in-
troduce us, is also observed by modern Chinese down to the lowest
classes. As soon as the deceased is stretched on the water-bed,
one of the first cares of the faraily is to place a lighted candle
in an ordinary candlestick near his feet, either on the couch or
on a form or chair at the side of it. They call it a kha-bé-tsik *
or »feet-candle". Poor people in many cases take a bowl instead of a
candle, put some sand in it and place upon the sand a small
round open saucer of iron filled with oil in which a wiek of
waterrush is swimming. Such saucers, placed on a wooden stand,
form the ordinary houselamps of daily life.
The usage, now under our notice, goes at Amoy by the name
of chHö-cIfi*, »to light the corpse". To properly understand it,one
should bear in mind that since time iramemorial the Chinese
IE1
± S; ± - «, T - «• Scct- ft * IE\' ••
3 W^i^T fJl@Cha,,t. 28,1.4.
^ mp-
-ocr page 53-
22
FUNKRAL RITES.
have divided nature in two great parts, suprème powers of the
universe, one callcd Yang1, embrucing light, warmth, life; the
other known as Yin\', or the principle of darkness, cold and death.
The former is tnore especially identificd with the heavens, from
which ot course all light, warmth and life emanate; the Yin,
on the other hand, with the earth which, when not directly acted
upon by the heavens , is nothing but a dark, cbld, lifeless mass; the
regions of death also are an integrate part of it. Now, the dis-
embodied soul being naturally under the full influences of those dark ,
unseen regions, would even in the broadest daylight be quite
unable to tind its way through thein to the corpse and to the sacrificcs
which are to be offered there every day for its benefit, did not
the family remedy the evil by the happy expediënt which
now occupies our attention. Besides, there is a second idea
underlying the custoni. Souls in general, constituting the vital
principle of men, are in the main composed of material derived
from Yang, the great source of all life in nature. With this
idea before them and, moreover, convinced that the soul they
are attending must be sadly weakened by its separation from the
body, the family strengthen it by means of a little artificial
Yang, to wit, by light and warmth emanating from the candle
or the lamp.
This custoni consequently acquaints us with a prevailing belief
that disembodied souls continue wandering about the corpse, and
enjoy the offerings that are made on the spot in their behalf. This
idea should not be lost sight of by our readers, as it throws the
fullest light on the whole extent of Chinese funeral rites and because
the greater part of these would otherwise be perfectly unintelligible \\
3 The custoni under our notice is also interesting from the fact, that it is
paralleled everywhere in our hemisphere. Tlie Christians in many parts ot\' the
globe suiround the corpses ot\' those lying in state with wax tapers, which they
keep burning until the burial day. Tlie Catholic church is known to bc most parti-
cular on this point, as scarcely ever a funeral takes place without tapoi^s round
tlie colïin. «Moresinus explains the use of the candle on this occasion as an Egypt-
»ian hieroglyphic for life, designed to express tlie ardent desire of the sui\'vivors to
»have had the life of the deceased prolonged.
»In Levi\'s account of the rites and ceremonies of the modorn Jews we have
«mention of the like practice. \'The corpse, he says, is taken and laid on the ground,
»and a light set at its head.\' In Henry VIII\'s time it was the custom to set
»two burning candles over the dead body. Finally Popo\'s couplet will bo familiar
»to tho reader ol the pathetic story ot Kloisa and Abelard —
-ocr page 54-
23
LICHTING A CANULE OR LAMP.
Taking into consideration that the lamp in questioa is designed
for saving the soul from starvation and evaporation, it will by no
ineans appear surprising that all classes of the people connect a
superstition with it to the effect that, whoever happens to extin-
guish it shall be visited by disaster. Indeed, the soul, roused to
bitter indignation against such an increiiser of its misery, will cer-
tainly make him bleed soundly for vvhat he has done. Like woe
shall betide the man who hastens the extinction of the lamp by allowing
himself, even unconseiously, to be besmeared with some of the oil;
and there is nobody who, knowing himself the vietim of such an
atrocious deed, will rest until he has taken adequate revenge upon
the low character who has thus exposed him to the anger
of the soul. Tt is a matter of course that very near relatives are,
in such cases, further beyond the reach of evil consequences than
strangers, as they exert themselves with all the power that is in
them for the welfare of the dead, and are liked for this by the soul.
Under the name ch%iiil, »corpse-oil\'\', the luminiferous liquid
of the lamp plays an important part in the black art. Women gene-
rally ascribe to it the power of creating discord between married
people; hence many a principal wife, if jealous of a concubine who
enjoys more of their common lord\'s love than herself, does not shrink
from smearing the dangerous stutf on the garments of her rival,
feeling sure she shall in this way put a stop to the good undcr-
standing which excites her jealousy. People also say that many
women go so far as to lay up secretly a little quantity of such
oil, in order to have it always ready at hand when required for
bad purposes of the kind, e. ff. in behalf of deur fiïends, who want
»Ah, hopeless lasting Flames! like thoso that burn
»To light the dead, and warm th\'tinfniitful urn".
According to the Glossary to Maria Edgeworth\'s Castle Itackrent, in Ireland »all
»the Iriends and neighbours of the deceased i-ollect in a barn or stablo, where the
«corpse is laid upon some boards or an unbinged door, supported upon stools, the
«face exposed, tlie rest of the body covered with a white sheet, rlound tlie body
•ara stuck in brass candlesticks, whicli liave been borrowed perhaps at live miles
«distance, as many candles as the poor person can beg or borrow, observing al-
»ways to have an odd numbor".
(Brand, Observations, pages 441 and 4H7).
»In the lowlands of Scotland a candle is wave<l thrice round a corpse as it
»is \'sained\' or blessed. A candle used to be set upon a dead body in Northumber-
»land, and a similar jiractice prevailed in the Isle of Man" (üennys, The Folk-lore
of Cliina, page 21).
-ocr page 55-
21
PUNERAL RITES.
ii dose. It is quite uutural that peoplc who feel convinccd that
souls bear a deep grudge against any one who robs the in of
their oil, also beliove that they strike wives, guilty of such au
act, in the very Hrst place in their matrimonial happiness; in
fact, nothing can be dearer to a Chinese woman, absolutely un-
educated as she is to any feelings of liigher order, than the animal
affections of her husband. Besides, the oil, symbolizing the separa-
tion of the dead froni the living, cannot but have a separatinij
influence on a couple who are brought in close contact with it.
They place paper slaves near the corpse.
So far for the candle and the lamp. As the fainily sagely sur-
mise that the soul wants servants in the world of darkness too,
they place two puppets near the feet of the dead, either upon
or by the water-bed. These puppets, made in «the roughest possible
manner of paper pasted on baniboo splints, are not more than a
foot in size; they represent one male and one female, and are known
as Jcha-bé kan l, »feet-slaves". Afterwards they are placed in the
coffin at the feet of the dead.
They collect ashc\'8 at their neighbours.
As soon as the washing of the corpse is over, the sons, in their
sackcloth garments, once more leave the house, this time carrying
an ordirtary basket, in which they have placed a rice-measure
upside down. They go out for what they call khit hé-hu9, »begging
for ashes". Each laying one hand on the basket, they slowly and
solemnly repair to the next dweiling and kneeling down in front of
the entrance, their eyes silently fixed on the pavement, paticntly
wait for the master, who soon appears and places some ashes frons
his kitchen on the turned-up bottom of the measure. In return for
this gilt the eldest son silently hands a couple of candles to him,
intended to be burned upon his doniestic altar. This done, the
mourners resort to the house of a second neighbour and even to
a third, there going through the samc ceremony, and finally they return
home. Whilst performing these acts of filial devotion the mourners
do not wail, as it is rude, nay cruel and criminal, to bring
influences of mourning over other people by pouring out lamenta-
tions on their premises.
• MM®
2 "Zü
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25
REMOVING THE FURNITURE.
If the deceased has no sons living, the ashes are collected by
the next-of-kin, in accordance with the classification ot nink reeog-
nized in Chinese family-life, just as in the ease of buying water for
washing the corpse (page 14). The ashes are designed for the
equipment of the# coffin and shall, as such, be spoken of again
in ehapter V.
They remove the furniture, sleep %n stram, etc.
Meanwhile, the part of the dweiling which is the principal
scène of the funeral rites, has been made to undergo an import-
ant ehange. The altar with the ancestral tabhjts and the images
of the domestic divinities was, as we said on page 5, removed
froni the hall when death was imminent or seemed to be so.
« Hut as soon as life is actually extinct, the same measure is extended
to the whole of the •furniture including the two lanterns, with
censer betwixt them, that in fashionable houses hang down
from the ceiling in honour of the spirits presiding over hea-
ven, earth, and water, or the so-called Sam-kai-kongl, »Lords of
the three Spheres". The paper scrolls inscribed with antithetical
sentences, that ornament the walls by pairs, are taken down,
and so are the pictures of landscapes and scènes of domestic life,
the pieces of red cloth fixed over the lintels of the doors and
windows to keep out pernicious influences, etc. etc. Only a few
stools or chairs are left for the convenience of condoling visitors,
as the rules of etiquette forbid the receiving of the same without
offering them a seat.
Thus the water-bed with its appurtenances is about the only
thing to be seen in the hall. In many cases, a small movable
furnace, called kim-lo1, or »furnace to burn gold", is placed on the
ttoor in front of it, and made to consume from time to time a quan-
tity of small paper sheets which kinsmen, friends and acquaintances,
on calling to condole with the family, offer for the purpose. These
sheets, being all partly tinned over on one side, are, according to
the prevailing conviction, turned by the process of fire into real
silver currency available in the world of darkness, and sent there
through the smoke to the soul; they are called gun-tsoa\', »silver
paper". Most families prefer to previously fold every sheet in the shape
of a hollow ingot, a „silver ingot" grin-kho*), as they call it. This
1 H#^      « £g.     3 $jfft.     4 ftgg.
-ocr page 57-
26
FUNERAI, KITES.
requires a great amount of labour and time, but increases
the value of the treasure imraensely. It is also customary to add
to every portion burnt a number of such sheets coloured yellow
with a decoction of certain flowers, to represent gold. This »gold
paper" kim-tsod1 is likewise folded beforehand into what they call
»ingots of gold" kim-khb*, but it is designed for the benefit of the local
divinity of the Soil, the patron divinity of departed souls of whoni
more will soon be told. By the way it remains to be said, that
in many cases a furnace is dispensed with for the paper-offerings,
every thing being shnply burned on the bare floor.
The hall thus strongly reminds us of very ancient, not to say
savage times, when all the possessions of the dead urnn were
thrown into a fire, kindled for the purpose by the side of the
corpse. There are, indeed, many instances on record of uncivilized
tribes that burn or otherwise destroy their property, the implica-
tio» being that the things themselves, or their ghostly duplicates,
go with the soul into the other world. »In Africa this is cornmon:
»among the Koosas the widows of chiefs burn all the household
»utensils; the Bagos (Coast Negroes) do the like, and inelude all
»their stores of food; even their rice is not saved from the flames.
»It is a custom of the Comanches to burn the deceased\'s weapons.
»In other cases the dead man\'s iniplements and movables are bro-
» ken. Franklin says of the Chippcwayans, \'no article is spared by
»these unhappy men when a near relative dies; their clothes and
» tents are cut to pieces, their guns broken, and every other weapon
»rendered useless\'" \'J. Now, on seeing that the modern Chinese
convert a great deal of their possessions into mock paper money and,
as we shall have occasion to describe in subsequent chapters, also
into paper-and-bamboo models of houses, turniture and other neces-
saries of life, finally turning the whole collection into smoke and ashes
for the dead man\'s use, it is certainly not against the laws of logic
to believe we have here to do with a survival of a more ancient
destruction of real property.
Conjecture, in fact, seems useless to establish a reason for this
custom, and for many others that fall under our notice in this
part of our work, unless we tracé them back to such ancient times.
As will be discussed in extenso in the 6th. and 7th. chapters of the third
part of this Book, the ancient documents of the empire afford the
3 Spencer, The Principles of Sociology, § 108.
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il
REMOVING ÏHE FURN1TURE.
fullcst possible evidence that, originally, mourning was nothing
hut an absolute renunciation of all earthly goods for the sake
of the dead, and such on account of a dominating principle
that everything a child possessed was its father\'s property and
continued to be so after the latter\'s translation to the other
world. Even at the present day this dogma reigns suprème in
Chinese society. Anciently it prompted the offspring to fill up
the tomb with all sorts of implements, ornaments, rare and
precious objeets, domestic animals, even to bury the deceased\'s
wives, concubines and slaves: the two paper slaves spoken of on
page 24 undoubtedly represent a last faint shadow of this prac-
tice *. Indeed, nothing was kept by the mourners to cover their
limbs but the poorest sackcloth perfectly valueless to the deceased,
whom they dressed, on the other hand, in the most costly robes
they could attbrd: the same sackcloth is still found on the bodies
of modern mourners at the more important phases of the\'funeral
rites. Finally, the ancient books teach us that the mourners observ*
ed a rigid fasting and ate nothing but a small quantity of water-
gruel now and then, all the food in the house having to be sacri-
ticed to the deceased a; so, cooking was given up, and the ashes
requircd for the coffin had to be applied for at the neighbours\'.
It is true that fasting has now nearly disappeared trom the funeral
rites, but the custom of bcgging for ashes has, as we have shown
on page 24, been devoutly maintained as a solemn rite down to the
present day. It will be perfectly clear now why the persons who
perform it wear the sackcloth garments.
The custom of removing all the furniture from the hall in which
the dead body lies, we may now consider as sufficiently explained.
No doubt there is a close connexion between it and this ancient
prescript occurring in chapter 4 of the Li-H (1. 2): »He who has
sutfered a loss by death sits on a single mat" \\ But even more
is done now-a-days as long as the body is uncottined: the wife,
sous, daughters, daughters-in-law, and the eldest grandson renounce
their beds also, and pass their nights by the side of the corpse
on a mat or some straw spread out on the floor. This usage,
which goes by the term tsiti si *, »to watch over the corpse", is
1   Tliis subject will be amply dealt with in the 4th., 8th. and 9th. cliapters ol\'
the third part ot this Book.
2   A special chapter, the 7th, will be devoted to this subject in the third part
ol this Book.
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:IH
FUNERAL RITES.
likewise of vcry ancient standing: in fact, in the China of ancient
timos the mourners used to occupy small sheds of wood and clay,
specially erected for the purpose and entirely without furniture of
any kind, there to spend the days in wailing and fasting,
thcir nights on straw or matting »with a clod of earth for a pil-
low". All this will be treated of at length in the sixth chapter
of the third part of this Book and illustrated by extraets froni ancient
native works. That the modern mourners lie down in the immediate
vicinity of the corpse with the professed design to watch over it,
resembles our own practice of watching the dead \'.
Even on its outside the house of mourning is stripped of
its ornaments. The inscriptions on long strips of red paper,
affixed along the door-posts and over the lintel of every Chinese
dwelling, are pasted over, or partly pasted over, with a white or
black paper band hearing no characters at all, and a like band is
made to cover the inscriptions or painted human figures that de-
corate each door-leaf of the main entrance. Mourning, indeed, allows
of neither paint nor colour and is especially inconsistent with red,
because this colour is believed to expel pernicious infiuences and
thus particularly to symbolize good luck, happiness, delight and
pleasure.
The most conspicuous intimation to passers-by that some one in
the house has departed this life, is a sedan-chair of bamboo splints
and paper, placed outside the door for the use of the soul. It goes
by the name of kè-son" few2, »palankeen to cross the country". Its
dimensions vary from two feet to the ord inary size, and are pro-
portionate to the means of the family. The carrying poles are affixed
on the shoulders of two or four human images, likewise made of
bamboo and paper. As these beings are appointed to convey the
soul on their shoulders wherever it should desire to go, and thus
to save it all physical fatigues in the realm of shades, the surviving
1 Brand, quoting several authorities, points out the existence of the custom
of watching the dead, also in very ancient tirnas, in the north of England, where
it survives under the name of lakc-wake, in North Wales, where it goes by the
name of wyt-nös, in Cumberland, in Ireland, in the Isle oi Man, in Sweden, and
observes: «That watching with the corpse was an ancient custom everywhere
«practised, numerous passages from ecclesiastical writers might be cited to prove,
»could there be any doubt of the antiquity ot a practice which, owing its origin
»to the tenderest affections of human nature, has perhaps on that account been used
«from the infancy of Timo" («Observations ", p. 437 and 4G2).
2 M\\um
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2U
OIVING TUK DORPSE KOOI).
relatives, of course, take good care to propitiate them, lest
they should fall short in their duty and prove intractable and lazy.
Kuch of them is regularly refreshed with a tea-cup of cooked
rice and a few cakes, one of the kinsmen inviting them with
bows and holding a few incense-sticks between his fingers, to
partake of the food; inoreover, a few threaded sheets of mock
money are hung round the ncck or on the arm of caeh, every China-
man knowing by experience that chair-bearers are always strongly
opposed to moving when no advance wages have been paid them.
By the way it may be mentioncd here that the well to do
somctimcs have, during the funeral rites, a kind of awning, con-
structed of bamboo poles and white cloth or matting in their
court-yard in front of the hall. It is designed for affording protec-
tion against rain and sunshine to all those who take a part in the
preparation of the body for the grave and in the funeral rites.
Placing food at the side of the corpse.
At the beginning of the second chapter describing the Chinese
practice of wailingly calling to the dead, we saw in it an attempt to
induce the soul to return and re-animate the corpse, an attempt
pointing to a prevailing belief that death is by no means absolute,
but may, like other insensibilities, be only temporary. This belief
has created another custom, to which we must devote a few mo-
ments of attention, to wit, that of feeding the corpse by actually
putting food into its mouth and placing eatables by its side.
As rilling; the mouth of the dead with morsels has now well-
nigh fallen into disuse in Amoy and its environs, the custom can
only be dealt with in its historical aspects and is consequently
reserved for discussion in the 7th. chapter of the second part of this Book.
But setting out food at the side of the corpse is still faithfully
observed by all classes of society as a holy eustomary law allowing
of no infringement whatever.
Before taking their usual breakfast, the deceased\'s wife and child-
ren arrange a bowl of cooked rice, and in many cases also a
dish of vegetables, bean-curd or the like, on a table at the
right hand side of the bed. They carefully add a pair of chop-
sticks, the well-known instruments that serve the Chinese to con-
duct their food to their mouths. Tben taking burning incense-
sticks between their fingers, they kneel down on the floor and
wail and lament for a few minutes in the usual way, some silver
mock money being in the meantime kindled in the furnace to enrich
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80
FUNBRAL RITES.
the dead. And after a time, when the deceased is supposed to have
satisficd the wants of his stoniach, the mourners proceed to take
their own meal, consmning in most cases the food offered to
the corpse; but in some families they prefer giving that food to
the beggars in the street, as the influences of death which stick to
it tnight perhaps injurc them.
This giving the corpse food is a custom of very ancient date,
traceable in the old documents of Chinese literature. It will likewise
be tresited of in ch. 7 of Part II.
Sacrificing to the local divinity of the Soil.
A petty offering, also composcd of a bowl of rice to which a
few dainties are added occasionally, is at the same time set out
for the use of the local divinity of the Soil, whose acquaintance
the reader has made on page 2G. If properly propitiated in this way,
this boing is expected to safely pilot the soul through the regions
of darkness, of which he has the control. It is the duty of onc
of the mourners to invite him to help himself; for this purpose
the man makes a polite bow in front of the offerings, at the same
time holding one or three burning incense sticks in his joined hands
on a level with his head. Prudent and intelligent people take care
to lay out only one chopstick for the use of the god, thoughtfully
calculating that it must take him in this way a long time to
consume his meal and so prevent him from hurrying otl\' before
the soul is properly prepared to follow him.
Visits of condolence.
On pages 9 and 25 wc cursorily noticed the fact that kinsmen, friends
and acquaintances are in the habit of calling at the house of death
to present their condolences to the afflicted family. This is called
bai song\', »to inquire after the decease".
When such a visitor has entered the hall, he kneels down in
front of the curtain which sereens the corpse from view, lays his
forehead on the ground and wails a moment or two in this posi-
tion in concert with the mournerR, who have retircd for this pur-
pose into the side apartments. The principal mourner then makes
his appearance, silently prostrates himself before the visitor and
knocks his head against the floor at least three times, thus express-
1 f§&
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31
VISITS OF CONDOLKNCE.
ing the thanks of the family for his having come to take part in
their grief. The guest now pronounces a few words of endearment
and consolation to the niourner, and, in return for his present of
mock paper money which has been brought in by a servantafew
niotnents before, he receives a little skein of thin red cords of silk,
a piece of white linen, and a piece of red silk or cotton, of which
articles the family have purchased a good quantity beforehand
with a view to the expected guests. The white and the red cloth
are designed for a mourning band, which the visitor will have to
wind around his head in the funeral procession in case he raight
wish to accompany the corpse to tbc grave; the red threads, however,
are fastened forthwith to the lapel of his coat, red being supposed
to counteract pernicious influences in general, and those which
residt from contact with death and mourning in particular.
The guest thereupon reuring, the family take care to pay the
hearers of his palankeen their full wages for the journey out and
home. Indeed, the Chinese rules of etiquette severely forbid onc
who enjoys the honour of a ceremonial call to allow the party
wlio bestows the honour, to pay the expenses connected with it.
Whenever a relation appears who, according to prevailing social
notions, occupies a higher rank in the hierarchy of the family than
the mourners, as their paternal uncle, or a brother of their grand-
father, it is necessiiry for all the sons of the deeeased to come forth
simultaneously, in order to thank him with prostrations for his call.
There are always some among the visitors, more especially among
the female part, who remain with the mourners to lend theni a
hclping hand in the preparations for the burial.
Presenting paper money when paying a visit of condolence is a
custom firmly established, and accordingly complied with by everv-
body with greiit strictness. The quantity and valuc of each one\'s
gift is duly set down in a special memorandum book, it being
highly desirable for the family to be able to calculate after the
rites are over, how large a quantity of sacrificial articles ought
to be sent to each visitor in return. The paper is designed for
the equipment of the coffin and, accordingly, always denoted by
the term koan-thaó tsod\', »coffin-papcr". But as the receptacle of
the dead is, of course, not spacious enough to hold the whole
mass offered by so many friends, it is regularly burned by lots by
* nmm
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32                                                 FUNKRAI, KITKS.
the side of the corpse, as was said already on page 25, the ashes
being carefully collected to be aftcrwards wrapped in paper and
placed in the coffin, or at the side of the coffin, in the toinb.
llelatives and friends living at a considcrable distance and, on
this account, unable to call in person, ?ire allowed by custom to
dcpute a servant or hired messenger to bring paper money to the
house of mourning. The family then comniit the cloth and the
skein to the hands of this man, ordering him to take them to
bis employer; they also pay him his wages for the message out and
home in obedience to a like rule of etiquette which prescribes
pay ment of the chair-bearers of visitors. It may, of course, occur
that such a messenger, on his way to the house of mourning,
recoivcs intelligcnce that the corpse has been coffined in the mcan
time and the coffin closed. In this case, he is not allowed to take
the paper back , neither to deliver it, Tssë-yiu, a disciple of Confucius,
having declared on a certain occasion, that »in funeral matters
there should be a regular progress, no retrogressive movement\'\'\';
so, to help himself out of the dilemma, he stealthily throws the
paper into the premises of the mortuary house, or over the wall
into the court-yard. Indeed, now it is neither offered nor taken
back the way it had come, and full justice is done to the doctrine
of the ancient sage.
Women in the family way are scarcely ever allowed to pay visits
of condolence, their husbands wisely calculating that, whereas death
is diametrically opposed to life, contact with funeral rites must
badly injure the child in utero and a miscarriage be the conse-
quence. Perhaps the Chinese are not on this point under the in-
fluence of sophisticated reasonings only, for they can scarcely have
failed to observe, that the disagreeable emotions of a future mother
are often far from remaining without effect upon the foetus.
It is a general conviction that any one who calls at a mortuary
house incurs a kind of pollution, especially so if death has been un-
timely or caused by disease. Some condolers therefore wisely hide
a few garlic roots under their garments, convinced that the strong
smell will prevent the influences of death from clutching to their
bodies; on leaving the house they throw the roots away in the
street. Others, on re-entering their dwelling, purify themselves by
stepping over a fire, or over some burning incense powder of a kind
considered especially suitable for this and similar ends and there-
1 |S| ^ 7fö jfk tfij ^ ^. Li-ki, ch. 10, 1. 38. Sect. $gf Ê} , 1, 2.
-ocr page 64-
VISITS OF CONDOLKNCE.                                              S\'ó
fore styled tslng hiu"3 \\ »purification-incense". Those who are of a
rather orthodox turn of iuind teel convinced that, unless such a eleansing
has been properly undergone, it would be revoltinglv irreverent
to worship the God of Heaven until a certain number of days
have elapsed; under no pretext whatever will they venture to per-
form to that suprème divinity of the pantheon the ordinary aets
of daily homage which consist in placing, at sunset, a few
incense-sticks in the doorposts outside the dwelling and, at the same
time, a burning candle in the so-called »lantern of Heaven" l/tien
Ving J suspended near the spot. Some go even so far as to abstain
from all worship to any divinity whatever for a certain length of
time, the duration of which depends upon the degree of their own
superstition.
The above description of the visits of condolence in modern
China remind us again of a set of remarkable practices directly
inherited from high antiquity. The ancient books of rites teach us
that, during the Cheu dynasty, even sovereigns and potentates were
in the habit of sending messages of condolence at the death of
their officers, also of going in person to the house of mourning.
Their consorts acted in a similar manner; noblemen and grandees
attended part of the funeral rites of their colleagues, not excluding
those of lower rank; everybody, from the very Ruler down to
remote kinsmen and friends of the deceased, presented grave clothes,
obviously the forerunners of the modern » cotfin-paper". Even the
curious idea that pollution is incurred by such visits was
strongly entertained in those times. We will now pass in review
the principal passages bearing on this subject.
The I li says in its chapters on the funeral rites of ordinary officers:
»The Ruler sends a man to eondole with the mourners. The
»curtain (suspended in the hall to screen the back-chamber from
»view) is tucked up, and the principal mourner receives the man
» outside the tiin gate, but he does not wail on seeing the visitor.
» He then precedes him in entering the gate, turns to the right,
» and stands there with his face towards the north.
»The condoler, after entering, ascends the western steps and
»places himself with his face eastward, whereupon the principal
»mourner advances to the middle of the courtyard, and the con-
» doler delivers his message. This done, the principal mourner wails,
i ##• 2 icm-
:i
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34
FUNERAL RITES.
» bows, knocks his forehead against the ground, and performs a
»full stamping (consisting of three stamps with the feet, thrice
»repeated); the visitor then leaves the gate, and the principal
» mourner bowingly sees him off outside the outer gatex.
»The Ruler sends a man to bring grave clothes. The curtain hav-
»ing been tucked up, the principal mourner acts as in the fore-
» going case. The messenger with the clothes, holding the collars with
» his left hand and the waists with his right, enters, ascends the
» steps, and delivers his message, the principal mourner making his
» reverences as in the last case. The man with the clothes then enters
» (the back-chamber) and places the clothes on the corpse; this done,
»he leaves the gate and is bowingly seen off by the principal
» mourner as in the case before-mentioned.
» Only if a message comes from a Ruler, the principal mourner
»appears (from the back-chamber, to receive it). But when he
» ascends or descends the western steps, he makes reverences to the
» visitors (that happen to be present at that moment). If there is a
»Great officer, he makes reverences to him separately from the
» others and places himself at the foot of the western steps with
» his face to the east, but he does not stamp his feet and enters
»the back-chamber again even though the Great officer has not
»told him to go"1. He has, of course, to show the utmost anx-
» iety to be at the side of his father\'s corpse.
»The near relatives (uncles, aunts, sisters and so on of the dead)
» present grave garments. They do not deliver a message with them,
» but lay out the clothes immediately (in the apartment on the
» east-side of the back-chamber).
£|». Ch. 26, I. 23 sqq.
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Ch. 26, 1. 27 seq.
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85
VISITS OF CONDOLENCE.
»The several kinsmen present grave clothes, but through messen-
»gers who have to deliver an address in the back-chamber. The
» principal mourner makes reverences to them froni the place assigned
»to him, whereupon the clothes are deposited on the east-side of
»the corpse, upon a couch.
»The friends present grave clothes. They bring them in person;
»the principal mourner bows to them, and they put down the
» garments as in the last instance.
»And when (such a messenger or friend) retires, the principal
» mourner wails, but without stamping his feet"1.
In chapter 58 (leaf 26) of the Li ki we read =
»In the case of a Great officer or his principal wife of the same
» surname as the Ruler\'s, the Ruler attends at the fuller dressing,
» but if he wants to show a special favour to the dead, he attends
»at the slighter dressing too. At the rites for a Great officer\'s
>> principal wife having a surname different from the Ruler\'s, the
» Ruler arrivés after the lid is placed on the coffin; at those for an
» ordinary officer, he goes after the coffin h»is been stored away in
»the hall, but if he wishes to show a special favour, he attends
» at the fuller dressing.
»And as to his consort: — at the rites for a Great officer\'s
» principal wife, she goes to see the fuller dressing, but if she wishes
»to show favour, she attends at the slighter too. In the case of any
»other of his women (including sisters and other females of the
» same surname), she attends at the fuller dressing if she wants to
»show a special favour; but at the death of a Great officer\'s
»principal wife having a surname different from hers (or her
» husband\'s?), she goes there when the coffin has been stored away" *.
1 n%m.*m$i,Mmm,
&. 2S, ^Sl.Ch. 26,1. 30^.
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86
FUNERAr, RITES.
The fnct that the visits of condolence were regulated by such subtile
rules of etiquette affords another instance that such visits were paid
on a most extensive scale. The higher the rank of the deceased
or liis repute with the Ruler, the eailier the latter arrived, and
the greater the number of the rites attended by him. For the
better understanding of the above extract we may inform the reader,
that the dressing of a eorpse used to be done in three stages:
first, they put on the body-clothes and a few suits besides; then
they performed the » slighter dressing"1, for which a great number
of suits were taken, and finally came the »greater or fuller
dressing"2, immediately foliowed by the coffining and the storing
away or setting by of the dead against the western wall of the
hall. All these parts of the ancient funeral rites will be properly
reviewed in the second part of this Book, ch. V, 1, and in the
third part, ch. I.
Of such a visit paid by the Ruler in person at the death of an
ordinary officer to whom he wanted to show a special favour, we find
an exhaustive description in chaptur 28 of the I li (1. 24—34). »If
»the Ruler wishes to show a favour, he comes to see the (fuller)
»dressing. After the clothes have been laid out, he arrivés, the
» principal mourner leaving the house to receive him outside the
»outer gate. As soon as he sees the heads of the horses, the
» mourner puts a stop to his wailing, turns round, passes through
»both the gates, turns to the right, and takes his station with
»his face to the north, baring the upper part of his body in
» concert with all the principal mourners \'.
»Tlie Exorcist (of the Ruler) does not go further than the outside
» of the temple-gate (i. e. the tiin gate), the lnvoker coming in his
»stead at the head of the procession. Two lower servants with
»lances march ahead of the Ruler, and two in his rear. Having set
» out vegetable offerings (to the spirits of the gates) the Ruler passes
1 \'b%k           2 AM-
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VISITS OF CONDOIiENCE.                                         37
» through the gates, while the principal inourner withdraws to
» his place l.
»Ascending by the eastern steps, the Ruler takes his station (in
»the eastern part of the hall), with his face towiirds the west, (thus
» seeing the corpse stretched on a couch in the centre of the hall).
» His Invoker places himself with his back against the wall and with his
»face towards the south, while the principal mourner stays in the
» centre of the conrtyard2.
»Now the Ruler wails. The principal inourner, having wailed also,
» salutes the Ruler by laying his forehead to the ground, then he
» perfonns a complete stamping of the feet3 and goes out of the
*» gate (as if expecting the Ruler to leave now, in which case he
» would have to reverently see him oft). But the Ruler orders him
» back and the business of dressing to go on, whereupon the
» principal mourner returns to his place (on the east of the gate,
»in the courtvard). He is ordered, however, by the Ruler to come
» up by the steps; and he takes his station on the east of the
» western pillar, facing the north*.
»After the dukes, high nobles and Great officers have been like-
» wise ordered up the steps (by the Ruler), and have arrayed them-
»selves behind the principal mourner, the highest amongst them
» on the east-side, the dressing is performed. When over, the dukes,
» high nobles and Great officers descend in reversed order (from that
»in which they came up the steps), and return to their places (in
» the south-east corner of the courtvard). The principal mourner now
»goes down also and leaves the gate (as if hastening again to see
» the Ruler oft), but the Ruler orders him to come back once more ,
» upon which he résumés his place in the centre of the courtyard 5.
»The Ruler now sits down and places his hand on the bosom
» of the dead. The principal mourner lays his forehead against the
\'X Three stamps, thrice i\'epeated.
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38
FUNERAIi RITES.
» ground, performs a complete stamping with his feet, and runs out of
>> the gate again. Being ordered back, however, by the Rulcr, he returns
»to his old place (inside the gate, on the east of the courtyard),
» while the other principal mourners retire under the eastern wall,
» where they stand facing the south \'.
»The Ruler, upon this, descends by the steps, stands (for a
» moment) with his face westwards, and orders the principal mourner
»to lean on the corpse. Ascending by the western steps and
» passing by the feet of the corpse, the latter leans on the body
» with his face towards the west, not touching, however, the place
» which the Ruler occupied (when laying his hand on the corpse).
» When he has stamped his feet, the principal female mourner,
» facing the east (and accordingly standing on the west-side of the
»couch), leans on the corpse also like the principal mourner\'.
» Now the corpse is lifted up and put into the coffin. This is
»thereupon closed; the principal mourner goes down the steps and
»leaves the gate, but the Ruler orders him to return. He re-
» enters, turns to the left, and watches the plastering of the coffin.
»The Ruler goes up by the steps and repairs to his place, while
»the principal mourners resumé theirs also 3.
vThe plastering finished, the chief mourner leaves the gate,
»the Ruler, however, ordering him back to have the sacrificial
» articles presented. After the mourner has entered again and gone
»to the right hand side of the courtyard, the offerings are set
» out, the same being taken up by the western steps. The Ruler stamps
» his feet when the time to do so comes, the principal mourner
»imitating him in this; and, the offerings placed, the latter leaves
» the gate. While the wailers make a pause, the Ruler goes out by
»the gate also. On passing through that of the temple (i. e. the
»tsHn gate) he wails, but the principal mourner does not wail
» with him. The latter then steps aside; the Ruler makes a bow
»to him, and when (at the great gate) he has got into his
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IMPOSITION OF HANDS.
» carriage of second rank, the principal mourner wails and bowingly
» sees him off1.
»The mourner then adjusts his clothes again on the upper part
» of his body, re-enters the gate, and repairs to his place (at the
» foot of the eastern steps, on the east). The other principal mourn-
» ers likewise adjust their dress. He then makes reverences to the
»Great officers, who came in after the Ruler, and performs a com-
» plete stamping of the feet. The guests now retire, the principal
» mourner seeing them off with bows"1.
So far goes the / U\'s account of the way in which the princes
of antiquity honoured the funeral of their officers by their presence.
That the family feit greatly honoured by such visits need not be
said. The chief mourner\'s way of expressing this by frequently
running to the gate to see the high visitor off is no doubt under-
stood by the reader to have merely been an act of etiquette meaning
to say: »We have been now honoured by your presence as
much as we might possibly hope for, and dare by no means
expect you to remain one single moment longer in our midst".
Another act of great importance was the imposition of hands. It
implied great reverence for the dead, hence we find it minutely
regulated in the ancient rites by rescripts. »The Ruler", says chapter
58 of the Li ki (leaf 16), »lays his hand on a Great officer and
» on his own principal wife; a Great officer does so on his palace-
»elder, on his niece and his brother\'s wife. A Ruler and a Great
» officer lean on the bodies of their parents, wife and eldest son,
» but not on those of their other sons; an ordinary officer leans
» on his parents, wives, eldest son and other sons. If such a son
»but the eldest has a son, then his parents do not lean on his
»body. The parents of the dead do it prior to the man who
»generally performs the ceremony (i. e. the principal mourner), and
»the wife and sons after him.
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40
FUNERAL RITES.
» A Ruler lays his hands on the bosom of his minister. A father
» and mother hold (the dress on the breast of) their child with their
» hands, but a child leans over the body of its father or mother.
» A woman pulls up the dress (on the breast) of her father-in-law
»or mother-in-law, but a father-in-law and mother-in-law only
»lay the hand on the bosom of the woman. A wife grasps the
»dress of her husband firmly, but a husband merely holds that
» of\' his wife and his own brother with his hands.
» On leaning over a corpse , the spot which the Ruler occupied
»on doing the same thing may not be trodden on. And every
» one who performs the act must, on rising, surely stamp his feet "\'.
So, leaning over a corpse itnplied the deepest sorrow and
affection, merely imposing the hands, the slightest. Between these two
extremcs lay consecutively: puiling up the dress at the breast (^),
grasping it firmly with the hands (^J), and merely holding it in
the hands (^fc).
A few words now remain to be said on the Exorcist and the
Invoker, who escorted the Ruler on his visit. We may not pass
these men by in silence, as they distinctlv point to the existence in
those ancient times of similar ideas on pollution by contact with
death as we have found prevalent at the present day (page 32).
Exorcists are, under the name of Wu ~, very frequently
mentioned in ancient Chinese literature. Already the S/m hing
makes distinct mention of them. By collating all the passages
relating to them, it is seen that they were a certain class of
priests and priestesses entirely possessed by spirits of Ya n g material
(coinp. page 22) and, as such, were deemed especially fitted to perform
chicfly three several functions: (!) to call upon the spirits of the
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V1SITS OF CONDOI-ENCE.                                         41
dead in order to make theni partake of ofterings; (2) to foretell
future events by interrogating the spirits and com municating tlieir
will to the living; (3) to expel diseases and evil in genend, especi-
ally droughts, by neutralizing through the Yang power residing
in their persons the infiucnce of the element of darkness Yin
(cotnp. page 22) and the evil spirits that are identitied with it.
Now, it is in this bist quality that we see them in the retinue of
the ancient Chinese potentates when about to exposé themselves
in a house of death to the attacks of invisible ageneies. Commenting
on the passage referring to the Exorcist in the above extract from
the J li, the learned Ngao Ki-kung \' of the Yuen dynasty says
indeed: »Certainly a Wu and an Invoker wen: employed by him
because he had also to come in contact with the ghost" \'.
Chapter 12 of the Li ki says on leaf 4G: »When a Ruler goes
»to the funeral rites of a minister, he has with him a Wu and
» an Invoker holding respectively a piece of peach wood and reeds,
» as also lancers — because hc dislikes (the influences of death)" \\
» The peach tree", says Ching Khang-chcing *, the most famous of
all the commentators on the books of rites, who lived in the
second century, »is dreaded by ghosts, and bundles of reeds are
»available for sweeping inauspicious things away; — they were
»used then because there were inauspicious and evil influences
» about" 5. It is a pity that the books say nothing about the doings
of those men on that occasion, for it can scarcely bc doubted that
they performed many superstitious rites during the Ruler\'s visit, or
at the moment of his arrival and departure. The Clieu li says in
the 25th. chapter, on leaves 30 and 39: »When the Sovereign pays
» a visit of condolence, the Invoker for the funeral rites niarches
»in front of him in company of the Wu" B, and »The male Wu
»on the same occasion walks ahead of him with the Invoker" 7,
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42                                                 FUNERAT, RITES.
but no notevvorthy infonnation whatever is sifiorded by any
of the books of rites. Turning over the pages of the Tso cliioen \',
the well-known commentarv of Tso Khiu-ming2 on Confucius\'
C\'A\'un liius, we find under the heading »29th. year of duke
Shang" (B. C. 543): »The people of Chcu required the duke to
»bring grave clothes in his own person (for their king Klwng).
»He disliked doing so, but Muh-shuh said: \'Have the inauspici-
» ous influences driven away from the place in the hall where the
»coffin is stored away awaiting burial, and then take the grave
» clothes thither: they will then be mere (harraless) cloth and silk\'.
» Accordingly a Wu was dispatched first to dispel such influences
»from the spot by means of peach wood and reeds, which the
» people of Chcu did not prevent; but after it had been done, they
» were sorry for it" \\ Tt follows froin this, that the practice had
already in those early times fallen into sorae discredit; indeed,
though highly salutary for the safety of the Ruler\'s holy person, it
could not but be looked upon as rather insulting to the dead person
against whom it was directed.
There are many more references to visits of condolence in the
Li ki; but as they teil nothing new worthy of notice, and the
important part of such visits in ancient Chinese life has been
sufficiently illustrated by the above lengthy quotations, we abstain
from reproducing those passages. Considering now that even at the
present day scarcely anybody related to the deceased or the mourn-
ers would dare to fail in going up to the house of death, in
order to discharge himself of what he deerns a holy duty on his
part, it mav be taken for granted that in the entire succession of
gencrations lying between ancient and modern China, such visits
have formed an inseparable, nay, an integrate part of the range of
social customs. It would lead us too far from our subject to con-
firm this, if confirmation were necessary, by long quotations from
the native literature. Let a single extract suffice for the purpose.
It is taken from the sixth section of the Yen-shi Ma hiun5 or
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ffij \'fö ^ • ^"\'1\'s eI"SO(le \'s related also, tliough in very obscure terms, in ch. 13
of the Li ki, leaf 43 (sect jfêg 3 , n, 2).
5 !S ^ ^ q/\'l • The lul1 name ot the autl,or is Yen Chi-thui gg ^ ^ .
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43
PRECAUTIONS AGAINST CATS.
» Domestic Instructions by Mr. Yen", a highly interesting ethical
work of the sixth century, treating of the rules of conduct to be
observed in domestic life.
»In the countries south of the Yang-tszë, at every heavy loss by
»decease, connections with acquaintances living in the same town
» are broken off, if they do not pay a visit of condolence with in
»three days after the death. And even on coming across them vvhen
»the mourning rites are over, all contact is avoided, owing to
»the grudge entertained against them for not having shown sym-
»pathy. Those who have an excuse, or a long way to go, are
» allowed to send a letter, and if they neglect to dothis, they also
» are dealt with in the same way. In the north there ure no such
» customs" \'.
Precautions against cats.
A few superstitious notions and customs relative to the dead
have still to be dealt with before concluding this chapter. As soon
as the last breath has been drawn, the family at once manifest a
great anxiety to transfer all the house cats to the neighbours, or, at
least, to tie them fast and not release them again in their own
house until the coffining is over. In fact, if Pussy were not secured,
it might occur to her to leap or walk over the death-bed, and so
cause the corpse to rise up at once. A long pole would, in this case,
be required to push it down into its former position, or a piece
of furniture would have to be used as a projectile, though nothing
can serve the purpose so well as a broom. The handle, namely,
renders it eminently fit for being grasped with the hands, so that
the corpse, frantic with rage, will pull the broom at once against
its breast to cool its wrath upon it, and by this vehement motion
sink down into its inert state. That it is far from advisable to ex-
pose one\'s self to the danger of being seized instead of the broom,
we need not say: a horrible death in a ferocious embrace would
be the inevitable consequence.
To account for this curious superstition it is necessary to dweil
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14
PONKRAli RITES.
for a moment on the domain of tiger-lore. A tiger, the Chinese
say, has on its tail a very miraculous hair, endowed with the
power of bringing the soul back into any human body which litïs
motionless and insensible; it is known by the popular term
of hodn hun mng l, »hair that causes the soul to return".
Now, whenever the monster has dragged a man into a mountain
recess, it takes good care first to wag its tail all round and over
him, knowing by experience that the unfortunate victim, on return-
ing to life, will in his second agony ot death, stupidly tear off his
clothes and thus enable his assailant to eat him without being
incommoded by troublesome shrcds and threads. Moreover, the
Chinese are very well aware that the cat resembles the tiger not
merely in outward shape, but also in all its characteristics, man-
ners and habits. How easily therefore might it happen that such a
tiger in miniature should likewise be possessed of a »soul-recalling
hair" and, by jumping on the water-bed, cause the dead body to
turn into a dangerous vampire!
The contact of cats with a corpse is particularly unsafe on days
which are styled »tiger days", it being believed that, then, the
influence of the feline race predominates more than on other occa-
sions. To understand this, the reader must know that the Chinese
divide time by using different cycles, each always starting afresh
immediately after it has run off, and that one of these is
composed of the names of twelve animals, arranged in the follow-
ing unchanging sequence:
1   JU, the Rat,                           7 ,f]| the Horse,
2   4^ the Ox,                             8   ^.   the Goat,
3   J% the Tiger,                         9   $|   the Monkey,
4   j3i the Hare,                        10   H  the Cock,
5   ff| the Dragon,                     11   3f^   the Dog,
G   fcg the Serpent,                    12   $f   the Pig.
Moving regularly in perpetual rotation, these twelve names are
used to count years, months, days, and even hours, and each of
these periods is believed to come under the special inftuence of the
co-inciding animal, or class of animals. As the same holds good for
the other cycles, which will be spoken of on the proper occasion
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PRECAUTIONS AGAINST LEPROSY AND THUNDER.                   45
(ch. VI), elements considered of great importance are offered for
divination and necromancy.
Superstition with regard to the corpses of lepers.
Leprosy, the most loathsome disease known to the Chinese,
regularly claims niany victims in that part of the realm, the manners
and customs of which we are more especially reviewing. Constantly
living in a thousand fears of its attacks, which are regarded as
incurable, or well nigh so, people at once abstain from preparing
lood in their houses on hearing that any body in the neighbour-
hood has fallen a victim to the malady, lest the contagion should
sneak through the doors, windows and chimneys into the food and
poison those who partake of it. Accordingly, they have to go
elsewhere to take their nieals. In the island of Amoy, we have seen
a whole hamlet repair for this purpose to the next village. We
need not say that an end is as soon as possible put to this incon-
venience by coffining the corpse and carrying it outside the inhabited
quarter. Some people believe they can ward off the contagion by
sticking a small green branch of the banian tree into the lintel of
the doors of their houses.
Neutralizing the effect of thunder on a corpse.
Many Chinese say, thunder has the property of causing the
bodies of the dead to swell. It has even been known to have
puffed corpses up to such tremendous dimensions, that no coffins
were big enough to contain them. Therefore, as soon as a peal of
thunder is heard in the distance, the family hasten to place a
heavy looking-glass of metal, the weight of a steelyard, or some
othcr heavy object of small size on the breast or belly of the corpse,
fully convinced that it will perfectly neutralize the bad effects of
the storm.
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CHAPTER III.
Dressing the corpse.
1. The grave c lot hos.
Unless a coffin and material for grave clothes are already in
store at home with a view to a case of death, the last gasp of
the moribund is a sign for the family to send some of its members
out to purchase these indispensable articles. They also secure, if
necessary, the assistance of a few elderly female neighbours or
kinsmen in cutting out and sewing the last attire of the deceased.
The preparation of the grave clothes presents a singular mixture
of solicitude and carelessness. Established custom lays great stress
upon dressing the dead in brand new body clothes with some
allowance, however, for one or two exceptional articles which the dead
man was fond of wearing during his life, or which are still as
good as new. On the other hand, the relatives are always anxious
to wash the corpse without loss of time, and to dress it iminediate-
ly after washing; hence, in most cases, there is no time to pre-
pare garments properly sewn. The women, indeed, often baste them
in the roughest manner, nay, sometimes they simply paste the
seams with starch or glue.
The body clothes.
The first garment that is put on the body is a pair of spacious
drawers of ordinary bleached linen or cotton, lined throughout
with a costly silken stuff of white colour called pé/i lin \\ soft and
glossy like velvet and commanding a high price in the market.
This is to prevent the skin from being injured by contact
with the clothes, and so to give comfort to the dead in his grave.
People call this important article a ta-bah Mos, »breeches that
cover the flesh". A pair of stockings made quite similarly, called
ta-bah bé/t3, »stockings that cover the flesh", are annexed, and the
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47
BODY CLOTHES FOR THE DEAU.
suit is completed by a corresponding ta-bafi Ai/i\' or ^jacket whicli
covers the flesh". This garment reaches to the knees and looks
like a large blouse with spacious sleeves, having a large flap on
the breast, fastened at the shoulder and under the arm on the
right side of the body. For both men and wonien the set is of the
same material, cut and make. The expensiveness of the silk does
not prevent the women from patching these clothes together in the
careless rnanner we have mentioned, if they have to provide them
after death has occurred.
Perhaps a few of our readers may be acquainted with the fact
that marriages in China, both for the bride and the bridegroom,
are connected with a rite of very ancient standing, which rnay be
compared with assuming the toga virilis. It goes, in Amoy, by
the term cAciü"s tkdo8, which seems to mean »to raise the head",
as it were in the world which now recognizes the couple as indi-
viduals of tuil virility. On an auspicious day selected with the
greatest care by a member of the numerous class of so-called tik
fit su 3, »professors who select lucky days", otjit su*, »day-professors"
of whom we shall have to speak very often in this work, a suit
of body clothes of white linen is cut out both for the bride and
the bridegroom, and worn brand new duiïng the said ceremonies
and the succeeding day of the marriage proper, for, on this occa-
sion, they themselves become brand new people. Now, after this,
among the better classes, the young husband or wife will sometimes
wash and lock up the whole suit, or part of it, never to wear it
more except in the tomb. Such clfiwo t/tdo sa\'"-d-k/tg5, »jackets
and trousers of the cA\'iWV thdo rites", are then drawn iinmedia-
tely over the clothes »that cover the flesh".
Next comes an ordinary jacket of linen, cotton, or, in the case
of wealthy families, of silk, with trousers of corresponding material,
the latter, however, replaced in many cases by a pair of leggings
or over-alls of the same material fastened by tapes to a band or
sash which goes round the waist, and tied fast round the ankles.
Over this jacket is placed a second and, eventually, even a third,
in accordance with the devotion the family fancy they owe to the
dead. Then follow one or more coats, robes, gowns or petticoats
such as use to be worn by the living, varying, of course, with the
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48
PUNERAL R1TKS.
sex of the dead, and, last, the outer garments, which occupy the
whole attention of the family and therefore specially require ours.
The outer garments for male persons.
It msiy be said generally tliat, as a rule, a suit like the best
which the dead man was accustomed to wear during lus life, is
made use of for his outer garments. Those amongst the lowcr
classes who, though not rich enough to rejoice in the possession of
cercmonial or official attire, yet are not entirely destitutc of property,
are generally laid in the grave in the very long and long-sleeved
gown of blue colour, stvled tng sa"1 \' or »long cloak", which is
the peculiar garmcnt of the fashionable middle class. It overlaps to
the right, buttoning at the side of the body. A kind of jacket
reaching just below the loins and buttoning up the middle of the
breast, comes over it. This is short-sleeved, that is, the sleeves
just reach as far as the tips of the fingers. When wadded with
cotton, such a bé koa* or »horse-mantle" is the usual overcoat of
the better classes during the winter, but, when used as a grave
garment, it is merely lined, as custom does not allow of wadded
garments being placed upon the dead. The common skull cap ol
silk or horse-bair, called, on account of its shape, od" bö 3 or
»bowl-cap", and a pair of ordinary shoes and stockings, complete
this suit. People of lower standing, such as labourers and coolies,
are dressed in the short blouse and trousers common to their class,
and occasionally leggings are added thereto.
Family chiefs, living in very easy circumstanceR, for the greater
part possess costly silken apparel for festive and solemn occasions,
specially to be worn when offering sacrifices to their ancestors and
gods. As it is a genend idea prevailing all over China and trace-
able up to the highest antiquity that a dead man, on rejoining
his predecessors in the next world, is there to continue his func-
tions of serving and worshipping them, nay, to attend to those
duties still more assiduously 4, it becomes quite a matter of course
that the said apparel is considered the proper dress to wear on
appearing in the world beyond the grave. Consequently it is
widely made use of as a grave dress. A second and influential
reason for this is, that, being present in the wardrobe of the dead,
i &&        2 ü#• 3 tö4f-
4 This subject will be treated fully in a subsequent Book, in a dissertation on
the ideas relatiiifr to a future life.
-ocr page 80-
GRAVE CliOTHIXG FOR MEN.                                      1!)
the costume in question entirely relieves the faniily froni making
extra expenses for his outer garments.
This dress which, in Amoy, goes by the name of thb pcab ï,
a term that may perliaps be translated by »cloak-tunic", constitutes
the true sacerdotal attire of the pater familias in his quality of
high priest of the farnily. As such we shall have to mention it very
often. Therefore w,e vvill here at once give such a description of it
as will relieve us froni all further details about it. But the reader
should bear in mind that we describe it only in its Fuhkienese
shape; so, deviations of more or less importancc may be found
elsewhere in the empire, especially in the colder parts, where furs
and other materials for clothing, as well as silk, are worn on an
extensive scale.
The thb pcab (see PI. II) consists of two parts, viz. a lat thb 2
or »inner cloak", and a goü thb 3 or » outer cloak".
The inner cloak reaches nearly to the ankles. It has a largeflap
on the breast, fastened by one button to the right shoulder and
with a few more under the right arm along the whole side of the
body, just like the »long cloak" described above \\ The outer cloak
is single-breasted, and buttons up the middle. It is shorter than
the other one by about one foot, and the wide sleeves too are
shorter, reaching only to the tips of the fingers. The ends of the
sleeves of the inner tunic accordingly peep out, showing themselves
in the horsehoof-shape for which Chinese official dresses in general
are notorious. None of the cloaks has a collar. The material is, in
most cases, the so-called thoan-Mng toon 5, » silk with coiled-up dra-
gons": a costly material in which circles, each with figures of dra-
gons in them, are woven at regular distances from each other.
There is a special thb pcab for winter, and another for the sum-
mer. In the first-named season, the two cloaks are lined with silk
of a less costly sort. The inner cloak is then generally dark blue,
and fastened at the waist by a sash or silken tape of about three
centimetres in width, which goes three times round the body and
has fringed ends hanging down from the knot at the back. In
4 Buttons in China mostly consist of a doublé cord made by rolling upa shred of the
material of the gat-ment; this doublo cord is sewed upon the edge, and ends in a
knot or small metal globule that serves as a button. On the opposite edge ol the
garment a similar doublé cord ends in a loop serving for a button-hole.
^ Iffll *ft £IH
i
-ocr page 81-
PI. II.
Winter Hat.
Sunimer Hat.
Inner and Oiiter Cloak.
Sacrificial Attire for Family Chiefs.
" -< \' D \' - VAN • — - ê iv,... , -n*.i «.
-ocr page 82-
50                                                FUNERAL RITES.
sumiuer, the cloaks have no lining and are also of a lighter and
more transparent material; the inside robe is then generally white or
yellowish, while the girdle, though of the sarae make and breadth
as in winter, is wound around the waist only once and fastened
at the back by ineans of a metal buckle, both the square parts
of which are inlaid with a flat piece of coloured glass or precious
stone. In both seasons, the outer cloak is inostly of a very deep
blue colour, nearly verging on brown.
A pair of silk boots coming up to the knees and with very
thick filt soles whitewashed all round the edge, are worn with the
costume both in sumiuer and winter. In the former season, the
hat belonging to the dress is conical, and made of straw or fine
bamboo splints covered with a yellow silk material. On the top of
it there is a gilt globular button about the size of a dove\'s egg,
around the bottom of which a fringe of red silken threads is
attached, hanging down upon the hat and reaching as fel as the
brim. This brim bears, on one side, a single round pearl, real
or false according to the means of the owner. A hoop of wicker-
work or paste board, covered with cloth, is fastened inside the hat
and serves to fix it on the cranium. In winter, this so-called joiih
loc\'// \' or » warm weather cap" is replaced by an dnq ia"? bü\' or
»hat with red fringe", the shape of which may be best represented
by supposing the summer hat to be rounded at the top, and its lower
half turned up outwards till it comes on a level with the upper
half. It also has a button and red fringes, but no pearl. The
material is black velvet, and no bamboo or straw is used in its
construction. Both hats are lined inside with red silk and fastened
under the chin by strings.
Now bearing in mind that the winter suit alone is used to dress
the dead, even in the hottest season of the year, the reader will
have a pretty fair idea of the raiment in which nearly all China-
men of any standing appear in the World of Shades. It still remains
to be said that nearly every man who can afford the expense
permits himself the fashionable luxury of buying an official degree,
and becomes thereby entitled to wear, both in this world and the
next, on the breast and back of the outer cloak a square piece of
silk embroidered with the insignia of his rank in the shape of a
bird or quadruped. Never does the family neglect to adorn the dead
1 % £ • 2 U Jg iW
-ocr page 83-
51
GRAVE CLOTHINQ FOR MEN.
with these badges, everybody being finidy convinced that they
will give him also beyond the grave the mark of a man of
distinction and consequently ensure him proper treatment on the
part of the ghosts and spirits abiding there.
In the event of the family knowing that the costume has ever
during his life been lent out by the owner to a friend or acquaint*
ance not belonging to his own clan, they never permit his body
to be dressed in it, but purchase material for a new attire
of the same sort and, if time fails them to sew it properly,
cut and baste it in the careless way describcd. They are compelled
to act in this manner on account of a prevailing social rule which
forbids their contributing in any way to other people\'s ancestral
sacrifices. As has been intiniated already on page 27, every-
thing a child possesses bclongs to his parents, even though they
are dead; hence, offerings presented to a strange soul are regarded as
a theft from the holy ones, w\'io may, however, themselves set
apart in the other world for such souls, if they like. It is not
even allowed to contribute to other people\'s sacrifice by lending them
a sacerdotal dress, and if the man who has committed such an unfilial
act should venture to appear in that very dress before his ancestors,
he would certainly run the risk of his crime being discovered, and
be severely punished.
Dispatching the dead to the next world in sacrificial robes was
generally practised already during the Cheu dynasty. The reader
may convince himself of this by perusing, in chaptcr V of the second
part of this Book , the description of the way in which official persons
were dressed in those ancient times. Beyond all doubt we have
here a second reason why people are still so partial now-a-days to
being buried in the tho p-ao attire: indeed, a tendency to blindly
imitate the rites and ceremonies of holy antiquity has always been
one of the most striking characteristics of the Chinese race.
Mandarins, and graduates actually promoted by competition at
the literary examinations of the State, are dressed in the full uni-
form appropriate to their rank, including all the official insignia
and ornaments. It is, however, by no means necessary to procure
a brand new set of these garments. Official robes, as well as the
sacrificial dress just described, are, in fact, always made of such ex-
quisite silk and, relatively speaking, so seldom worn, that the best
suit the dead man possesses is always quite good enough to be
worn in the grave.
It still. remains to be mentioned that great numbers of male
-ocr page 84-
52
FUNERAL RITES.
persons dying in ripe, old age are dressed in an outer attire professedly
borrowed from very high antiquity, and therefore worthy of special
attention. It consists of a long cloak of deep blue brownish silk.
Around the neck and on both lapels it has a plain white or
bright blue hem about eight centituetres in breadth; the garment
overlaps to the right, and the lapel is fixed on the shoulder and
under the arm by raeans of strings, so that the hems cross
over the breast. The sleeves are very spacious and long and,
at the extremities, lined with a blue or white niaterial which is
folded over the wrists like cuffs. This gown is called c/firn i \' or
»deep garment". Tt is frequently nientioned under this name
in the ancient books of rites, which shows that it must have been
one of the principal articles in the wardrobe of the ruling
classes during the Cheu dynasty. Commentators say, it bore this
Fig. 1.                                                                 Fig. 2.
«Deep Garment" of Antiquity.
name because, when worn, it deeply conoealed
the body. A picture of the dress, as it is
supposed to have looked in those ancient times,
is given in ch. 79 of the Khienlung edition
of the Li kt; fig. 1 is a copy of that picture
on a smaller scale.
Cowl called Uolt iun.
1 \'$£•
-ocr page 85-
58
GRAVE CLOTHES FOR WOMEN.
As a grave garment it is now-a-days always accompanied by a
lined cowl of corresponding material, covering the whole head except
the face, and hanging down halfway over the back (see tig. 2). This
so-called hok kun J, »kerchief of one full width of cloth", is likewise bor-
rowed from the Cheu dynasty, being mentioned by the I li amongst
the grave clothes then in vogue with ordinary officials. The reader
will come across it as such in ch. V of the second part of this Book.
Grave clothes for toornen.
Woraen are generally laid in the tomb in the best attire to bc
found in their wardrobe. Those belonging to the better classes
accordingly appear in the other world in beautiful embroidered robes.
Many of the wealthiest, especially if their husbands bear an
official title of significance or are actual servants of the state, are
attired in a rich dress which is at the same time both the official
uniform of mandarins\' wives and the common bridal costume of
all classes of the people who can afford to buy or borrow it.
It consists of: 1. A dong kun 2 or »dragon-petticoat" of green
silk (see PI. III), so called because it is embroidered both before and
behind with a dragon rising out of the waves and flying landward, to
descend on fields and meadows in the shape of fertilizing rains: in
fact, the dragon has been in China, since time immemorial, the
principal divinity of rains and waters. Each dragon is surrounded
by embroidered figures representing clouds, and further by a stag,
a tortoise, and a crane: the symbols of old age, joy, pecuniary
profits and happiness, the reasons for which will be explained presentlv
(p. 56 seq.). A bat is also embroidered on the left and right of each
monster, because the bat is an emblcm of happiness from the similarity
in the sound of its name jjjg and the word felicity jjjjj} , which are
both pronounced fuh; moreover, the same element g or»fulness"
occurs in the written form of each of these two words.
2. A bóng <P or »dragon-mantle" (see PI. IV). This garment, made of
a very bright red silk, has a large lapel on the breast, which is fastened
on the right side of the body. On the breast and on the back there is a
large dragon likewise rising out of the water and moving landward,
and, besides, there is a smaller dragon on each of the very wide sleeves.
Each monster is trying to swallow the sun, and is surrounded by
clouds and bats. The mantle is further ornamented on both
1 torfj.
2 mm-
3 !#!&•
-ocr page 86-
PI. III.
a. Petticoat of a Bride.
b. The Principal Embroidexed Figure on a Larger Scale.
LICHTDRUK VAK EMNt* * JINGEtt , WAA«tt_EM,
-ocr page 87-
54
FUNERAL RITES.
sides with fishes, flowers and stars, as also with phenixes, which
are in China the favourite synibols of matrimonial feiicity.
3. A M poe \' or »clouds-mantilla" of black silk (PI. V). It has no
sleeves at all, and fastens on the middle of the breast. On both the breast
and the back is stitched a large square piece of silk embroidered
with the bird or quadruped emblematic of the official rank, and
underneath each square are a couple of dragons facing each other
and trying to devour a sun that stands betwixt them. The
monsters are likewise represented as rising out of the waves, and
surrounded by clouds, bats and phenixes, while the dress is studded
on the shoulders and about the neck with ornamental flowers.
Both before and behind there is a deep silk fringe of variegated
colours, hanging down from a sort of silken netting.
The figures on each of these costly gannents are all embroidered,
the dragons mostly with gold thread of a light and dark yellow
tastefully intermixed, the others with silk of various colours. A so-called
kak toa s or »horn-belt" of bamboo, covered with red silk and oma-
men ted with small square frames each holding a piece of either false
or real jade stone, is suspended from the red mantle, and encircles
the waist without fitting close round it. To this costume belongs
also a pair of small boots of red silk fitting tightly round the lady\'s
crimped feet and reachiug nearly as high as the calf of the leg. And the
head is covered with a bride\'s hood called hbng koan 3 or »phenix-
cap", represented with the girdle and a boot on PI. IV. This curious
head-gear may be described as a quarter of a globe of thin twined wire,
entirely covered on the outside by numerous leaves, butterflies, flowers
and so on , all made of thin, gilt copper plate. Four leaves, standing out
conspicuously above the rest, bear respectively the characters j||, ^,
Ü*jf and -ffö, which rnakc the sentence: »\\ have received an official
appointment from Heaven", i. e. from the emperor, or Heaven\'s Son. A
broad band of red silk tied round the head is worn with this hood.
Copper figures of the eight principal beings who have attained to
immortality, or the so-called p a h S i e n \', are affixed to that band, and
a silver hair-pin with a head of precious stone goes through the coiffure,
such an instrument having been considered from the highest antiquity
as an indispensable object for consummating a girl\'s marriage.
It is almost needless to say, that in the case of a woman great
care is also bestowed upon her coiffure and body ornaments. Hair-
1 WlWi-       2 #^-        3 ü^-        4 Aflü-
-ocr page 88-
PI. IV.
CD
i—i
\'CS
Ph
•r-l
Ö
Tl
a
TJ
O
O
w
4-J
O
o
PQ
g
6
pq
CD
s
-ocr page 89-
55
GRAVE ü LOT HES FOR WOMEN.
pins of silver and even of gold, and artificial
flowers are lavishly used; moreover, rings of
precious jade and metal are put around the
wrists and ankles, the poorer pcople always
preferring counterfeit articles to none at all.
Amongst the hair-pins there is almost always
one of very peculiar shape and meaning. We
have depicted it in Fig. 3. It is a miniature
copy of a crosier which Buddhist clergymen
wield and brandish while celebrating certain
religious rites, especially those which are] de-
signed for delivering souls from heil\'; as such,
it not only exerts a great power over infernal
beings, but, in general, resists and counter-
acts the whole host of spirits of darkness that,
according to Chinese conception, are always
at hand to injure men and souls, especially
the latter who, owing to the frailness of their
disembodied state, are not endowed with inuch
defensive power. As the said crosier bears the
name of sik thng *, the pins are called git thng
tgiem*, » sik thng hair-pins". Elderly women
are also very fond of wearing one of these
pins in their hair during life.
To increase the useful effect of such a
hair-pin, small silver figures representing
a stag, a tortoise, a peach and a crane are
fastened to its head by ineans of little rings. The
stag is the generally acknowledged emblem
of old age, joy, and pecuniary profits; the
tortoise and the peach of longevity and im-\'
mortality, the crane of long life and happiness.
It would carry us too far from our subject to
explain the reasons for all this in detail, and
so we content ourselves with a few notes,
deferring a thorough treatment of the subject
to another volume. As to the stag, the famous
Kg. S.
1 More particulars about this religious instrument will
be given in another volume, dealing with Buddhism.
Hair-pin rescmbling a Crosier.
-ocr page 90-
PI. V.
!M»P!^
Mantilla of a Bride.
6SH1K * B"«GER
LlC*TD*UK VAN
-ocr page 91-
56
FUNERA1, RITES.
philosopher Liu Hiang 1, who lived in the first century before
our era, stated in his »Traditions on the Files of Immortals",
Lieh sien cA\'wen *, that the animal turns blue after a thousand years;
and Koh Ilung\', the renowned Taoist author who lived in the fourth
century after Christ, relates in his work known as Pao Pco/i tszê*
or »The Philosopher Pao Pcoh", that it is able to live a thousand
years, and turns white after five hundred. The stag is, moreover,
a syrnbol of both joy and prosperity because its name luh Jfj|j is
pronounced like the character ifê, which rneans »delight", and
like the syrnbol ^, » a large inconie derived froin an official position".
And as to the tortoise: — the Chinese people, observing that
this animal does indeed attain a remarkably long age, have always
been fond of dilating on its longevity, and divers marvellous tales
have been narrated with regard to it. The famous Liu Ngan 5, who
lived in the second century before our era, even pretended in his
» Explications of the Great Light", Hung lieh kiaie, that it could
live three thousand years.
We now come to the peach as a symbol of longevity. The Han
Wu-ti nei c/hoen \', »Traditions concern ing the emperor Wu of the
Han dynasty" who reigned B. C. 140—86, says that Si Wang
Mu or »the Royal Mother of the West", ever famous in Chinese
mythology as the queen of the immortal beings in the Kwunlun
mountains, possessed a peach tree which bore fruit only once in three
thousand years. A few of these peaches she presented to the emperor,
telling hini, however, they could not be grown in this our ordinary
world. On other occasions she is found in the books to bestow
peaches of even ten thousand years old upon her votaries and
favorites: compare, e. //. the S/n//, i hi* or »Record of forgotten Matters",
a work trom the hand of Wang Kia9, dating probably from the
fourth century. Lastly, the »Canon of curious Things connected with
Spirits", S/ten i hini) \'°, a work of the fourth or fifth century, tells
in its chapter on the »Eastern Deserts" of a peach tree in the cast,
five hundred feet high, having leaves of eight and fruits of over three
feet, from the stones of which the elixir of life could be decocted.
-ocr page 92-
57
HAIR-PINS FOR THE DEAD.
Finally, the cmne or stork is a symbol of longevity because,
»when a thousand years old, it turns blue, and when twiee that
age, it grows black". This doctrine may be found preached in the
»Commentaries on the Past and the Present", Ku kin chic1, a work
of the fourth century (ch. 2). Liu Ngan also says in the »Explica-
tions of the Great Light" (ch. 17) that »the crane lives a thousand
years". lts position as the bird of auspicious infiuence it mainly
owes to the circumstance that its name hok or hoh \'^ in
many languages of the empire is a synonym, or well nigh so, of the
word »happiness, prosperity", which is written jjjg.
Returning now for one moment to the hair-pins, we wish to
state, that their good qualities are considerably increased by having
them made in a year which has an intercalary month. It is, in
fact, easy to be understood that, whereas such a year has one
month more than an ordinary year, the life-prolonging power of a
pin made in the course of it must necessarily surpass by one twelfth
that of others. People are also careful to introducé in each sub-
sequent year of thirteen months a little ring between the pin and
each of the figures suspended from its head, so that after a long
period they all hang down by little chains.
Finger-rings too are oftentimes lavishly made use of for fitting
out a corpse, in the case of males as well as females. In many
cases the family use a set of thirteen, all made, for a similar
reason to that prescribed for the hair-pin, in a year of thirteen
months. If the dead man has not procured them for himself in
his old age with a view to his approaching end, or has not received
them as a present from his children, the survivors purchase them at
once in a silversmith\'s shop, where many sets are always kept
ready at hand for customers who may want them for their dead.
Before continuing our description of the grave clothes, we must
acquaint our readers with an important conceit of the Chinese
which sheds much light upon some practices that have been under
our notice and those still to be described afterwards: — things
of good omen will, when placed in a tomb, cause the benefits
they express or symbolize to become real blessing to the offspring
of the deceased. This idea is most intimately connected with the
belief that souls continue to dweil with the body in the grave and
from thence distribute benedictions and blessings over the offspring;
* #*&•
-ocr page 93-
5S
FÜNEBAL RITKS.
like a red thread it runs through all the practices connected with
the tomb and will as such come chiefly to the front in the third
part of this Book, more especially in the 12th. chapter. Now the
reader will understand that it is by no means merely a desire to
ensure a happy fate to the dead which prompts children to place a
hair-pin like that described on the deceased: the hope that it may
serve with all its appendices like seeds sown, and ripen into real
happiness and old age for the offspring, plays by far the greatest
part in it. This also explains why the Chinese are so partial to
dressing their deceased mothers in bridal attire: — this being in
reality the uniform dress of mandarins\' wives and, moreover,
covered all over with symbols of felicity, wealth, joy and longevity,
it with undoubtedly endow each woman, who wears it in the
tomb, with the faculty of procreating happy, wealthy and long-
lived descendants holding high functions in the empire — the
greatest bliss and honour imaginable for every true son of China.
That we are here face to face with the reason why this dress has
become the peculiar attire to be worn at marriage i. e. at the mo-
ment when the procreation of children is set agoing, we need not
say. It is now clear why every Chinese thinks it so highly import-
ant to dress his dead in the best clothes he can afford: to himself
and his offspring is thereby ensured such a social standing and
amount of prosperity as will entitle and enable them to wear
dresses of corresponding quality and value.
Grave clothes for children and youths.
About the grave clothes for babies and young children there is
but very little to say. One general rule holds good for them: they
are the best child-garments the parents have at their disposal in
the house. Por children under the age of maturity but over, say,
ten years, well to do people procure oftentimes a special gown of
blue unflowered silk, called sing sam \' or »young man\'s garment",
which overlaps to the right. It is an imitation of a dress which,
on account of some hazy references made to it in the Classics, is
generally believed to have been worn by young boys during the
Cheu dynasty, and of which Fig. 4 is a representation, copied on a
smaller scale from a figure given in the Khienlung edition of the
Li ki (ch. 79). A hat of stiff paper covered with silk or vel-
* £#
-ocr page 94-
59
GRAVE CLOTHES FOR CHILDRKN.
vet, in raany cases,
embroidered with
flowers and other fi-
gures in gold thread,
is worn with that
gown. It has either
two curling points
on the right and left
reminding one of
buffalo horns (Fig. 5),
or a cover which
resembles the roof of
a house (Fig. 6); in the
fornier case, people
call it a sing bö 1 or
»youth\'s hat", in \'
the latter a is\'ü
Ma bö 2 or » roof-
hat". It always
has two blue
pointed ribbons
behind, hanging
loosely down the
back of the
wearer.
This costume,
the people prc-
tend, isalegacyof
former dynasties,
when, they say, it was the usual
dress for boys of fashionable families.
Now-a-days it is no more worn,
except on the stage in historical
plays, and by young children on
special festive occasions, such as
New Year\'s day. That it still
plays such an important part as a
grave dress is a good illustration
Kg. 4.
Boy\'s Tunic of Antiquity.
Fig. 5.
Youth\'s Hat.
Fig. 6.
£*É
IKK
Roof-hat.
-ocr page 95-
60
FUNERAL RITES.
of the tenacity of customs as soon as they become connected with
observances of a religious character.
Grave clol/ies prepared during lift\'.
At the outset of this chapter we directed the attention of the
reader to the fact that, in China, grave clothes are also procured
during the life of the person for whom they are intended. In such
cases they are never, like those prepared after death, carelessly
basted or pasted together, but, on the contrary, are made as well
and strong as the garments the living are accustomed to wear, there
being plenty of time to finish them properly.
Procuring grave clothes during life is especially in vogue with
people who have reached a certain age, say 50 or 60, and at
the same time possess means which allow them to make the
necessary outlay. Some people procure a complete set, most persons,
however, only a suit of ta bah clothes with the outer garments.
Any outfit kept ready for the journey into the world to come
goes in Amoy by the term tiu*9 laö sa\'" l, »clothing laid out for
the old age". Indeed, the Chinese generally avoid plainly speaking
of death and things connected with it by their proper names,
and prefer to replace these by well-sounding terms indicative of
good luck; for in this way, they say, much of the influence ot
death is neutralised, nay even turned into good. Old age being a
benefit the Chinese prefer above all things, most people have the
clothes in question cut out and sewn by an unmarried girl or
a very young woman, wisely calculating that, whereas such a person
is likely to live still a great number of years, a part of her
capacity to live still long must surely pass into the clothes, and
thus put off for many years the moment when they shall be
required for use.
Amongst all the tiuna laö clothes none is so interesting as the
so-called sia i2, » garment for a long life". It is a long gown of
very precious silk of the deepest blue colour slightly passing
into a reddish brown; the lining, likewise of silk, is of a
very bright blue. It is generally shaped like the ancient »deep
garment", described on page 52; in many cases, however, it
has no lapel, but buttons up the middle of the breast. When
cut like the »deep garment" (see PI. VI), the broad hems
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GRAVE CLOTHES MADE DURING LIFE.
peculiar to this garb are of costly bright blue silk. In the other
case (see Frontispiece), there is only such a hem round tlie neck,
not reaching further down than the heart; it is then \'very often
of a white colour and erabroidered with peony-fiowers, phenixes,
and divers other ornamental figures.
ïhe «longevity garment" owes its name chiefly to the fact that
it is embroidered all over with characters in gold thread represent-
ing the word longevity \', pronounced siü in the language of
the Amoy people. Each is circular in shape and, besides, in the
phantastic form known as the seal-character; sometiines such rein
is given to fancy and ornamental taste that the figure is by no
means recognizable. On the middle of the breast and on the
back, and a little lower down on the right and the left side, as well
as on each of the shoulders, and on the sleeves at the elbows, there
is such a character of larger dirnensions, encircled by a wreath
of flowers, leaves, phenixes, cranes etc., all embroidered in varie-
gated silk. For the rest, the garment is studded with si//
characters of smaller size and without a wreath; in many cases,
each of these has a shape different from the other, for the Chinese
are in general very fond of writing the character, when used for
ornamental purposes, in as many ways as their fancy can
possibly invent. It is on account of these numerous si// figures
that the garment is also often called pik siü i2, »garment of one
hundred siü characters".
That this costly garment is only found amongst the well to
do, need not to be said. It purports in the first place to
prolong the life of the owner, who therefore frequently wears
it, especially on festive occasions, in order to allow the inrluences
of longevity, created by the many characters wherewith it is
decorated, to work their full effect upon his person. On the anni-
versaries of his birth he will scarcely ever neglect doing so, it
being generally acknowledged amongst the Chinese that it is
extremely useful and necessary then to absorb a good amount
of vital energy, in order to remain hale and healthy during
the ensuing year. Friends and kinsmen who throng the house
to take part in the festivities, will then as a rule greatly admire
the dress and tender their reiterated congratulations to the happy
wearer, whose children have been so filial and so blessed by
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FUNËRAT, RITES.
fate as to have bestowed a present of such delicate and precious
description.
Indeed, a longevity garment is nearly always the gift of dutiful
children to an aged father or mother, an expression of their intense
desire that the old man or woman may continue to live with
them for many and many years. It is but seldom procured by the
person who is to wear it in the grave. When the children have
determined upon presenting it to one of the authors of their life,
they make it an object of extreme solicitude. In not a few cases
they will order the material from Shanghai, Suchow, Canton, or
some other large city famous for its silk, and secure first-rate
tailors to make it on a lucky day, carefully selected for the purpose
by a »day-professor" (p. 47). And when it is finished, the first birthday
of the senior, or some other auspicious day preceding it as near as
possible, is chosen for the presentation. A few plates of eatables
and dainties, flanked by a couple of lighted candles, having been
placed on a table in front of the domestic altar as a sacrifice to
the ancestors and tutelar divinities residing there, the donors,
attired, if they possess it, in the sacrificial raiment described on
page 49 seq., or, otherwise, in the best suit they have, solemnly
make their appearance, sacrifice some incense-sticks and thank by
the mouth of the eldest the invisible protectors of the house for
having already granted such a respectable old age to the beloved
one as to render the possession of a longevity garment desirable.
They further entreat them to continue their protection in the same
way for many, many years to come, and the whole company
thereupon turn to the senior, kneeling down to worship him by
knocking their heads three times against the floor. The eldest one then
hands him the dress with or without more grave clothes besides. The old
man has, of course, scarcely words enough to express his gratitude
for the filial sentiments displayed towards him, and in a few moments
walks proudly up and down the hall, accoutred in this new
acquisition to his wardrobe, gladly receiving the congratulations of
the friends and kinsmen who take part in the festivities of the day.
The sacrifice on the domestic altar is specially bounteous when the
anniversary represents a multiple of ten, because, in the case of
an elderly person, his children and grandchildren consider them-
selves then in duty bound to make the day an occasion of very
great rejoicing and festivity.
Owing to the fapt alluded to on page 48 that male persons
have a great predilection for being interred in the sacrificial robes
-ocr page 99-
GRAVE GARMENTS MADE DURING LIFE.                           63
thb pfiab, the longevity garment is, comparatively speaking, much
oftener presented to old women than to old men. For both sexes
it is of exactly the same description. A woman will, as a rule,
wear with it the »dragon-petticoat" described on page 53; a man a
pair of silk boots and, besides, the cowl called hok kun (see p.
52), because the garment of longevity represents, as we saw,
the »deep garment" of antiquity, to whieh such a cowl belongs
as an inseparable appendix.
Besides prolonging the life of the owner, the longevity garment
purports to insure a long life to his descendants as well. The
reason may be deducted by the reader hi niself from the general
rule already given on page 57, that the Chinese firmly believe
that objects placed in a tomb are capable of causing the good
things which they express by their shape or name, to fall as a
real blessing on the offspring of the person buried in that tomb.
Like the hair-pin described on page 55, and for reasons quite
similar, grave clothes prepared during life are made by preference
in a year which has an intercalary month. The very best imagin-
able, however, are those made in that month itself. It is
scarcely necessary to add that people will also soon determine
upon making the grave clothes when a kinsman is seriously UI,
especially when they have but little hope for his recovery.
When a family has resolved upon presenting a set of grave
clothes to an aged or sick parent, the sons-in-law are strictly bound
by customary law also to contribute a part. As a rule, their wives
will prepare a long gown of unflowered silk to be placed im-
mediately below the upper garments, and therefore called jï ting sa"11,
»gown of the second layer". Indeed, owing to the fact that in
consequence of their marriage those wives have had to adopt the
parents of their husbands as their own, they have to mourn for
their own parents only in the second degree2; consequently, by
procuring the second layer, they fully acquit themselves of their
duty and may freely leave the care for the outside or principal
garments to the mourners of the first degree, to wit their brothers
and sisters at home, who never have been withdrawn from the
dead man\'s unlimited authority. For a mother, the ji ting sam is
generally red, for a father, dark blue. If death comes suddenly,
and such a gown has not been- prepared in advance, the married
1 __ ^J iji£.                 2 Compare the third part of this Book, ch. VI.
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64
PUNEBAL RITES.
daughters are, if the time is too short to make one properlv, bound
at any rate to send money to the house of death for the inmates
to buy the necessary material and have the gown in question made
together with the other grave clothes.
The material way in which the Chinese prepare for making their
appearance in the next worlcl is, like most of their funeralcustoms,
rendered sacred by precedents set by the venerated forefathers of the
nation. Speaking of the three most ancient dynasties of the empire,
the Li ki states in its 19th. chapter (leaf 8): »After sixty, they
»are put in order every year; after seventy, once in every season;
»after eighty, once a month; and after ninety, they are kept in
» good repair every day. Only the swaddling-bands, the sheet which
»is to be wound around the corpse, the palls, and the sack enveloping
»the body, are put in order after death" \'.
Superstitious customs connected with grave clothes.
We may not allow ourselves to leave the subject of grave clothes
without having noted some curious instances of popular superstition
connected with it. In the first place it is worthy of notice that,
when made at home, grave clothes are nearly always exclusively
provided with buttons of woven material, such as are described in
the foot-note on page 49: scarcely ever is the knot of those buttons
replaced by a copper globule, as is the case on a most extensive scale
in upper garments for the living. Metal buttons will, as people
say, give trouble to the dead by injaring his body while it is deca\\ ing
in the grave, and consequently cause great injuries also to his
posterity; they may even cause the latter to be visited by diseases
of all kind and numerous cases of untimely death. Many people,
however, consider the matter of but secondary importance, and do
not at all object to having a few such buttons on the upper garments;
but never would any woman allow her dead to be buried with too
many of these dangerous things on the body.
The number of suits is another point of great solicitude. Pive
layers of dressing, each lined garment being counted either doublé
or single, are once for all proscribed, because the word five, gó_
*$ $t&1 ^^ ffi tft B M \' Soct ï ÜH| . V Tlle ame P^ageoccurs
also in ch. 40, leaf 1 (Sect. j^ g|J , II).
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SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH CJRAVE CLOTHE8.                 65
or w u (5£ )> is a synonym of another, written |^ and nieaning:
»involuntarily to bring disaster and evil upon others". Gö pê, gü
6u, ffü bó, gö Md"9lt as Amoy people say, i.e. »fathers, mothers,
wives and children, all visited by misfortunes", this is the fate
which no dead person can help bringing upon his offspring for
many generations to come, if they have buried him in fivedresses,
or five layers of dressing. It is, in consequence, a happy eoincidence
that the customary minimum of dresses, below which no decent
family which respects itself dares by any means go, viz. a »jacket
that covers the flesh", a couple of ordinary jackets, a »long habit",
a »horse-mantle", and the two gowns of the sacrificial attire make
up a number exceeding five.
Well-to-do people nearly always carry the number up to nine
at least, counting the lined garments each as one layer. Many,
however, would feel ashamed to put on less than eleven, thirteen, or
even more dresses. Owing to the fact that Chinese philosophy has
always identified even numbers with the Yin part of nature, that
is to say, with cold, darkness, evil, feminality and such sort
of things (comp. p. 22), while the odd numbers represent the
opposite good elements, an even number of grave clothes is always
most decidedly avoided. Wrapping up a dead person in Yin ciphers
would, indeed, wilfully tend to destroy his luck in the grave and
the next world; and his unhappy condition would, in its turn,
have a baneful effect upon his offspring. Not to mention serious
consequences of other descriptions, the deed would, in the first
place, cause the dead to be re-bom at a future time in this world
as a woman, and this woman to bring forth scarccly any but
female children; and none of these fatal chances in the lottery of
life is desired by any true son of the Empire of the Midst, where
woman holds place as a being of very inferior order, and daughters
count for nothing in a family.
The quantity of grave clothes is dependent also to a great extent
upon the age of the deceased, increasing with his years. The
prevailing idea that filial duty requires a dead man to be dressed
in numerous suits induces many a poor family in Amoy to use
grave garments of material so cheap, that they would, if worn by
a living person, hang about his body a hopeless mass of shreds and
tatters in a few hours. But why should not miserable imitations
5
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66
FUNERAT, RITES.
of costly silk become the most ornate clothes in the next world,
if even tinned paper sheets pass there for sterling currency of the
highest value?
Dressing the dead in numerous suits obtained as an established
custom already during the dynasty of Cheu. This is cleaïly proved
by the I li, whose elaborate account of the way in which deceased
officers were then dressed for the grave is reproduced at full in
the second part of this Book (ch. V, § 1) and may be consulted
there.
Leather may form no part in grave clothes, under any pretext
whatever. In the event of boots or shoes having been purchased
for the use of a dead person, the family are always careful to
tear off\' the thin laycr of leather, which is usually stitched under-
neath the soles. It is evident that Buddhist influence is here at
work. Many tenets of this Church have obtained a strong hold upon
the people, and numerous men and women partly or totally
abstain from animal food, in obedience to the rescript not to kill,
nay, to avoid everything that might lead to the slaughtering of
animals: using no leather may be classed on a level with such ab-
stinence. But there are other reasons. The prevailing ideas concerning
a future life being greatly influenced by doctrines derived from
Buddhism, everybody knows Yama, the king of Hades, and,
because pictures of his dreadful tribunal are regularly distributed
over China in large quantities, all Chinese are acquainted also
with his two inseparable attendants, »Father Buffalo" gil ia1,
and » Father Horse" bé ia2, each represented with the head of the
animal of which he bears the name. These beings, when ordered
by their master to inflict punishment upon a soul, will undoubtedly
rage with redoubled fury against it, if they perceive it wearing
the tanned hide of their congeners under its feet. It may be
useful to observe, that we are here face to face with a custom
of respectable antiquity, as it is written in the Yia-yang tsah tsu3,
an interesting work of the eighth century (ch. 13): »When
seeing off a deceased person, it is not permitted to present articles
of leather to him" *.
3 ® l§ $É 2&: author: Twan Chïng-shih |g fö j£.
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DRESSING THE DEAD.
2. Dressing the Dead.
Having finished our lengthy description of the grave clothes,
we have now to describe the way in which they are arranged on
the corpse.
Under the eaves of the hall the mourners place on the floor a
large shallow tray of wicker work: an important article of daily use
in every family, serving to winnow rice and separate this from the
chaff by shaking it in the wind. On this tray is placed a wooden
form or chair, which is thereupon mounted by the principal
mourner. He is stripped of his clothes as far as decency will
allow, and is covered with a large round hat of bamboo, such as
is commonly worn by all the lower classes to protect them against
the sun and rain. Assisted by his mother or wife, he now puts
on the »jacket which covers the flesh", passing at the same time
a long hempen rope through the sleeves and over his back; and
subsequently all the shirts, coats, robes and gowns destined for
the dead are one by one arranged on his body in the required
sequence. During this proceeding he holds in his hand a bamboo pole,
to the top of which a leafy branch of the banian tree is affixed, in
order that the bad influences of the surrounding atmosphere, which
might otherwise sneak into the garments and so afterwards injure the
dead, may be kept at a respectable distance. In many cases, however,
the branch is attached to the top of the hat, or replaced there
by a fiower, which people feel sure will have the same good effect.
The clothes having been fastened to one another at the back
and in front by means of a couple of large stitches, they are now
taken off the mourner all together by some members of the family,
the rope preventing the sleeves from getting out of place. The
whole lot is then laid out underneath the corpse, the arms are intro-
duced into the sleeves, and the buttoning of each of the garments
is properly done. The trousers and stockings have been put on before-
hand whilst the arranging of the garments on the person of the
mourner was going on. A general howling concludes the dressing.
Even if the dead person be a member of the female sex, it is
incumbent on the eldest son to first put on the grave clothes.
There is no reason to fear he will not be able to get into them.
Chinese clothes never fit tight to the body, being as a rule at
least twice as spacious as is strictly necessary. In case there are
neither sons nor grandsons, this ceremony is performed by the
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68
FUNK-RAr, RITES.
wife or the eldest daughter-in-law of the deceased, as these persons,
like the direct male descendants, stand in the first degree of
relationship tovvards him. And when the dead is unblest with such
relations, the clothes are siraply fitted into one another without
any such intervention of a living person.
On asking the Chinese why they do not always act in this latter
way, the answer invariably runs, that such would prove a total
absence of filial devotion. The Li ki, they say, has a rescript to this
effect: »When the Ruler of a State is ill and has to drink medicine,
»his minister should first taste of it; and when a parent is ill
» and has to drink medicine, his son should first taste of it" \'; —
a dutiful child must not only observe the letter of this law, but
also its spirit, and consequently apply it to garments destined for the
venerable person of a prince and for a father or mother as well. While
fulfilling this duty in behalf of a dead person, the child should,
however, bear in mind that he is not allowed either to pollute
holy Mother Earth by bringing her in contact with the grave
clothes, or to annoy and oppose bright Heaven, the principal
source of all life in nature, by placing objects connected with death
openly under his eyes. Therefore he must separate himself from the
former divinity by means of a tray and chair, and conceal himself
from the view of the latter by wearing a broad-brimmed hat; and
further: ought not a child, whose filial devotion has fallen short in
prolonging the days of the author of his life, to hide himself with shame
from the sight of the highest power of the Universe ? It is, in fact,
customary in China for a son to attribute the death of his parents
to his own want of care for their persons and to his shortcomings
on the point of filial affection in general.
As soon as the son has played his chief part to the end of
this drama, he hastens to swallow, in concert with most of the
attending kinsmen, a few mouthfuls of cooked vermicelli, wisely
inferring that the long threads of this food must greatly counteract,
nay, totally neutralize, the life-shortening influences which the
grave clothes may have exercised over his person. This important
occupation finished, he joins his fellow-mourners, to assist them
in their numerous occupations preparatory to the coffining.
In the event of the dressing having been wholly or partly
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DRESSING THE DKAD.
performed by hired assistants, these persons lay hands on all the
clothes, sheets etc. which werc about the corpse previons to the
dressing, established cnstoni allotting these thinga to theni as a
lawful emolument pertaining to their office \\ Fashionable families
are decidedly opposed to keeping such efFects tbr themselves. Hence,
if there are no hired assistants, they give them away to their poor
neighbours, or to the first beggar that turns up. As a matter of
course, less fastidiousness prevails on this point amongst people
who cannot afford to do away with anything that may still be
usefnl. They usnally wear the clothes in qnestion without any
mental reluctance, as if they had never belonged to a departed
person. More often still they choose the golden mean, sending
them straiglitway to a pawnshop, there to swell the nasty stock
of unclean articles wliich fill such establishments.
i Tliis reminds us of a similar Knglish iiractico mentioned by Brand (Observations,
Customs at Doaths, p. 439): «Laying out the corpse is an office always performed
»by woinen, who claim the linen and other articles about the person of the deceased
»at the time of performing the cerernony: and it is thought to be very unluckj\' to
»the friends of the person departed, to keep back any portion of these perquisites".
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CHAPTER IV.
SACRIFICES AND RITES BETWEEN THE DRESSING AND COFFINING.
Fis 7-                     The dressing is followed by an ofFering
of edibles called si si"9 l, »tak ing leave
of life". This name intiraates that the
family are now beconiing convinced the
body has really expired, and that they
are about to relinquish their hopesofits
reviving; so they offer it a parting meal
before shutting it up in the coffin, as a
proof also that their devotion reniains
unslackened, in spite of the interference
of the King of Terrors.
On the table in front of the water-
bed on which the dressed corpse is
stretched, they arrange a bowl with
cooked rice and a couple of dishes of
vegetables, as a sort of luncheon, intro-
ductory to a more sumptuons meal
already in course of preparation in the
kitchen. On the table is also to be
seen a thin slab of wood, one end of
which, from seven to nine centimetres
broad, is placed perpendicularly in a
small wooden block (Fig. 7). The slab,
about half a metre high, tapers away
at the top, so that, when seen in front
or from behind, the whole reminds us of
an obelisk. Both the slab and its support
are sheathed on all sides with white silk or,
amongst the poor, with bleached linen;
a narrow tape of the same material is
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71
THE TEMrORARY SOUL TARLET.
pasted along each edge on the front of the slab, and these tapes
are respectively inscribed with the dates, to the hour, of the birth
and the death of the deceased. His names, titlcs and age are
written in one perpendicular column of characters bet ween these
tapes, and over the top of that column is pasted a small rosette of
a red material or of floss of silk. Thus, the tablet bears such a de-
scription of the dead as will, according to Chinese ideas, render it
quite fit and proper to be inhabited by the soul: — in fact, as the
corpse is going to be concealed in the coffin for ever, the soul, in
its weak, unsubstantial state, will soon be badly in need of an artiticial
body to strengthen it and prevent its dissolution. This curious
object, which has an interesting history that will be given in
our Second Book, goes by the name of hun jjéh \', » silken cloth
for the soul".
But, will the soul really enter this artificial body? May it
not bc prevented froni doing so by the powers of darkness, per-
haps be confined in the terrible heil, about which the Buddhist
Church has so much to say? This important question, weighing
heavily on the mind of the fainily, induecs them to employ a
priest of that Church at this part of the funeral rites; for, releasing
souls from the pangs of heil has always been one of the first
articles of the programme of Shakyamuni\'s religion in China,
and its clergy have invented excellent expedients for carrying it
into effect.
üressed in a plain black or dull grey ceremonial robe, or in a
richly embroidcred Kashaya, if the fainily are rich enongh toafiord
the extra expense which this ceremonial dress of the highest order
entails, the priest takes his place before the sacrificial table. lic
opens the ceremony by pronouncing a few magie forinulas (Tantras)
composed of Pali or Sanskrit words, which neither he himself,
nor anybody else in China understands; they are nevertheless
possessed of wonderfully miraculous power. ïhen, he chantingly
invokes the Bodhisatwa Ti tsang wang2, the principal redeeming
power residing in heil and placed by the Church at the head of
the ten infernal kings, saving:
»0 Bodhisatwa of the World of Darkness, Thy glory is ditlicult
to describe,
* ^E fn •                       ^ Jlfe |jS ^C . A detailed monograpby of this holy
being, as well as accounts ol\' tlioso mentioned further on, will be given in a separate
Book on Buddhism.
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7:2
FIJNERAT, RITES.
» Realize our hopes by showing Thy true face and diffusing this
over every place,
» That the beings on the three lower paths of the six paths of
transmigration \' niay hearken to the glorious Law,
»And the ten classes of beings which have been called into
existence by the four modes of birth * raay bathe their heads
with Thy merciful favours.
»May the light of Thy precious pearl * shine as far as the
roads which lead to the celestial halls,
» And Thy metal crosier * knock open the gates of heil!
» We sincerely wish the soul of the deceased may enjoy the
favour of being introduced (into the regions of bliss),
»And on the lotus-terrace (*\'. e. the Universe) may worship the
merciful Honourable Ones (Buddhas and Bodhisatwas)" 5.
While chanting this invocation in a slow, monotonous tone of
voice, the priest beats at every syllable upon a globular hollow
instrument of wood and, at the beginning of every new line, on
a metal bell resembling a large goblet without a foot, both instru-
ments standing on the table for the purpose. Now taking up a
small circular incense-burner fixed on an horizontal wooden handle,
he pronounces with fervour a prayer of the following tenor:
»I salute Ye, Celestial Judges of the three spheres constituting
»the higher, middle and lower divisions of the Universe; and Ye,
» host of Kings and nobles of the departments of land and water
» and of the world of men! Reinember the soul of the dead, and
» help it forward in going to the Paradise of the West. I reverently
» consider that it is a difticult matter to escape existence (lit. birth
» and death) as a human being or a Pewa, and that this disem-
1  Those six stages of existence (Sanskr. Gati) are: Dewas, men, Asuras, infernul
beings, Prêtas, and animals.
2  To wit, from a uterus, an egg, moisture, and by transformation.
3   Most saints of the Buddbist Churcti are, in China, represented with a pearl
in their forehead, probably standing for the ürna, or white soft hairs between the
eyebrows, characteristic of every Buddha.
4   As cliief reseuer of the souls from heil. Ti tsang wang is nearly always
represented with the sik tliïi\'i mentioned on page 55.
*m^.&m®& mmtmm&ï\\
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SUMMONJNG THE SOUL 1NTO THE TABLET.                         73
» bodied soul will have no means to rid itselt\' thereof and comc:
» down to this place, unless it be earnestly worshipped without the
» worshipper allowing his thoughts to swervc away therefrom. The
»stores of the holy seriptures of our Church of Buddha contain
» authentic words suitable for convoking beings, and it behoves me
»to carefully take these words in my hand and recite them" l.
Grasping his hand-bell, the handle of which be;irs on the top a
nietal knob shaped like a Wajra or magie sceptre of the Church,
the priest slowly tolls it, reciting at the same time the following
quatrain:
» By means of this tolling bell I issue forth my summons,
» Doubt not, soul of the deceased, but hearken from afar and
understand the ineaning thereof,
» Mayest Thou, through the Triratna\'s power, seize hold of it,
» And conie down this day, at this very moment of mysuinmons,
to repair hither" 2.
A nnraculous Tantra of a dozen syllablcs does the rest. The
spirit of the dead really turns up and lias its olfactory nerves at
once gratified by means of a few burning incense sticks, which
the principal mourner raises with both hands on a level with his
forehead and then sticks into the ashes of the censer standing in
front of the soul-tablet. The priest naeanwhile chants:
»In my heart\'s core I respectfully request that the scent of this
»stick of incense offered from the heart may pervade the regions
» where the Law prevails, and that the niessengers of Hades may
»conduct the soul hither!"1 Thereupon he reads aloud a letter
addressed to the soul. It contains the good news that the mourn-
ers, So-and-so by name, have erected on the spot, of which the
geographical position is circumscribed with great exactness, a tablet
-ocr page 110-
74
FUNERA1, RITES.
for the occupancy of the spirit, in wliich it injiy abide for all iigcs
to come; further, that a sacrificial meal has been set out in front
thereof for its private use. »Thrice — so sings the priest in conclu-
sion — I invite the soul of the deceased to descend to this place.
»Soul, come home, enter into Thy seat, and hearken to the words
»of the S il tra! O Bodhisatwas and Mahasatwas who practise the
» holy scriptures!" \'
Now setting fire to the letter, in order to dispatch it to the
soul, the priest proceeds to recite a wonderful canon entitled: The
hell-conquering Sutras. Like most sacred books of the Church, it
passes for a reproduction of a sermon pronounced by the Ruddha
liimself. If recited for a full year, so the book itself declares, it
exempts all the dead trom passing througli heil and there beholding
the face of Yarna, nay, causes them to be introduced straight-
way into Nirwana; hence it may be said that its recital is not
out of place on the present occasion."To enhance its good effects,
a few Tantras are pronounced in addition; and finally come three
brief sumnionscs addressed respectively to Amitabha and Awalöki-
têcwara, the chiefs of the Western Paradise, and to Ti tsang
wang, that they may help the soul to the enjoyment of everlast-
ing bliss. The magie formula \'Om mane padinê hum\' concludes
each of these summonses.
Meanwhilc the sacrifice proper has been served on one or two
extra tables, arranged for the purpose in front of the one already
standing near the corpse. It consists of twelve dishes, for the very good
reason that, during the ancient Cheu dynasty, the sanie number con-
stituted the chief daily meal of a Sovereign, it being said in chapter
4 of the (J/eu li (leaf lö): »Tlie Sovereign has once a day a full
meal, served in twelve pots"3.
As a mie, those dishes chiefly consist of the following articles:
l. A whole duck, roasted.
\'1. An entire fowl, roasted.
3.   Some dried venison.
4.   One or more fishes.
5.   The so-called taü Isó* or » pea-dates": pellets about as large as
^ ^ 0 pj ^ •
4 &M-
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75
SACRIFICING FOOD TO THE DEAI).
marbles, composed of sinall parched peas mixed up with a very
sweet syrup made from barley malt (béh gé ko \\ »malt-syrup").
6. Mod tsó1 or »hemp-seed dates", being similar balls to the
aforesaid, only the peas are replaced by hemp-seed.
The above two sorts of sweets appear on the table because they
are considcred very fit to promote the object of the sacrifice, which
is to bring the departed soul back to the house. Indeed, the
written name for a date tree, ^ , or perhaps more correctly a
jujube tree {Zizyphus jujuba ?), closely represents a reduplication of
the diameter jfe, » to come", or the Chinese expression chung
lai j|ï ^fvjbut chung lai also means »to come again, to return".
In the Pu khiieh\', a work written during the Thang dynasty, we
read: »A descendant of the family Yang, Kin by name, was a
» good oneirocritic. One person having dreamt that a pine was growing
» before bis door, and another that a date tree shot up on the top
»of his house, Kin said: \'Pines are planted between the tumuli,
»and the character for date tree represents the idea of coming
»again, which in its turn symbolizes calling the soul\'. Both men
»died" *. And the historica! encyclopedia of the 1 Ith. century,
entitled C/ice/i fu yuen ktoeis, says: » Li Yuh, who was a nobleman
»of the Imperial Banqueting Court, one day feil asleep during
»the daytime and dreamt that he ate pea-dates. On awaking, he
»feit ill and said to his intimate friend: \'I have been informed
»that the date tree is a reduplication of the word \'to come\' and
»therefore is the symbol of calling the soul; my vital spirits now
»feel oppressed and dejected, so, I shall not escape it\'. In the
» summer of the fiïth year of the Thien-fuh period (A. D. 940)
» he breathed his last" 6.
pj£ gjb £ J& „ Hl A "f^ 2j£ • Comp. the great thesaurus Ku kin thu sim
tsih ch\'ing "£ >f m f| ^ j$, sect. jfif fjr, ch. 148
tsih ch\'ing, same section, ch. 149.
-ocr page 112-
76
PUNERAIi RITES.
7.   » Red i\'olls", aug i" \'. Round cakes of flour, convex at the top,
flat at the bottom.
8.   Dried sliell-meat from univalves. This appears amongst the
sacrificial articlcs hecause its popular name öng lê* is composed of
two syllables which happen to have synonyms respectively in another
unff ( HE )j meaning »to thrive, to prosper", and another lê (J|^), which
signifles »glorv, opnlence". The food is accordingly very fit to
promote the welfare of the soul in the next world.
ü. A pine-apple, with its crown and a few leaves. It is by no
ineans necessarv that it should bc ripe or full-sized, becausc it
plays a part amongst tlie oft\'erings merely on account of its name,
which reads üng lui*, »pear of prosperity". Already the word for pear
by itself includes a great deal of good luck, as the written character
representing it, viz. ^, is composed of tJc , »a tree", and ^|J,
» advantageous, profitable, prosperous, happy, auspicious, beneficial
etc."
10. »Hempseed-cakes", mod tsiK, as many as the years of age of
the deceased. They are small cakes, soft and round, made of rice
flour and hempseed, having sweets inside composed of sugar and
pease meal. People are so firmly convinced that the dead are
extremelv fond of thein, that they dare not let them be wanting
at the tuble. Once upon a time, they say, a mandarin, doing
justice in his court, suddenly feil asleep. On re-opening his eyes,
he related that he had been in a house, where the inmates wcre
serving a sacrificial meal to their ancestors. Perceiving amongst the
oflerings a dish full of hempseed-cakes and being endowed by nature
with a strong liking for this delicious food, he had helped himselt
immediately and devoured a good many of them. None of the
by-standers would have paid much attention to this dream, had
not all perceived very distinct traces of the glutinous nutriment
on the lips and cheeks of their master. Now the mandarin could,
of course, not help sending his underlings in all directions to
sec whether there really existed a house like the one he had
dreamt of; and, indeed, they soon returned to report that the
family in question had been found. All the particulars given
by the messengers, corresponding in every respect with what the
mandarin had himselt\'seen during his somnambulism , there remained
no doubt that he was a re-incarnated forefather of that family;
* %L%               ^ K£.             3 [fc^.            .4 jftg.
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77
SACIUFIC1NU FOOD TO THE DEAD.
which was contirmed when they told him they had sacriticed the
cakes in question expressly because one of their ancestors had been
extremely fond of theni. Another vvise inference was drawn from
the event by every one endowed with conimon sense: souls are
fond of hetnpseed cakes; and as these will consequently wet their
appetite at any moment, they may be used with advantage on
occasions like the present, when a soul is desired to come and
take up its abode in a tablet, and reside in the house with the
family for ever.
As soon as the sacrificial articles are properly arranged in front
of the dead, the Buddhist priest résumés his functions. Taking in
his hand a small tin bowl of water, representing the Patra or alins-
bowl of the mendicant friars of the ancient Church, he solemnly
sings:
»The Amrta of the willow of the Bodhisatwas
»Is so powerful that one drop of it can, all around in the ten
parts of the Universe,
» Completely do away with the filth and dirt of rancid flesh,
» And, besides, can keep the altars and places of worship perfectly
clean"\'.
Dipping his finger, or a sprig of a banian or pomegranate tree,
in the water, he now sprinkles a few drops over the offerings, and
subsequently over the corpse, the by-standers, and the walls of the
hall. Thus, through the power of the sacred ambrosia, everybody
and everything are cleansed from inauspicious influences resulting
from death, and the soul of the deceased is enabled to appear
before its ancestors in a state of perfect purity. Hence the ceremony
is called hing sin3, »purity ing the body". It is foliowed by a
cleansing process of another kind. Having grasped his above-men-
tioned hand censer, in which some of the »purifying incense" spoken
of on p. 33 now lies smouldering, the priest wields this instrument
over, under, and along the sides of the corpse, approaching it also
to the walls and all the conspicuous objects around. Meanwhile
the mourners, arranged before the sacrificial table, present the
articles by ottering each, in the order of rank and seniority, two
incense sticks and thereupon making three prostrations, at each of
m -mm # m&*&®&mm-
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7S
FUNERAL RITES.
which the foreheiid is bowed four times to the ground. The number
of incense sticks and bows should, in worshipping a dead body, be
even, that is to say, it must belong to the element of death
Yin, three sticks and three times three bows being specially
reserved for disembodied souls, gods and living human beings
(comp. page 65).
Kin. 8.
This solemn and bounteous sacrifice is not
!
il
<
deemed complete without a large bonfire of
paper. In a shop for the special sale of such
mock money, of which there are many in every
Chinese town, great quantities of white sheets
with parallel rows of small scalloped incisions
as represented in miniature size in the annexed
figure, have been previously purchased by the
fcimily in yellow parcels containing one hundred
each. Every sheet of this so-called »treasury
money", kkg t$in \', is an imitation of regular
rows of metal coins; so, it is easy tocalculate
that each parcel represents a considerable
amount of currency in the next world. The
whole lot is carefully packed up in small
trunks of bamboo and paper; and these are
Sheet of Treasury Money.
set in array with similar boxes of larger
dirnensions filled with paper ingots of precious metals, which the
reader already knows froin page 25 seq. A paper padlock sutticiently
protects each box against being opened by unauthorized hands;
moreover, they are all carefully sealed by means of a strip of
paper pasted on the frontside from top to bottom and hearing,
besides the naraes etc. of the dead, the seal of the officiating priest.
At the side of each trunk stand two puppcts of paper and
bamboo, which have to carry the treasures into the other world. A
so-called kim konH * or » treasury officer" of the same material and
make, is placed upon a table in the quality of general headman of
these bearers, and intrusted witli the care of the money. Himself
and eleven colleagues form a set of spirits who devote themselves
exclusively to this sort of work, not merely for the benefit of the
dead, hut also for the sake of their own purse, as the management
of other people\'s money matters is, both in terrestrial and sub-
1 )$m 2 Jf t-
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79
SENDING PAPER MONEY TO THE DEAD.
terranean China, a business which pays well. Each spirit corresponds
to the name of an animal of the duodenary cycle described on
page 44 and, as such, has to attend to the treasury money of
all the souls bom in the year of that saine animal: a very ingenious
regulation indeed, as it enablea people to know which treasurer to
evoke in all cases of death. Calling upon invisible beings without
knowing their names or titles is generally considered by the Chinese
a very difficult task, bordering almost on the impossible.
The evoking is done by the priest. Tolling his magie bell
and reciting the requisite formularies specially prescribed for such
occasions, which bear a great similarity to those mentioned
above for evoking the soul, he calls the attention of the spirit to
the puppet provided for its occupancy, as also to some eatables
placed on the table on purpose to enable it to replenish its stomach.
Amongst the dishes, one containing a pig\'s liver stands conspicuous.
Indeed, the family wisely surmise that this food, called koa" 1 in
their mother tongue, must, if consumed by the treasury officer,
favorably influence his own » heart and liver" sim koan 2, that is to
say, his organs of meniory, thoughtfulness and aftection, according
to Chinese ideas. A treasurer who has eaten liver will consequently
be less likely to neglect his duty towards the dead than one who
has not partaken of such food.
As soon as the treasurer has descendcd into his image, the
mourners advance towards the same to offer incense, and respect-
fully bow their heads three times to the fioor. In rnany cases, the
principal mourner also pours spirits into a few cups standing on
the table, that the unseen being may exhilirate his mind by drink-
ing of them. Meanwhile, the priest reads aloud a letter addressed
to the treasurer, which informs him of some things highly im-
portant for him to know, such as what he is wanted to do; the
names, age etc. of the deceased, lest he should mistake the latter
for another person; the names etc. of the priest who arranges the
financial transaction, and the like.
The bearers of «the boxes are also liberally attended to. Having
been arranged in a circle on the ground, with some eatables and
cups of wine in their midst, they are politelv, but urgently, in-
vited by one of the mourners to help theinselvi\'s. Advance wages in
the shape of a few paper sheets are, moreover, suspended around
1 B-                 9 A$Jff-
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80
PÜNERAli RITES.
the neck of each, just as in the case of the palankeen bearers
spoken of on page 29.
To all the performances of the priest, in not a few cases
solemnity.is given by a few musicians, specially engaged to refresh
the soul, the treasurer, and the trunk-bearers with the dulcet tones
of their discordant instrunients. In the end, the whole collection
of boxes is set on fire. Those containing the »treasury rnoney"
are burnt a little apart froni the others, as the ashes must be
carefully collected, wrapped up in paper and placed, either inside
the coffin or by the side of it, in the grave. In general, the
burning is done in the court-yard, or even in the street, to prevent
the house frorn catching fire. The treasurer and the bearers are
likewise committed to the names, as also a goodly quantity of yellow
mock money lor their special use, and the above-mentioned letter
addressed to the treasurer. All the while the crackling ofthebamboo
splints and the noise of the fire are drowned by the music, the
hand bell of the priest, who continues his incantations with unabated
zeal, and the lamentations of the mourners, who eire on their
knees as near the pile of flames as the heat will allow.
As we have seen, the treasury money plays a very prominent part
in this ingenious remittance of precious metal and cash money to
the other world. And not without a good reason. It is, indeed,
designed for enabling the soul to liquidate its old debts there,
which it cannot properly do without a large quantity of small
eoin. The reader must bear in mind, that the prevailing popular
notions ascribe every case of birth upon this earth to the release
of a soul from Hades, which redemption is, however, never granted
unless a heavy ransom is paid by this soul itself to Yama and his
underlings. Now, as souls are, in general, very poor, nearly
all of them have to borrow from their fellow manes, if they
desire to be re-incarnated on earth. Every Chinese is, of course,
sure his dead may have commenced their terrestrial career under
such circumstances. The soul, returning now to Ilades, will con-
sequently at once be assailed there by a host of creditors, who
are all anxious to collect the funds necessary for their own release,
and resolute to have no mercy upon it, if they find it unwilling
or unable to pay. Jt is, in eonsequence hereof, certainly very
wise and dutiful on the part of the surviving kinsmen to send
the soul a rich stock of bullion out of which to settle its old
liabilities; but greater still is the sagacity they display in the boxes
of treasury money. In fact, the small coin these contain will
-ocr page 117-
S|
SENDING PAPER MONEY TO THE DEAD.
help the soul to settle its accounts more quickly, and thus enablc
it to rid itself of its dunners in less time; moreover, it saves it
the troublcsome work of changing the bullion and keeps it out of
the clutches of money-changcrs, who, in the Chinese heil no less
than in the Chinese empire, never feel any qualnis of conseience
when they fall in with an opportunity to fleecc and oppress a fellow
creature hunted down by im patiënt creditors.
Already raany, many ages ago, wise men, whose names are,
alas, lost to posterity, have discovered after careful researches that the
quantity of treasury money required by a dead man to satisfy his
dunners stands in immediate relation to the year of his birtli.
This important fact once ascertained, these philosophers, assiduously
pursuing their investigations in the same direction, have gloriously
succeeded in tixing the minimum quantity for each year of the
duodenary cyele of animals (see p. 44). And although people know
nothing of the principles upon which the calculations are based,
yet everybody firmly sticks to the ciphers of those sages, with the
blindest confidence in their accuracy. They are, pasted on a
small board, suspended before everybody\'s eyes in each shop where
such paper is sold, and may without extra payment be inspected
there by any customer who does not know the ciphers by hcart
or lias no such placard-board of his own at home — a precious legacy
of past generations of his ancestors. We have inspected these lists
ourselves, and learned from them that the highest and the lowcst
amount, viz. 320,000 and 00,000 coins, are required for persons
born respectively in an ox-year and a monkey-year. Each sheet
representing one hundred coins, and one hundred sheets inaking a
parcel, we arrive at 32 and G paicels, which, according to the
quality of the paper, vary in price between 1 and 2\'/s Mexican
dollar-cents a parcel, terrestrial money. Very dutiful nummers, however,
living in easy circumstances, usually go far bcyond the minimum.
They even burn three, five and seven times as much, carefully
avoiding an even multiple, for reasons set forth on page 05.
When the offerings have been standing for a while and the
dinner time of the living draws near, everything is removed to be
consumed by the mourners and those who assist them during that
very busy day. The priest, having pocketed his fee, retires, rejoicing
in the pleasant prospect, opened to him by the family, of having
his services invoked again for the celebration of other lucrative
ceremonies sooner or later during the course of the mourning rites.
It remains now to be considered, what place the sacriiice de-
6
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82
FUNERAL KITES.
scribed in the foregoing pages occupies in the series of funeral rites.
There are many reasons for believing it is offered to the corpsc. On
page 29 it has been statod that the family continue to feed the body
after deatli, and as, nioreover, the coffining marks the moment at
which the hope of revival is given up (see page 70), it can scarcely
appear probable that sacrifices preceding the coffining are addressed
to the disembodied soul. The fact that the ashes of the paper are
carefully collected in order to bc placed in the coffin or outside
it in the grave, likewise points to a sacrifice to the body; indeed,
people call the whole ceremony, inclusive of the offering of
eatables, (ai sui-sin Mg l, »burying a treasury which follows the
corpse". Finally, the following interesting passage occurring in ch.
13 of the Yiu-yang tsah tsu, is clear evidence that even of old
sacrifices were offered to the body until the very moment of
closing the coffin: — »lt is a funeral rite of the generations of
»latter times to place meat, cooked rice, millet and spirits in
»front of the coffin when the corpse has been placed in it and
»the lid is affixed, and then to shake the lid and knock at
» the coffin, calliug out the name and title of the deceased and
»exclaiming: \'Stand up, and eat!\' Having repeated this three
» times, they stop" 2.
But, on the other hand, the ceremonial performed by the Bud-
dhist priest affords conclusive evidence that the eatables are con-
ceived of as offered to the soul, even serving as a bait to allure
the soul into its tablet. And, besides, the popular ideas concerning
the destinalion of the paper money clearly point to a belief that
the same is remitted to the soul. The conclusion therefore is, that
the sacrifice bears a twofold character, or that it is a transition
from sacrifices to the body to sacrifices to the disembodied soul.
It may even be suggested that the introductory part of it,
described on page 70, is destined for the body, and the subsequent
fuller meal for the soul.
It ought to be observed, that the burning of paper money at
this part of the funeral rites is by no means recurred to in every
case of death. Most families are sure from the very beginning
that they will soon celebrate a solemn mass for the repose of the
i w m p*tr * % ¥ f m ^o = m m %±
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ANCIENT SACR1FICK OK FOOD AND SPIRITS.                       83
soul, during which the dead will for sevenil days be enriched
with so much paper money as to render a previous burning of
treasures quite superfluous. But if the family foresee that eircum-
stances will corapel them to defer that mass for a long time, they
always dulv perform the burnt-sacrifioe, it being utterly inconsistent
with the rules of filial devotion to leave the soul of a father or
mother longer than is strictly necessary helpless in the hands of
its dunners in Hades.
In the said requiem-mass Buddhist rites play a prominent part.
lts description must therefore be deferred to our Book on Buddhism,
in which it will find a place amongst the chapters devoted to the
position this religion holds amongst the laity. The reader will find
there also an account of a cuiïous cereinony, performed in the
exceptional case of the dead being a woman who has died in
childbed, and which has for its object to help her soul out of heil,
where it has been plunged into a tank full of blood, to atone for
the uncleanness incurred by her confinement. Now this ceremony
is, in the case of such a woman, generally celebrated at the present
period of the funeral rites, being inserted somewhere between the
ceremonies which we saw the priest perform to effect the release
of the soul froni the powers of Tartarus. This by the way for
the sake of completeness.
Sacrificial ceremonies connected with the dressing of the corpse
were in vogue already in the age of Cheu. Indeed, in its elaborate
account of the funeral rites for ordinary ofticers the / li desciïbes
them in detail. It may be useful to reproduce here what it says
about them, as no doubt the work places before us the most ancient
prototype of those rites to be found in the literature of China.
Having described the tirst part of the dressing, which took place
in the back-chamber, the I li says: »On the east of the hall,
» below stairs, they set out dried meat, pickled meat, must and
»spirits. Linen of coarse or fine texture, to be used for covering
»these offerings, is placed in a basket on the east side of the
»articles displayed; and a wash-basin with ewer are put down on
»the east of those articles, with a towel1. They further place one
»three-legged caldron outside the tscin gate, near the eastern gate-
» room, a little southward. lts frontside is turned to the west. It
1 m=f- ifTiiiïijiffl^f.ff
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s4
FUNERAT- RITES.
» holds a sacrificial pig, to wit, the four limbs (haras and shoulder-
» pieces) trom which the hoofs have been removed, the two rib-pieces,
»the spine, und the lungs. They also place on the spot a canying
» pole to pass through the ears of the caldron, and a cover for
»the caldron, which has its end on the west side; moreover,
» an unornainented stand is placed on the west of the caldron, in
»a direction froni east to west, and a ladle is deposed upon it
» with its handle pointing eastward" \'.
Upon this follows a description of the second part of the clothing
ceremonies or the so-called »slighter dressing", which took place
in the hall, and then the / li continues:
» Now follows the presentation of the sacrificial articles. The men
»who have to lift up. the caldron with the viands wash their
» hands. The one on the right grasps the ladle and holds it downwards;
» the other on the left side takes the stand and holds it athwart; and so
»(canying the caldron between them) they enter the gate and put
» it down in front of the eastern steps, turning its front side towards
»the west. The stand they place with its front side to the north *.
»The man on the right, taking the ladle in his left hand, pulls
»the pole out of the ears of the caldron and likewise takes it in
»his left hand. Then he places the cover on the north of the
» caldron, lavs the pole upon it and, without sitting down, scoops
» out the contents of the caldron ;ind places them on the stand. The
» two hams he lays down on the stand at each end, the two shoulder-
»pieces next to them; then coine the rib-pieces, and the spine
» with the lungs are put in the midst. Having placed a cover over
»the whole and made the roots (joints of the bones ?) to stick out,
»the men take up the stand and remain waiting on the spot3.
»The lnvoker after the manner of the Hia dynasty4 and his
# B M f) £ nM m M MMM M M BS * .*
m.& m B§ M m M -b ,M¥\\-Ch 27< \'• n5-
A ,W Prf M BS m & .$m 3R * M- Ch- 27- \'•A9 and r>0-
1. 50 and 51.                            4 Comp. page 17, note 4.
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COINS FOR CONSULTING THE DECEASED.                           85
»functionaries now wash their hands. Taking the must, lie pluces
»himself at the head of the functionaries who carry the spirits:
»those with the dried meat, the pickled meat and the stand of
» viands follow behind, and in this order they ascend the eastern
» steps, during which the male persons attending stam]) their feet.
» The overseers of the waste and cultivated fields remove the caldron,
» whilst the man holding the linen for covering the offerings stations
» himself at the foot of the eastern steps l.
»The articles are put down to the east of the corpse in the
»following manner. The men with the must and spirits having
» taken their station with their faces towards the north , the principal
»one (to wit hc with the must) on the west side of the other,
»the pot with pickled meat is put down,\'and then the stand with
»the viands is placed on the east of this pot. (The men who
» performed this work) having taken their station to the north of
»the stand, the principal one on the west side, the must and spirits
» are placed to the south of the pot, whereupon the Invoker reccives
»the linen (from the hands of the man at the foot of the steps) and
»places it over the cups. Then they all pass by the feet of the
»corpse and descend by the western steps, the female mourners
»meanwhile stamping their feet; and when the sacrificers walk
» eastward along the southern side of the doublé\', the male mourn-
» ers stamp their feet" 3.
Preparing coins for consulting the deceancd.
In the course of the ceremonies described in this chapter, the
mourners provide two large copper coins, imitations of a kind.
which seem to have been current in China in bygone centuries,
and, having fastened them to the opposite ends of a thin cord of
red silk, hang them over one ear of the deceased. The consequence
w fêf>* * m ma « m * rn # t w mT-^- «. > «*•
\'2 A vory rough human image, doing «liity as a seat for the soul, which was put
up in the middle of the court-yard. lts history will be given in our Second Book.
This was evidently the prototype of the modern ln\'in péh described\' on page 70 .ver/.
r|j^0 &&mêmm, ffiam>n%&mmm,
5^ ^c ffl • Ch- 27\' \'• 52 and 53-
-ocr page 122-
86
FUNERAT, RITES.
is, the coins ufter a time become so thoroughly imbued with
the essence of the soul, that they can do excellent service in
divulging its will and wishes. Whenever, from this moment, the
fainily want to know the opinion of the deceased on a matter
directly concerning himself, or of interest to the offspring, soine
one explains the circumstances before the coffin or, iifter the burial,
before the soul-tablet, and thereupon puts his question in such
terms as to allow the soul to confine its answer to a simple yes or
no. Then he holds the coins for a moment or two over the smoke
of the incense, which is burning on the spot to gratify the nostrils
of the soul and is believed to be also imbued with its essence, and
finally drops them, to read the answer from the position in
which they lie on the floor. Tf either the two obverses or the two
reverses are uppermost, the answer is a decided negative; but one
obverse and one reverse signify an affirmative. Henceforth these
divining coins are carefully kept on the spot, not onlv to have
them always ready for use, but more especially that they may
be continuously pervaded with fresh afflatus from the dead. People
therefore prefer hanging them on the ineense-burner. In many cases
they are used for 25 or 26 montlis, that is to sav, until the
mourning period lias entirely elapsed for all members of the family.
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CHAPTER V.
THE COFFINING.
Whcther the coffin has been bought after the decease or, as in
the case of aged people, was provided already during life and
deposited somewhere out of doors for safe keeping, custoni at all
events requires it to be brought home cereinoniously. An even
nuniber of friends or distant relatives are appointed for this work,
which is called tsi/i pan1, »to receive the cotfin". Among the
wealthy there are sonietinies no less than six or eight of such so-
called tsidng pan 2 or » managers of the coftin".
Repairing to the shop where the coffin has been purchased, or to
the place where it is stored away, these men attire themselves in
a mourning dress of plain white linen, which has been taken to
the spot for the purpose, and have the receptacle for the dead
carried off. Eight coolies or, if it is very heavy, sixteen, carry it
on their shoulders by means of a large rafter, which is tied lcngth-
wise over the lid by ropes passing crosswise underneath the bottom.
A band of musicians opens the procession. Next comes the bearer
ot a red umbrella of state, two men each carrying a large gong,
and, in many cases, either two or four beggarly-looking individuals,
who have to figure as lictors. In this quality they wear the character*
istic head-gear of this class of persons, nainely high hats either
red or black, and wield ratans twisted into each other, or halves
of a bamboo, such as are used for flogging in the courts. Having
to imitate the real policemen escorting a mandarin when outside
his Yamen, they, like these men, slowly exclaim at intervals at
the top of their voices iü o. o. o., in order to exhort people to
respectfully keep out of the way. The » managers of the coffin" conie
after them, foliowed by the coffin. This is carried with the foot-end
foreward. It bears a long, narrow piece of red cloth, placed over the
lid, and also a couple of large flowers of gilt or coloured paper,
2 $«.
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SS
FUNF.RAT, RITES.
such things being all veiy nscful to keep at a distance the influences
of the spirits of darkness.
Meanwhilc all the mourners, males as well as females, leave the
mortuary house and go up the street for a little distance, in order
to meet the coffin. They wear deep inourning clothes of the coarsest
hcmp, or slighter inourning, each in accordance with his degree
of relationship. As soon as the procession conies in sight they
all kneel down, bursting into loud wailings of woe, while at the
same time the quasi lictors send forth an awe-inspiring iu o. o. o.
through the street. At the spot where the mourners lie prostrate
the bearers of the coffin halt for a moment to take breath, thus
allowing one of the family to place a string of copper coins, a
small quantity of uncooked rice and a few pieces of firewood or
charcoal on the lid. At the same time a couple of other men
hastily light some mock money on the pavement, in order to
give the evil spirits, that hover about the spot, something to prey
upon and so cause them to forget all the bad intentions the
sight of the coffin may cxcite in them, such as sneaking into the
house and disturbing the soul. After a while, the procession and the
wailing mourners in the rear enter the dweiling through the main
entrance, the sonorous peals given forth bv the gongs, the harsh
discordant tones of the music, the exclaniations of the lictors and
the vociferation of the wailers producing a deafening hubbub, which
is very edifying in the opinion of the Chinese.
The coffin having been set down in the court-yard or in the
hall, the red cloth and the flowers are removed from it, as well
as the money, the rice and the fuel. By placing the threc last-
named articles on the coffin the family have caused this to introducé
an abundance of the first necessities of life into the house, and
thus they have ingeniously removed all chances of their being reduced
to poverty in consequence of the case of death. The lid having been
subsequently removed, a quantity of clippings of paper, some parcels
of slacked lime and a loose board fitting into the case, all neces-
saries for the coffining procured at the coffin-manufacturer\'s, are
taken out, and the empty case is placed by the bearers in front of
the water-bed, the head pointing towards the same. In order to
facilitate its being lifted up afterwards, when the coffining is
finishcd, it is laid on a pair of wooden logs or, in most cases,
on two huge wooden mallets which do duty in every household
as pestles for pounding and husking rice in large mortars.
While the coffin is being preparcd for receiving the corpse, the
x
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PREPARING THE COFFIN.                                        89
musicians, wlio have stationed therusclvcs soraewhere in the lower part
of the hall, play their clarinets, cymbals and drums without ever
ceasing, sparing neither their Ups nor their hands. And the lictors
send forth a long-protracted in o. o. o. at every important turn of
the proceedings. The mourners abstain from wailing all the while,
because manifestations of woe and distress might cause real woe
and distress to be enclosed in the coffin, and so bring bad luck
not only on the dead, but also on his descendants, the fate of whom,
as our readers know, is most intimately bound up with the grave
of their ancestor.
In the popular tongue of Arnoy, the coolies who bear the coffin
to the mortuary house are styled kioh hu 1, » foot-men", kang kioh 2,
»working feet", or kioh-d kang s, » foot-workers". Indeed, the carrying
of heavy loads, by whioh they gain their livelihood, demands
special exertion of the legs and feet. Small groups of these men,
headed, like every group in China, by a leader, may regularly be
seen loitering about the cofHn-shops, awaiting employcrs. When a
group has been hired to take a coffin to a mortuary house, its head-
man usually acts an important part in the coffining. His first work
is to slowly strew the ashes, which the mourners have collected at
their neighbours (see p. 24), in the bottom of the coffin, saying in a
loud tone of voice: Ia hé-hu, hö l\'t-ê kid,n\'J-san pit kui-d (u i, »1
scatter ashes to cause your sons and grandsons to acquire piles of
wealth". All the attendants then exclaim in chorus: Hóah, hóah\'",
a strong affirmative expression, meaning: Very wcll! Oh yes! Certainly!
Ashes are in China a symbol of domestic welfare, as no home
can be poor where a fire is burning and food is cooked.
After this, the headman scatters a handful of small iron nails in
the coffin, saying: Ia ting, hö li-ê kid"ff-sun chcut ting 8, »I strew nails,
in order that your sons and grandsons may procreate male offspring".
The chorus responds with a loud Hó ah as before. The word ting,
»a nail", and its written form ~f happen to mean also a male
individual, especially in counting the members of a family, the
inhabitants of a ward, etc. Then follows a handful of hemp-sceds
and a handful of peas, accompanied by the phrases: Ia mod, hö
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nmrau.ii rites.
H-ê kiu\'"J-sun tsin tsoe na ctfin-clfiü*!/ mod; ia taö, höli-ê kid\'V-sun
hó aö *, »1 strew hemp-seeds, to cause your male issue to become
as numerous as the seeds of the henip plant; I scatter peas, in
order that your descendants shall be blessed with a large posterity".
Wheat, millet and pady then follow in like manner, also, in
many cases, a small quantity of so-called »red yeast", ang k/tak1,
being a granular preparation frora rice, which, when mixed with
dough, causes this to ferment up to three or four times the
original size. We have here an expediënt intended to cause the
posterity not only to have plenty of food for all time to come,
but also to multiply themselves over and over again like grains and
pease sown in the fields, seeing their numbers swell like dough under
the influence of barm. So, the whole preparation of the coffin is
only a broad application of the rule given on page 57, that things
of good omen, when placed in a grave, cause the benefits they
express to fall as a real blessing to the offspripg of the deceased.
The reader will now understand that the headman of the coolies
has good reasons for loudly expressing himself at every point
of his program me in the manner described. The expected effects
are thus set in working order at once, as otherwise they might
very probably reinain latent. And the attirmative outcries of the
mourners are very useful too, because they greatly enhance the
efficacy of the lieadman\'s words.
Having thus sown abundance, luck and posterity for the family,
the headman places in the coffin a good quantity of refuse of pith,
or, as it is coramonly callcd in Europe, of rice-paper. Itisobtained
from the shops where artificial rlowcrs and other fancy articles of
the kind are manufactured and sold. There is no symbolic meaning
attached to it; yet the headman, on strcwing it, says: la tsó-ttflii,
hö_ li-ê kid"\'J-sun toa küi3, » 1 scatter refuse of pith to cause your
sons and grandsons to become grand and of high rank". Pinally
come long strips of paper cuttings, being refuse from printing
establishment» and paper-shops, and also some parcels of linie,
intended, like the pith and the paper, to absorb the Huid produets
of decay.
Everything is now covered with the before-mentioned loose board,
3 «m^HtfrÉftl***.
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C0FF1N1NG THE CORPSE.
fitting in the coftin at a little distance froin the bottoin. In this
board are seven holes arranged like the stars of the Great Bear,
or seven paintcd circles, sometimes with and sometimes without a
small hole in the centre of each; it is known as the » seven stars\'
board", cïïit cltina pan \'. The poor rarely use it, hut it is
scarcely ever wanting in burials of aged persons. lts nieaning and
object will be explained in the second part of this Book, ch. IV.
Over this board comes a mattress, stuffed with paper cuttings
instead of unspun cotton, as the last named niaterial must not be
buried with the dead (see p. 48). Then follows a kind of mat
made of the pith of water rushes, having also for its object the
absorption of the products of decay. It is made of threads of pith,
just about as long as the coftin is wide, placed close to one another
and connected by two or three couples of red cords which are
twisted lengthwise through them. Over this mat is spread a se-
cond one of ordinary make, as also a small pillow for the head,
not differing from those in use among the living. This pillow is
made of bamboo and wicker work, and looks like a small block.
Now the coftin is deemed fit to receive the corpse. Rut before
the latter is lifted off the water-bed to be placed in its last abode,
the mourners put a handful of ordinary coppers into its sleeve and
gently shake them out again, causing them to drop into a bowl
or rice measure which one of the sons, in a kneeling position,
holds up for the purpose; finally the sons divide the money
amongst them. This proceeding is intimately connected with the
doctrine, prevalent since the most ancient times, that everything a
person possesses continues to be his after death (comp. page 27).
Dutiful children would not be entitled to take possession of their
parents\' goods, if the latter had not distributed the same beforehand
amongst them with their own hands; and as, in China, » parents are
not in the habit of undressing before going to bedv, the ceremony
described has been invented to meet the difficulty. It is known as
pang clfiti-bé tsi" 3, »dropping money from the end of the arm".
Assisted by the mourners, the headman of the coolies now passes
a long strip of white cotton cloth underneath the corpse and ties the
ends firmly together on the breast, lest the arms should hang down
when the body is raised. Then he seizes the knot; the sons take
hold of the head and shoulders, the daughters of the feet,
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PDNKRAL RITES.
the daughters-in-law support the body in the middle , and so the dead
man is placed straightway in the eoffin. Having drawn away the strip
of cloth, the headtnan receives a fee of money as an extra reward
for his excellent services, and then he stretches a eord over the middle
of both ends of the eoffin, to ascertain whether the corpse is placed
exactly in the middle. Finally he puts sinall articles on the corpse,
sueh as may be of use in the next world, or such as the dead
man set a value on in his lifetime. Thus a man is provided with a
pocket handkerehief, a fan or, if he has been accustoined tosraoke
a tobacco pipe and pouch; a person of learning with a peneil, a
stone on which to rub his ink, and other writing materials; a
woman simply with a pocket handkerehief. In the case of a child,
the sorrowing mother rarely neglects to put in some of the toys
her darling was particularly fond of playing with. And if the
dead man be a mandarin or a graduate, a copv of his brevet, written
out on purpose for this occasion, is placed on his breast in a sinall
pocket fastened around his neck, in order to provide him with the
means of establishing the identity of his elevated personage in the
next world. But this measure is seldom taken by families of an
ultra orthodox turn of niind, as they are generally mueh under the
influence of the warf\'ares which the literati are in the habit of
waging from time to time with great zeal against the contamina-
tion and desecration of lettered paper.
It is also customary with those who can afford the expense, to
put one or more pearls or precious stones into the mouth of the
dead man or to attix such costly objects to his head or elothes. The
alleged reason for this practice, which is very ancient, is to retard
the putrefaction of the corpse; besides, pearls and gems may serve
the departed soul as torches on its rambles through the dark regions
beyond this world. In the tliird chapter of the second part of this
Book this interesting custom will be closely considered in both its
ancient and modern forms, and its origin and rneaning accounted for.
The cofHn being thus properly provided with the principal articles of
direct use or necessity, the empty space is tightly filled üp with
parcels of lime, mock paper money and cuttings of paper, so that
not even the roughest shaking will displace the corpse. The mourn-
ers and other attendants meanwhile watch closely every movement
of the head man, lending him a helping hand when necessary and
carefully watching that neither he nor his coolies pocket any of
the ornaments. A white sheet on which a red one of smaller
dimensions is stitched is now spread over the corpse and made
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COFFININO THE CORPSE.
to cover the face. Next comes one pair of large trousers and
then a small pair, both stuffed with ingots of gold and silver paper.
These are expected to enonuously enrich the dead and his off-
spring. Indeed, as the native word for trousers, k/w, sounds quite
the same as that for treasury, and its written form ^ is, nioreovér,
composed of ^,»clothes",plus JÜ|Ï, »treasury", there can be no doubt
that such articles of dress, large and small, when stuffed with
paper itnitations of precious metal and placed in the grave, will
become real treasuries, large and small, full of gold and silver, in
the World of Shades.
The two paper slaves mentioned on page 24 are now placed at the
feet of the dead. A small mirror or, in case of the poor, a round
piece of white iron is always depositcd on the corpse to serve it
as a light in the grave; it is called tsiö sin kia\'v 1, »mirror to
light the corpse". Finally comes a narrow sheet of linen of the
commonest kind, about half as long as the coffin. It bears the rough
outlines of a human figure at full length, drawn in black ink,
male or female according to the sex of the deceased. Such jia sin
hoan * or »banners covering the body" are always ready for sale in
the shops for a few coppers.
A great part of the inhabitants of Amoy, especially those who
are descended from settlers from other parts of the province, are
in the habit of swathing their dead in strips of white linen or
eotton, a proceeding which they call Hém tsó3, »to clothe the dead
with bands". This is done as follows. As soon as the coffin is ready
to receive the corpse, the lid is placed upon it, upside down. Then
a number of the said strips are arranged lengthwise over it, and
a certain number cross-wise; the dressed corpse is placed upon them
and covered with the doublé shroud mentioned above, and then
the swathings are wound tightly around it, so that the wholc has
the appearance of a white net on a red ground. The lid with the
corpse is then moved aside and the latter transferred into the case.
This custom is also of very old standing. Both the / li and the
Li ki make distinct mention of it, as will be seen in the fifth
chapter of the second part of this Book, in our account of the
dressing of deceased officers during the Cheu dynasty.
Thus swathing the corpse, which strongly reminds usofasimilar
old Egyptian practice, is also prevalent at Euhchow, the capita! of
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FUNF.RAI, IUTKS.
Fuhkien province. Mr. Doolittle \' describes the manner in which it
is done tliere in the following words: — »Aftcr the grave clothes
»have been put on the corpse, it is tightly bound around with
»several pieces of cloth, usually two of which are white, and one
»is red. The white cloth conies next to the clothing. Sorae or all
»of it is torn up into strips, and, after being wound around the
»corpse in a certain manner, is tied into a kind of knot, which
»is considered auspieious or an omen of good2. The body is all
»covered with these auspieious knots. Over the white cloth, or the
»white silk, if the family can afford it, is put the red cloth,
»similarly torn into strips, and knotted. The two ends of the red
»cloth or the red silk are usually cut off, one piece being given
»to the eldest son, which he divides ainong his brothers. The other
»is soiiietimcs given to the sons-in-law of the dead, each having a
»little piece. This is regarded as an omen of good to those who
»obtain it".
When the lid is about to be placed on the coffin, most of the
by-standers not belonging to the nearest kindred retire a few steps,
or even make off for the side apartments, as it is dangcrous to
health and detrimental to good luck to have one\'s shadow enelosed
in a coffin. And all the women in the family-way mount on a
bench or chair, in order to protect themselves against the danger
of incurring a miscarriage. Their national philosophy teaches them
that, at the coffining, the k w e i3 of the dead or, in other words,
such parts of the soul as partake of the nature of the element Yin,
return to the earth froin which they originally sprung; hence,
unless the said precaution is taken, those k w e i rnay easily pass out of
the ground into their bodies and there destroy the weak germs
of life, which the opposite Yang element has placed in their wombs.
A final attempt is now made to resuscitate the dead. The tablet
of the soul is placed on the breast of the corpse, and the eldest
son kneeling down by the side of the coffin exclaims: »Father
(or mother) stand up!" After this vain endeavour to re-unite
soul and body, the son respectfully places the tablet again upon
the table. Mcanwhile the elder females address words of endearment
1   The Social Life of the Chinese, ch. VI.
2  The eharacter lor knot, j&t , is composed of Jj^ , »silk", and |jy , shappiness",
and is, moreover, pronounced exactly like this last component.
3   &•
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CIXDSING THE COFFIN.
to the deceased, to set his mind at easc about the future. Pro-
mising him to fake proper care of hia burial and tomb, and to
duly offer the regular saciïfices to his soul, which are prescribed
by custoni; they also urgently beseech him to rcmain a watchful
patron-divinity of the faiuiiy for ever, to protect them froni evil
and to deal out blessings araong them for all ages to coine.
An abundant quantity of linie mixed with oil of the t h u n g
tree1, forming a kind of putty which after a short lapse of
time becoines very hard, is now put on the edge of the case on
each of the four sides, and the lid laid in its place. Only two nails,
or, in case the coffin is composed of very substantial boards, two
big iron pins are used, one in the middle of each long side. In
most instances, a small piece of red cloth is fastened on along with each
spike, to do service in keeping disastrous influences at a distance
froni the coffin. VVhile driving the nails into the wood, the head-
man of the coolies renders the work useful for the increase of the
farnily by saying repeatedly: Tmg tiny, ftö iï-fl kió^-sun clfut tinq 2,
»I drive in the nails, thus to cause your sons and grandsons to
bring forth male off\'spring". In the end, case and lid are hernietieally
secured together by means of four wooden pegs shaped like the
figure \\ /, which fit very tight in excavations of the saine shape
chiseled out just over the seams, two on each long side.
The above description of the ceremonies of coffining affonls unim-
peaehable evidence that spoken words are far from being regarded
by the Chinese as mere hollow sounds. On the contrary, they are
believed to be endowed with a great deal of power over the fate
of the living. Hence it cannot be wondered at that the people
are generally averse from calling death and matters relating to it
by their true names. Coffining a body is therefore, in Amoy,
scarcely ever designated by the term lóh kuw-tfu s, which is the
proper expression in the vernacular language, but is nearly always
called siu *, which means »to put away, to conceal, to put out
of sight", or siu bdth, »to close up, to shut tight". Scholars, and
pedants who pretend to literary attainments, frequently niake a
show of their learning by speaking of siu Hém *, »to conceal the
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96                                                 FUNERAI, RITES.
dressed body", and j/p Hém \', »to place the dressed corpse in the
coffin"; but these expressions, which are derived from the ancient
written language, are scarcely understood by the bulk of the people-
Tt is considercd very fashionable and indicative of high life to have
the lid nailed down by a graduate or, better still, by a mandarin-
Notiible families, who need not fear the extra expense this entails,
are therefore very fond of inviting such a dignitary to come to
their house for the purpose. Attired in the full regalia of his dignity,
and escorted by such a retinue as his rank entitles himto, includ-
ing, in the case of a mandarin, lictors, bearers of a large official
fan and an umbrella of state, gong-beaters, and even soldiers, the
great man, seated in a palankeen, repairs to the house of death.
His arrival is the signal for the musicians to fall in as loudly as
they can, and for the lictors to shout out an awe-inspiring iii o. o. o.
After the raourners have received him with all the honours due
to his rank, the headman of the coolies offers him an axe,
of which the back is to do service as a hammer. The handle of
this carpenter\'s tooi is for this special occasion wrapped round with
a piece of red cloth, lest bad influences emanating from the coffin
should pass through the handle into the hand which holds it.
To this cloth is fastened, in most cases, a red silken cord, to
both ends of which a few coins are attaclied.
But this is no work for soft and noble hands, nor is it con-
sistent with the dignity of a great man to grasp finnly such a vulgar
object as an axe. He merely touches the end of the handle gently
with his thin, long-nailed fingers, while the headman lightly strikes
each of the nails once or twice on the head; then he draws back
his hand, leaving the work of driving in the nails to be done by
the headman alone. The important functions of the grandee are
herewith ended. The faniily may now freely rejoice in the happy
prospect that the male issue, represented by the nails, shall
attain to high official dignities : so powerful, indeed, is the influence
cmittcd by a graduate or office-bearer. It is scarcely necessary to
state that the coins, fastened to the axe, have for their object the
making of moneyed men out of the graduates or mandarins still unborn.
All the male mourners now kneel down before the grandee
and silently bow their foreheads to the ground, thus expressing their
gratefulness for the invaluable service rendered them. But, in obedience
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REUNQUI8HINO THE BEDDING ETC. OF THE DEAD.                97
to the mies of etiquette, he loudly protests against this homage
by urging them to rise to their feet. Hereupon ho is seen into
his sedan-chair by the principal male mourners and leaves the
house as he came, carrying the cloth, which was wrapped round
the axe, along with him. over the roof of his sedan as a protcction
against the pernicious influences of death, which might ötherwise
cling to him on his way home.
The above expediënt to insure the birth of men of official position
in the fainily is denoted by the term Hém po\', »to gently tap with
the axe". As a matter of course, the Hém pó h>an % or »offieer who
taps with the axe" must receive compensation for his troublc:
in fact, in China nobody does anything for nothing. So, the family
afterwards scnd him a roll of dollars or a parcel of broken silver)
with a couple of gilt fiowers, a picce of red silk and occasionally
other presents besides. In many cases, one of the mourners repairs
to the dwelling of the grandee, to offer these presents in person.
It must still be noted that families which are not wealthy or
fashionable enough to call in the aid of a mandarin or a graduate,
content themselves with an old man, thus ensuring at least longc-
vity for their offspring, which, as our readers know, is a blessing
no China man despises.
After the lid has been properly secured on the coffin, the coolies
immediately set to work to take down the water-bed. The boards
and trestles, the pillow for the head, the sleeping mat, the cloth
that served to transfer the corpse into the coffin — all these things
they take for themselves as a lawful emolument appertaining to
their profession. If no coolies are emploved, the family fling every-
thing into the street, taking care previously to break one of the
boards in twain. The lamp or candle which was burning on the
water-bed (see page 21) goes the same way; the crockery used
for the dead man\'s food and medicine during his illness, his
tobacco-pipes and pouches, his tea-cups, implements for smoking
opium and, in general, all such articles of small value as he was
wont to use regularly, follow either immediately, or shortly after.
Everything worth picking up falls an instant prey to beggars. It
need not be stated that we have here a repetition of the custom
mentioned on page 69 of doing away with the clothes in which
the last breath has been drawn, and that it is founded on precisely
the same principles.
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FUNERAT, RITES.
The next work for the coolies to do is to transfer the coffin to the
spot whence the water-bed has been removed. There they arrange
it on a couple of trestles purchased or borrowed from the coffin
maker, taking care that the corpse be placed in the same direc-
tion in which it was stretched on the water-bed. This done, they
receive their wages and leave the house, taking their rafter, ropcs
and other implements with them. In the meantime, the paper
sedan-chair which was standing outside the door (page 28) has,
together with its bearers and a certain quantity of raock nioney,
been conimitted to the flames and so sent to Hades, to be hence-
forth nsed there by the soul as a corafortable means of conveyance.
While the coffin is being arranged in its place, all the mourners
wail and cry bitterlv and do not put a stop to their lamentations
until the white cloth, which was hanging in front of the water-bed
(page 4) and has been removed during the coffining, is re-adjusted
on the spot. This sereening the coffin from view is considered a
matter of importance, as it represents a custom of antiquity. Ch.
12 of the Li ki (1. 19) says: »To have a curtain before a coffin
» stored away for burial is not a custom of antiquity. It originated
» with King Kiang\'s bewailing her husband Muh Poh" \\ This Muh
Poh was a contemporary of Confucius and a minister of the state
of Lu, in which the sage was born.
Just in front of the curtain comes the table bearing the hun pêh.
The incense-burner is placed before this soul-tablet and flanked
by a pair of candle-sticks with burning tapers; and a piece of
white cloth is suspended in front of the table bet ween the legs,
down to the fioor. As soon as everything is properly arranged, the
mourners place themselves in two groups in front of the table,
the males having the woihen on their right, and all wailingly
make obeisance to the spirit. A large bowl of cooked rioe
is now placed upon the lid of the coffin. Tncense sticks are stuck
into this food, that it may not only soothe the palate of the
spirit, but also gratify its nostrils. Moreover, twice as many burning
candles as there are sons of the dead are planted therein, as also
a number of chop-sticks, usually a full set of twenty, but often
many more. This is an excellent expediënt to insure the family
regular reduplications of its members, who are represented by the
3 .11,1.
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I»AYS UNSUITAIH.F FOR COFFINING THE 1)EAD.                    99
candles, and to cause great numbers of dining instrument» to be
required by thera at cvery meal; tbr, it is an established doctrine
that the ancestors are in the habit of gratefully returning to their
offspring whatever they receive froni it in the shape of sacrifices.
By and by the mourners retire, each taking leave of the dead
by bowing his forehead to the Hoor.
We are here face to face with a remarkable custoni of antiquity.
In the first chapter of the third part of this Book it will bc shown
frora a complete translation of the principal information which the /
ii and Li ki afford on the subject, that, during the Cheu dynasty,
encoffined bodies of grandees and office-bearers used to be stored
away for a considerable time inside the dweiling, under the western
wall of the hall, where they were screened froni view by means of a
structure of timber plastered over with clay. Between this tiniber
and the coffin the survivors placed baskets with scorched grain and
dried fish and meat, which would keep a long time, obviously a
continuation of the same process of feeding the corpse which we
have had occasion to remark upon already a couple of times (pages
29 and 82). That the rice which the modern Chinese place upon
the coffin is indeed a shadowing of that scorched and dried lood
of antiquity, is confirmed by the fact that people know it by no
other name except jip-bók bê\' or j\'ip-bók phg 1, »rice which is put
inside the wood".
Before concluding this chapter we have to speak of a few curious
idcas and practices connected with the coffining.
In China, Jilmanacs circulate largely amongst all classes of the
people. Copies of cheap editions may be had for a few coppers at
every native bookshop or bookstall. As they carefully point out
which days in the course of the year are fit or unfit for proceed-
ings and enterprises of importance, such as building or repairing
houses, starting on a journey, making tombs, marrying, burying,
and the like, no book oan be compared to an almanac for its
general usefulness. Indeed, whosoever strictly follows its instructions
will always be happy and rich, while the man who disregards
the same will surely fall a prey to all sorts of disaster.
Now, the popular almanac which chiefly wields sway in Amoy
and the surrounding country, regularly stigmatizes a certain number
of days as ting-sng jit i-. »days of reduplication of death",
1 A*M-          » A*flR-
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100                                              FÜNKRA1, RITES.
because encottining or burying a dead person on such a day will
entail another loss in the familv shortly afterwards. Under the
heading: »Things to be avoided with regard to coffining" \', the
book contains the following notice:
»And when, in a case of death, you have no day fit for coftin-
»ing the corpse, you should lay the reduplication of the loss
» under restraint. Make a small envelope for this purpose, put in
» a piece of yellow writing paper on which four characters prescribed
» for the current inonth have been written in vermilion ink, depose
»it under the coftin during all the time the burial is postponed,
» and upon the coftin on the day of internient, and have it buried
» along with the coftin ; if the reduplication of the case of death is in
» this way laid under restraint, good luck will be the result. The
» prescriptions for averting the calamity are as follows. In the lst,
»3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th month of the year, write the four
»characters -^ J^=f ^ jfflj and put them into the envelope; in
» the 2nd month write ^ ^ ^ j£ ; in the 4th ^ ^r ^ ^p;
»in the 5th ^ ^ % -{jj-; in the 7th ^ ^ ^C.|§; in the 8th
» i% Zi ^f§; in the 10th s> Rï %}$<> and in the llth
» -^ ~J" -fc IjJJ, and the calamity shall be totally averted" 2.
Such is the wise doctrine preached by the almanac; but people
have, besides, a good method of their own in dealing with
the ting-sng days. They quickly catch a big cockroach, a bedbug
or any other domestic insect, which are never sought for in vain
in a Chinese house, and shutting it in a little box at the moment
the coftin is closed they place the box underneath the coftin and, on
the day of burial, along with it in the tomb. The insect is made
to act as, what people call, a thoe sin3 or »substituting body",
that is to say, it takes the place of the person who would other-
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COFFININC TUK UKA1J AT FF.OOD-TII)K.                          101
wise have been dragged along to the grave by the inHiicnce of
the ill-oinened day; now this day, having obtained its full due in
this way, can no more do any harni.
Another raeans, still more simple, of averting the influences ofa
ting-sng day, is to defer the closing of the coffin till at\'ter sunset,
as eaeh day is then considered to lose a great deal of its power.
The most practieal way of dealing with it is, however, to systcni-
atically avoid looking into the almanac at all; but it mnst be
confessed that only very few persons venture to try the efficacy of
sueh a dangerous ostrich-like policy.
In conclusion, it remains to be mentioned that many families in
Amoy carefully wait for the flood-tide to then encoffin their dead. This
custom ]>revails also at Ningpo, as may be seen from the »Records
of the General Conference of the Protestant Missionaries of China,
held at Shanghai in 1877" (page 404). It would lead us too far
from our present scope to explain here the reasons for this usage.
They will be fully explained in ch. XII of the third part of this
Ik>ok, where we shall review the fung shui or »wind and water
system", which purports to bring the good influences of the climatc
and the waters of the Universe over the tombs. It is interesting
to see, many people in Amoy render themselves independent of
the flood by placing in the hall a couple of jars or buckets filled
with seawater taken at the last high tide; they can then simt
the cotfin at any moment they choose, being convinced that the
influences of the high tide over the dead and lus offspring are
likewise perfectly insured by this proceeding.
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CHAPÏER VI.
THE INTERVAL BETWEEN COFFINING AND BUKIAI,.
The lowest classes at Amoy generally bury their dead on the
sanie day of the decease, or on the day following, espccially in
suininer, as these poor people are unable to procure coffins substantial
enough to prevent the smell from escaping when decay sets in. The
great majority of the eoniinon people and even of the middle class
usually defer their burials until what they call the third day, that
is, the second day after that on which the decease lias taken place,
the intermediate day then being, as a rule, devoted to the dressing
and cotHning.
In such cases, the family are, of course, during the whole day
of coffiniiig busily engaged in preparing everything for the burial.
The male inoiuners or sonie of their near kinsmen or intimate
friends go to the niountains to look out for a proper grave-site,
on which excursion they are in most instances accoinpanied by a
inember of a certain class of persons, who niake it their special
vocation to select graves which are situated so perfectly nnder the
beneficia! influences of heaven and earth, that the dead who sleep
therein cannot but send forth all sorts of blessing over their off-
spring. We sliall many tinies have to deal with these professors
of geomancy, but they will receive our special attention in ch.
Xll of the third part of this Book.
Families wlio can afford to buy good coffins sufficiently strong to
prevent all smell, almost always prefer keeping their dead at home for a
few days longer. A so-called hiong tsbng \') or »hasty burial" on the
first or second day is, in faot, considered very disreputable, because,
anciently, all persons of rank and position were interred after a
considerable lapse of time, and good manners and high life demand
the closest possible imitation of antiquity. But there are other
reasons: — people who have money enough to buy a first-rate
grave, so favourably situated that the amount of blessings expected
to arise therefrom sliall be cxceedingly large and extend over the
* O
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»
DAYS BU1TABLK KOR BUKIAI,.                                103
issue of every son, are not disposed to niake u hasty chuiee.
Preferring to aet prudently and carefully, they take tlieir time about
it, consulting sometiraes more than one professor of geomancy.
The tirst seven days, including that on whicli the demise lias
taken place, are generally deenicd to bc lucky tor the burial, especially
the odd ones. But when they have elapsed, it hecomes requisite
to apply to a day-professor (see p. 47), and to liave selected by this
man not only an auspicious day, but also a lucky hour for taking
the cotfin from its place in the liouse, and another hour tbr lovver-
ing it into the grave. It\' such care is not taken, there isgreat (langer
of spoiling the future luck of at least some members of the fainily,
if not of all.
The theories which underlie the calculations of the professors are
casily explained. As we had occasion to remark on page 44, the
Chinese divide time into cycles. The principal aniongst these is a
combination of two cycles numbering respectivcly ten and twelve
characters, arranged in the following order: —
kiah yih ping ting wu ki keng sin jen kwei; kiah yih ping ting, etc.
*P&PiT]fcB£*-£#.ïPZiET etc.
^^ftflUKB^^S/fclfc.-F-B: etc.
tsze ch\'eu yin mao ch\'en szë wu wei shen yiu suh hai; tsze ch\'eu, etc.
The reader will perceive without difficulty that, after sixrotalions
of the upper and five rotations of the lower cycle, a full cycle of
sixty biliteral terms is fonned. This lias been used at least since the
beginning of the Christian era, to count in a perpetual rotation the
years, months and days, thus denominating each by a binomium of
characters. The cycle of twelve, or the so-called »twelve branches" l,
is also applied to the horary periods of the day 3, the syml)ol tsze
corresponding to the period from 11 p. m. to 1 a. in., ch\'eu from
1 to 3 a. m., and so on. Consequently, every Chinaman has a horoscope
of seven characters which indicate the year, month, day and hour
of his birth, and these are firmly believed to determine his fate
for ever. It is accordingly of the utmost consequence to avoid
any risk of having bad influences exerted upon them by performing
acts of importance in years, months, days and hours denoted by
other cyclical names. The question then is, whicli cyclical terms
work badly upon each other, and to what extent; and China fortunately
1 -4-> ^H j£-               2 T,,e so-calletl ch\'en E| or shi |Öp.
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104
KUNKKAI. R1TKS.
possesscs almanac8 wliicli solve this riddle. Indeed, on one of the first
pages of those books one is sure to find the twenty-two symbols
of the two cycles, strangely mixed up together and arranged in a
circle wliicli passes for a production of deep wisdom and ingenious
calculation, though nobody can teil us on what principle it is
based; diametrical lines passing through the circle enable any one
to see which symbols are situated opposite or nearly opposite
to each other and in consequence thereof destroy each other\'s
intluence.
Now, no transaction of importance can by any means bring good
luck to the person ivho performs it or acts a leading part in it,
if it is performed on a day or hour the eyclical characters of
wliich stand, in the said circle, opposite to characters occurring in
the horoscope of that person. In such a case, the influences of the
day and hour cannot fail to do harm to the man, and the man in
liis turn must either prevent the enterprise from succeeding at
all, or, at any rate, neutralize a great deal of the good results
expected from it. In the case of a burial, this principal rule of
chronomancy denotes that his horoscope will for ever prevent
the dead from becoming happy, and the tomb from emitting
blessings over the offspring. Perfection is reached when the calcu-
lations are applied to years and months also. But then, and especially
when more than one person have to take part, in the undertaking,
the choice is so greatly reduced as to render it almost impossible
for the day-professor to arrive at any decision.
As the lavv of custom requires all the principal relatives of the
dead to attend the burial ceremonies and to follow the body to the
grave, the selection of a day and hours for such an occasion is,
in general, a very difficult problem. The day-professor consulted to
arrange the matter is scarcely ever able to find dates agreeing with
so many horoscopes unless he be allowed to exclude some of the
more distant relatives from attending all or part of the ceremonies.
If he be a clever man who desires to do his work well, he also
uses as factors in his calculations the horoscope of the dead and
the situation of the grave in regard to the points of the compass,
thus complicating the matter, but insuring better results. Powerful
amulets, capable of regulating the influences of dates and hours
either when aftixed over the grave or in the house, are then
requisite to counterpoise this increase of difficulties. They mostly
consist of small strips of yellow paper, bearing inscriptions such
as the following: »The duly invested prince whó leve#the in-
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SELKCTION OF SUITABf.K DATES KOR THE BrRIAL.               105
fluences of the year has arrived lierc" \'; »The virgins of the dark
spheres of the ninc heavens are here present with imperial orders
from Henven to subdue unlucky inrluences"3; and so forth.
When the day-professor has at last delivered up his conclusions,
neatly written out. on a folded sheet of red paper, as also the
amulets required, it not seldom occurs that the family have
tlieui verificd by one of lus a colleagues. Our readers will not be
astonished to hear, that in most cases all the calculations are then
found to be totally wrong, and that the wise man who has
discovered this is entrusted with the making of new ones; more
e\'xpcnse is thus incurred, and a fresh delay of the burial entailed.
To evade such inconveniences, most people at once decide on a
burial within the first seven days. And if compelled by circumstances
to extend this period, they evade at least the necessity of
selecting a lucky hour for oarrying the corpse out for burial by
moving the cottin a few inches from its place at the end of
every seventh day; in this way the lucky period is fictiously
prolonged for the same length of time over and over again, as
often as the family think fit. Indeed, the bad inrluences resulting
from carrying a cottin out are chiefly occasioned by the so-called
thó sin * or »> spirits of the earth", who inhabit the soil and all
things that are in close contact with it; they come to perfect rest
in every object which remains unshaken for seven days, and are
naturally roused to anger if then disturbed in their sweet repose.
A special dissertation on these spirits will be found in the Second
Book of this work.
It has been stated already on page 102 that families living in
easy circumstances are generally bent on securing burial sites for
their dead whereupon the good inrluences of nature concentrate as
fully as possible, and that they consult to this end even more than one
geomancer. Such choice places being extremely scarce and ditficult
to find, the instances are not rare in which encoffined bodies are kept
at home for weeks and months, nay for years. Even in the event
of the grave having been selected during the life of the deceased,
the burial may be impossible because of the almanac. For, each
annual edition of this useful book declares in which points of the
compass the lucky direction lies for building, burying, etc. during
2 m^ji^^iK^itmm- 3 ±m-
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IOC»
KUNKRAI. RITES.
the currcnt year; and if it says for instance: » Qreat advantage lies
in the line from east to west, and no luck is in the north" \', the
fainily is conipelled to postpone the interinent till the next year
if the tomh liappens to have been placed, in accordance with the
profound calcnlations of the geomancers, in another line, or if it
faces the north. Other circuinstances which may occasion delay of
burial, will be summed np in the tliird part of this Book.ch. 12.
Keeping a body unburied for a considerable time is called kling
koan J, » to conceal or store away a coffin", or thinij koan 3, »to
detain a coftin". It is, of course, a matter of necessity in such cases
to have the cracks and fissures, and especially the seam where
the case and the lid join, hermetically caulked. This is done by
means of the mixture of chunam and oil, mentioned already on
page !)5. The seains, sometimes even the whole coffin, are pasted
over with linen, and finally evervthing is varnished black, or, in
case of a mandarin of rank, red. In process of time, the varnishing
is repeated as niany times as the fainily tliink desirable ornecessary.
And in order to protect the cottin still better against (lust and
moisture, it is generallv covered witli sheets of oiled paper, over
which comcs a white pall, especially if the fainily fear the sun\'s
rays or moonlight will tind their way to the cottin and perhaps
change the corpse in a so-called kiantj si or kiong si4, a corpse
which does not decay, a horrible and ferocious spectre fond of
catching and killing passers-by, more malicious than others because,
having the body at its service, it possesses more strengtb and
vigour than otlier disembodied gliosts.
Sucli kiang si are obviously parallels of the living corpses styled
vampires, which during the preceding century excited the wliole
of Europe, and were believed to leave their graves to prey upon
the blood of the living. In China a vampire generally breaks out
of its coffin during the night, as the powers of evil spectres are
panilysed by daylight. It commonly kills its prey by sucking the
blood out of the body, a proceeding which it completes in *• few
seconds. Its body is said to be covered all over with long white
hair, and its nails are exceedingly long, which rcminds us of a
belief, also prevalent amongst Europeans, that the hair and nails
continue to grow after death. For the rest, the description answers
4 fêp.
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VAMPIRES.                                                    107
pretty well to that of spectres in general. And tliat tlic rays of
the sun or inoon favour the hideous metamorphosis may be a
natural consequence of the conception that light, fire, warmth,
Yang in short, are identified with life, as we had occasion to
denionstrate on page 22. People say, that the only way to ronder
a kiang si harndess is either to destroy everything, coltin and all,
by fire, or to take the corpse out and fry it in a big iron pan;
but we have never hcard of such an expediënt being actually
resorted to. In our essay on spectres in the Second Book we shall
deal with the vampires at length.
Ceremonial purification of the house.
If the family know that the burial will have to be postponed
longer than a few days, one of their first cares is to liave the
nefarious intluences, that stick to the dwelling and its inmates in
consequence of the decease, ceremoniously washed away by a mem-
ber of a certain class of\' priests known in Amoy by the name of
sai kong ï. Many of the functions of the Taoist clergymen of foriner
ages, who now well-nigh belong to history in the province of
Fuhkien, have devolved upon tliese men, who have consequently
been generally styled Taoist priests in European works on China.
But, as will be shown in a spcciid dissertation in our second
Book, it is questionable whether their history, which may be
traced to the oldest pages of Chinese literature, fully entitles thcm
to bear that name. Therefore we shall, for the sake of accuracy,
henceforth dcnote them by the native term sai kong.
As soon as the priest has arrived, the family place a few cups
of tea, a couple of plates with confections, and some burning
candles and incense sticks on the table in front of the domestic
altar, which, as the reader knows, has been standing in a side
apartment since the demise. The articles required for the puriti-
cation proper, to wit a small round pot of water and a bowl with
a mixture of salt and uncooked rice, are also arranged on the
altar, because this is believed to have remained exempt from
the influence of death and can therefore not deprive the articles
of their purity before they are used. When everything is ready,
the priest, in his sacerdotal robe and cap, takes up a posi-
tion in front of the altar and, tolling his hand-bell, addresses
* ffl<&-
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108                                                FUNEKAI. RITES.
certain divinitics, chantingly inviting theni to descend, that
the family may perform the purification under their propitious
auspices. This done, lie pronounces souie incantations over the
water to drive the bad intliiences out of it, a performance called
t/iik tsui \', » to give orders to the water", and then he purifies the
liqnid thoroughly by kindling one or two sinall charnis of yellow
[>aper and dropping the ashes into it. The salt and rice are then
siiailarly purified by exorcising sentences. During these preliininaries
one of the members of the family burns paper money, to enrich
the deities invoked.
The priest now starts on a slow and dignitied walk through the
room and up and down the hall, continuously tolling bis handbell.
A child belonging to the house carries the exorcised water behind
him. With a small leaved twig he sprinkles the liquid over
the floor, the walls, the cotfin, the mourners, and the relatives
who have attended at the dressing and cottining and have not yet
gone home, as they must first undergo the cleansing process; all
the while he drones conjurations and magie phrases of this tenor:
Tliien bil kin, te bil kin, im ióng bü kl/ï, pik bil kim kin \', » Sky
earth, Yin and Yang, become devoid of dreaded influences! let
there be no taboo influences in anything at all!". For the coffin
a special incantation of peculiar vigour is pronounced: Thien-ihn
kut l/tien, të-ièm kut te~, jin-hoa tióng sing, kui-hoa biet hing; it
soa// c/t\'ing, ji soa// tsing, sa/n soa// sng-soa/i soé k/ü cl/ing-ts\'/ng 3,
» Detested influences proceeding from the sky, return to the sky!
abhorred influences from the earth, go back to the earth! May
your existence be prolonged, ye elements out of which hunian beings
are created, and ye clements which produce evil spirits, may your
shapes be destroyed! First sprinkling, do purify! second sprinkling,
do cleansc! third sprinkling, wash away the evil influences of death,
cleanse and purify!"
After this purging process bas been applied to all the apartments
of the house, the mixture of salt and rice is disposed of by bits
in the same way as the water. Good care, howcver, is taken that
nothing falls on the coffin or any of the bystanders, lest fatal con-
1 Wj&-
2 % m &. m m m . m% m b, . w m &&•
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PURIF1CATION OF THF, HOUSE.                                 109
sequences should ensue. This part of the ceremonies is called stak
icm bil or ia iém bi*, » dashing or strewing salt and rice". These
two articles of food, when mixed together, are eonsidered to be a
mighty weapon against invisible spirits, which are believed,all over
China, to be the occasioners of every mishap and calamity, entirely
frightening them away to distances whence they are perfectly harmless.
lt is quite natural that the spot wherc the water-bed has been stand-
ing and which is now occupied by thecoffin,
must undergo an extra purgation on this occa-               Kg. ».
sion. Kor this purpose the priest there affixes to
the wall a paper charm of the same descrip-
tion as that wherewith he has prepared the
water. Such amulets are not the products of
any fixed rule: almost every priest pos-
sesses special compositions of his own. The
one represented in fig. 9 bears the characters
y water, )|\'||J) divine, */f| clean, and ^
pure, making the phrase: purification by the
gods by means of water.
The cleansing finished, the priest returns
to the altar, to express his thanks to the
gods for having been so kind as to preside
at the ceremony and to bid them to go
where they like, as everything is now over.
Having thus »dismissed or taken leave of
the gods", si sin\', as this rite is called, he
receives in payment for his services a parcel
of red paper containing a hundred copper
coins, takes off his robe and cap, and goes
his way.
The exorcism described is generally called
soé t\'sint/ *, »to wash clean". As the remainder
of the water passes for a powerful preservative
against short-sightedness, the mourners and
attending friends dip their fingers in it and rub their eyes with
it; some also sprinkle it over the children and babies. And if
any one who was present at the preparation of the body for the
grave has been obliged to leave before the arrival of the priest,
• urn*\' *mm*- *mm- * ®tm-
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110                                               FUNKRAT, RITES.
a small tea-cup full of the water is sent to his house, that he
also may take advantage of its useful properties; copies of the
charms used by the priest, however, are occasionally sent instead,
to enable the faraily to prepare for themselves such salutary water.
Not a drop of the water is ever carelessly thrown away, because
the respect for written characters is so great that ashes produced
by the combustion of lettered paper may not be desecrated by
being trodden on or defiled in any way.
To better understand the principles underlying the purification
above described, it will be useful to consult what has been said
on p. 40 sqq. regarding the bad influences created by cases of
death, and especially to bear in mind the fundamental ideas on
the composition of the hurnan soul, briefiv set forth on p. 94. The
incantation pronounced by the priest shows that the ceremony has
for its object to disarm what he calls the hui /ioa, » clements which
produce evil spirits", to wit the kwei or such parts of the soul
as are composed of Yin matter. On the other hand, he tries to
redouble the vigour of the opposite part of the soul composed of
Yang matter, the Yang being, as the reader knows from p. 22,
the source of everything which is good and blissful and, moreover,
the origin of life in general: — »ye elements", says he, »which
give life to human beings, have your existence prolonged". This
division of the soul into an evil part or kwei and a good part or
shên1 will be discussed at length in the first part of the Second
Book.
Sending return presents and mourninq cards.
As the Chinese rules of etiquette strictly require all favours and
gifts to be returned in a manner proportionate to their value, it
is incumbent on the fatnily to present to all those who have
condoled with them and given paper money to the dead (p. 30
seq.) articles to serve the same purpose as this paper, vis. as a
sacrifice to their family manes. Incense sticks, candles, mock money,
sweetmeats, red cakes of flour, and other edibles form the principal
part among these presents. There is also ainongst the same a
mixture of hemp-seeds, peas, wheat, millet and pady, as these
so-called » five cereals" ngó kok % insure abundance of food to the
family, especially when placed upon the domestic altar; for it is
< H.          2 H
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111
OB1TUAKY NOTICKS.
a rulc thiit the dead gratcfully returns the gifts offered to its soul
*as well as those placed with its body in the tomb (comp. p. 57).
Some families endeavour to promote the realization of the object for
which the cereals are sent them by sowing them in their house-
gardens or, in flowcr pots, in their court-yards or on the roofs of
their dwellings. The red cakes, which are the dng i* mentioned on
page 76, are also ministrant to good luck, because red, dispelling
evil influences, is the colour of happiness, and the round shape
is symbolical of perfection, in this special case of the perfection
of the luck represented by the colour of the cakes.
If there be no postponeraent of the burial, the preparations in
connection with the rites thereof take up all the time and energy
of the family, so that this tap tsod \' or tap koan-thlo tsoó2,
» making returns for the paper or for the coffin-paper", must neces-
sarily be delayed till after the interment. The same holds good for
the cleansing ceremony above described, as also for the distribution
of printed announcements of the decease, which families in easy
circumstances are in the habit of sending to relations, friends and
acquaintances.
Such Au im thiep 3) or » cards with the newsof death" (see PI. VIT)
are of brown, yellow or white paper. They are from two to three
decimetres broad and in many instances as long as one meter, and
they are folded lengthwise to look likc an unbound native book of
doublé leaves; the page which comes outside, is inscribed with the
character hu ||p, »obituary notice". The wording is much the same
for them all. Here is a translation.
»The crimes and sins of the unfilial.... (name of the eldest
» son) and his fellow mourners were deep and heavy, but instead of
» killing and destroying the perpetrators thereof, the disaster engendered
» by them has reached our deceased father" (Here follows his name
and an enumeration of his otticial rank and titles, including those
purehased and the dignities held in former times, which in the course
of years may have been replaced by higlier ones, the whole official or
nominally official career being in this way passed in review). »Alas,
» in the year . . .., the month . . . ., on the day .... and the
» hour . . .., bis life was cut short by disease in the principal back-
» chamber. He was bom in the year ...., the month . . .., on the
» day .... and the hour . . .., and thus reached the age of... .
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112
FIJNERAT, RITES.
»years. The unfilial.... (eldest son) and his fellow mourners have
»personally attended to the placing of articles in the mouth of •
»the dead and to the dressing of the body. They have beaten
»their breasts and stamped their feet, wailed and cried, and, in
»obedience to the rescripts, they have assumed the full mourning
» dress on the ncxt day. Wailingly they herewith give noticc thereof
»to those who are related to them as friends, as family-members,
» as fellow villagers and as colleagues.
» The patron of the funeral rites . . . ., younger brother to the
» deceased by the sarae mother, who wears the one year\'s mourning,
» wipes away his tears and bows his head to the ground.
» The unfilial male orphans.... weep tears of blood in concert,
» and bow their heads to the floor.
» The grandsons and great-grandson .. . ., the brothers ..... the
» brothers\' sons . . ., the brothers\' grandsons .... and so forth . ..
»wearing mourning for one year, nine months or five months,
» wipe away their tears and bow their heads to the ground".
The signing of the card with so many names serves to shed a
lustre on the dead, it being in China the height of fashion to
possess a numerous male issue. The so-called »patron of the
funeral rites", hö song \'), whose name figures first of all, has to
see that the rites are properly performed in accordance with the
means of the family and the rank of the dead. He is always a
man of higher position in the hierarchy of the family than the
sons whose actions he has to control, otherwise he would have no
authority over the latter. Women never sign the card. All their
duties lie indoors, and morality forbids their mixing with the
outside world.
The cards are printed with either black or blue ink. But the
characters which in the description of the titles of the dead relate
to an emperor, as also the words friends, family members, fellow
villagers and colleagues, must for the sake of courtesy be red,
because this is the colour of felicity. The word rescripts is red too,
because it refers to the Son of Heaven, the rules of mourning being
codified in the imperial laws and statutes.
Obituary notices are distributed in envelopes of a corresponding
colour. Over the middle of the frontside of the envelope runs, from
1 mn-
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113
PORTRAITS OF THE DECEASED.
top to bottom, a strip of blue paper over which a somewhat
narrower strip of red is pastcd, bearing the address; for it wuuld
be very bad style to write the name etc. of other people on an ill-
omened blue inourning colour. In case of a person of celebrity or
distinction, a smaller envelope is often enclosed in the first; it
contains a printed necrology in epistolary form, laying special
stress upon the great things the dead man has done in his life and
setting forth the great services he has rendered to his family, his
village and, eventually, to his country. The names of the sons alone
are found at the foot of this document.
When there is no delay in burial, obituary cards are as a rule
not distributed until the interment is over. And in case the relations
have already fixed the dates on which they will celebrate the gre;it
requiem mass to which we have already alluded on page 83, the
card announces, at the end, on which days during that mass the
family will receive the visits of friends and acquaintances who may
desire to call and offer sacrificial articles to the dead.
Portraits of the deceased.
Among the well-to-do citizens of Amoy it is a general custom
to procure polychromie full length pictures of their deceased father
and mother (see PI. VIII), to keep them in the hallof the house, hung
against the wall. In some few cases such a portrait is made during the
life-time of the person whom it represents; mostly, however, the
painter is not called in until after death to take the sketch, which
he can complete at leisure in his own workshop. If he can
manage to have it ready before the burial, the family hang it
on the wall just over the coffin, the idea being that it may serve
the same purpose as the wooden soul-tablet, viz. as a seat for the
spirit of the dead, an alter ego doing duty for the body now
shut up in the cottin. With a view to this object, the family are
always very anxious to obtain a good portrait. Hence the painter
is in many instances compelled to do the face over and over again,
until he succeeds in convincing them that the likeness is perfect.
As the portrait is intended to enable the deceased to live on
among his descendants even though he has been translated from
this life, it is called. a tal si/l\' or » arge longevity". It either
represents the dead man in official robes and cap, or, if he never
took or bought a degree, in the ceremonial attire thh pao (page
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114
FUNERAI, RITES.
49 seq.); a woman is generally represented in the official or bridal
attire described on p. 53 sqq. The image is always in a very stift,
sitting posture, which the Chinese consider the height of fashion
and distinction. It always shows the full face, never the profile.
The dimensions average commonly between seven and eight deci-
raetres, but in order to conciliate the Chinese ideas of esthetics,
it is pasted on a much larger scroll of white paper which, like a
geographical map, is fastened to a wooden roller above and below.
In the next chapter it will be seen that the tal siu of a dead
man is carried in his funeral procession; after the burial it is hung up
against one of the side walls of the hall, either to remain there, or,
as in a few cases, to be transferred to the temple dedicated to the
worship of the ancestors of the clan in common. From this it
would appear that it bears some resemblance to the imagines
majorum of the ancient Romans. Indeed, it is well known that
with this nation the effigies of the distinguished dead were made to
escort the body to its last resting place and then preserved around
the atrium, where stood the altar with the penates and lares.
Many families in easy circumstances have in the halls of their
houses also a so-called sioo ing \' or » miniature portrait". This is a large
picture in water colours, bearing a small sized image of the dead
man in a nice every day attire, and of his wife, children and,
occasionally, other members of the family, some doing nothing,
others performing household work, studying, playing, flying kites,
and so on. But such a still life only serves to keep up the re-
membrance of the dead; it is no artificial body for the soul, and
so it stands quite apart from the tal siü.
Sacrifices, and acts of worship and salvation.
As long as the coffin is in the house, the hall is as a rule kept
in the unfurnished condition to which it was reduced when the
dead man breathed his last (p. 25). But the practice so closely con-
nected with it of sleeping on mats or straw at the side of the
dead is, after the coffining, generally given up. Only in very
notable families, especially when the dead man is a mandarin, or
one or more of his sons are office-bearers, this custom is sometimes
kept up for one or two days longer under the designation of Isiii
koan8, »to watch the coffin", not so much, though, out of a
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SACRIFICES IN THE M0RNING AND EVENING.                    115
sense of duty, as because it was done in holy antiquity by and
for noblemen and servants of the state; and a close imitation of the
ancients is in China considered the most decided proof of fashion,
distinction and an excellent orthodox education.
In the early morning of the day after the coffining fresh candlos
are lighted on the table in front of the cofftn, and a dish of cakes
with a cup of tea are arranged there, to refresh the spirit which
resides in the hun pé/t. All the mourners in their white hempen
dresses then kneel around it and set up a loud and long death
howl, from time to time laying their foreheads on the floor, while
the chief mourner places incense sticks in the censer as an offering
to the dead. This rite may be considered as a continuation of the
bowling ceremony observed immediately after death (see p. lü)
and, like it, to be an attempt to induce the soul to return into
the corpse and call it back to life. It is denominatcd by the word
kio Mi\', »to call to stand up".
After the wailing has gone on for some time, the eatables which
are to serve for the breakfast of the family are arranged on the same
table, as a sacrifice to the soul. A large bowl of boiled rice stands
conspicuous in the midst of several dishes of viands and vegetables,
the quantity and quality of which vary in accordance with the
wealth of the family. A couple of chopsticks are kindly furnished
to enable the spirit to bring the food to its mouth. While the
prostrate mourners pour forth their melancholy concert of death
dirges, the eldest son presents incense and, revcrently kneeling
down before the table, bows his head to the ground threc times,
which act is imitated by the other mourners in the order of prox-
imity. When they have one after another rctired into the side apart-
ments and the wailing has entirely ceased, it is ascertained by means
of the divining coins mentioned on page 85 whether the soul has
replenished the wants of its stomach or not; and as soon as an
affirmative answer is obtained some paper money is consumed to
ashes, while the edibles are being removed for the use of the family.
This so-called hab png 2, or » presentation of food prescribed by
filial conduct", is repeated in the same manner about sunset, the
offerings this time being the food destined for the supper of the
family. The introductory bowling ceremony is now styled kio k/iü/t \\
»to call to turn in".
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HG
FUNERAT, RITES.
On etich of the six following days both these morning and
evening rites are gone through by the mourners in a similar way,
even if the dead be interred within that period. In the chapters
on the worship of the soul, in our Second Book, we shall have
occasion to say more about these sacrifices. We must now pass in
review what the ancient books say on this head, and see what light
we can obtain from the same as to their origin and nieaning.
Aftcr a lengthy description of the dressing and cottining of an
ordinary official, and of the way in which the coffin was stored
away in the hall to await the time of burial, ch. 28 of the / li
passes on to the rites of the next day, saying (1. 37 sqq.) •
»In the morning and evening they wail, not omitting to do so
»too on the days tsze and mao1. The women go to their place in
» the (eastern part of the) hall, the principal amongst them standing
» on the south, and then they wail. The niales take their station outside
» the (inner) gate, facing the west, and the principal among them
»stand on the north; the male relatives of a different surname
» stand on their south side, the principal on the south, while the
»visitors (vïz. high nobles and Great officers) stand next, the
»principal ones on the north. Those who stand on the east side
» of the (outer) gate, {viz. the dukes) face the north and have the
» principal among them on the west side, while those who stand
» in a similar position on the west side (nobles of other countries)
» have the principal on the east; lastly, the other persons who stand
»on the west side face the east, and have their chief personages
» standing on the north a.
i Tsze and mao are terms in tlio duodenary cycle described on page 103.
Ching Khang-ch\'ing says, tliat Kieh £Êc and Cheu Wang JÈd" ^ , tlie last tyrants
respectively of the Hia and the Shang dynasty, perished in battle, which put an end
to their criminal sway, the former on a mao day, the latter on a tsze day, and
that ever since those days have been considered unfit for transactions of a felkitous
character. Indeed, if we open the Tso ch\'toen, we read at tlie head of the account
of events during the 18tb. year of Duke Cli\'ao, that Kwun-wu H 3*- reaclied the
height of bis crimes on a yih-mao day, while the Shi hing teaches that Kwun-wu
perished with Kieh in the same battle (Odes of Shang j§| $|ï, 4), so that yib-
in a o is evidently the date of the death of Kieh. And as to Cheu Wang, the Shu
king states explicitly that the renowned battle in the country of Muh, in which he
feil, took place on a kiah-tsze day (see \'The speech at Muh\' ifcfr 411* )• \'n c^* W
of the Li ld (1. 21) we read: »No music is made on tsze and mao days"
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117
SACR1FICES IN THE MORNING AND EVENING.
»The principal mourner having taken his station (outside the
»inner gate, east), this gate is opened. The women hereupon lay
»their hands on their hearts, but do not wail. Turning suceessively
»to the three sides, the principal mourner bows to the visitors;
»thereupon he turns to the right, enters the gate and wails,
» while the women stamp their feet\'.
»He now places himself at the foot of the hall, under the
»eastern wall of the court-yard, with his face west. The male
»relatives of a different surname station themselves there in the
»same way as they stood outside the gate; the high nobles and
»Great officers come to the south side of the principal mourner,
» and the dukes go to the east side of the gate, advancing a little
»in the direction of the hall. The different nobles of other realms
»take up a position on the west side of the gate, also advancing
»a little to the front. Now saluting those of equal rank, the
» principal mourner first bows to the visitors from otlier countries,
»then from his place (in the centre of the court-yard) he makcs
» reverences towards all the different nobles collectively s.
From a careful perusal of the above extracts with the aid of the
sketch of an ancient mansion given on Plate I, it will be seen
that we have here a simple description of the manner in which
the different groups were first arranged outside the gate to receive
the salutations of the principal mourner by way of a silent invitation
to enter, and then how they re-arranged themselves in a corresponding
manner in the court-yard. The I li here suddenly stops short, but
Ching Khang-chcing is probably right in saying: »When all the
»visitors had occupied the places prescribed above, the wailing
»commenced, not to cease until their grief was entirely poured
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118
FUNERAT. RITKS.
» out" l. The / // then goes on to describe how the sacrificial articles,
offered to the soul the day before in the back chamber, were
removcd and forthwith replaced by fresh ones; this last proceeding
which is the prototype of the modern hab png, is told in the
following words (1. 44 seq.) •.
»The sacrificial articles are now set out. When the must,
»spirits, dried meat and pickled meat are taken up the steps,
»the males stamp their feet. These articles having been brought
» inside the chamber, they are set down in the same order as on
»the former occasion, but no napkins are laid over them. The
» men who put them down in their places then leave the chamber
»and station themselves to the west of the door, the principal
» amongst them on the west, and the torch-bearer with extinguished
»torch retires also. The Invoker now closes the door and precedes
»the others in going down by the western steps, at which moment
»the women stamp their feet. They then pass by the south side of
» the Uouble and proceed eastward , while the males stamp their feet.
» The visitors now leave the gate, while the women stamp their
» feet. With bows the principal mourner secs them off. The chief
» male mourners now go out of the gate also, the women again
» stamping their feet, but they cease their lamentations and all go
»to their places when the mourners have left. The gate is then
»closed, and the principal mourner, having seen the visitors oft
»with bows and made reverences to the other mourners, repairs
» to his shed" \\
That the same sacrifice was repcated in the evening is fully
proved by the Li ki, which says in its llth. chapter (1. 41): »The
» moming sacrifice is presented at sunrise, and the evening sacrifice
» when the sun is about to set" 3. 13y way of addition to the above
particulars, the / li has in ch. 31 (1. 34 seq): »A meal of the
2 75r n o ii m m m ft. * ^ m. a , «n ^ wt ^ rti.
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SACItlFICES IN THE MORNING AND KVENING.                    119
» usual food, eatables, exquisite dishes, warm water, and washing
» water for the head are set out, as used to be done in former
»days; but on the new moon, and when first fruits are offered,
» no eatables are presented in the lower chamber" \'. In other words,
a sacrifice was also set out in the private apartinent of the dead,
and the articles necessary for his toilet were taken there to him
at the same time. This passage is especially important because
it reveals at once the true nature of the sacrifice, which was
nothing more than a continuation of similar acts of filial devotion,
which rlutiful children were anciently taught to observe regularly
every morning while their parents were alive. We find these acts
circumscribed in ch. 39 of the Li ki (1. 6 and 13) in the following
words. »Thus equipped, (the sons and the rlaughters-in-law) shall
» go to the abode of their parents and parents-in-law. In bringing
»in the implements for them to wash, the younger shall reverently
»hold up the basin, and the elder the water, asking permission
» to pour out the water for washing; and when the washing is
»finished, they shall hand the towel. They shall ask what tlungs
» are wanted and then respectfully bring them in, with a face of
» pleasure to make their parents feel pleased, — tliick gruel, water-
»gruel, spirits, must, vegetables, soup, pulse, wheat, hempseed,
»rice, millet, spiked millet and glutinous millet, in short,
» whatever they can wish. With dates, cliestnuts, sirup and honey
»they shall sweeten these eatables; with the kin plant, the
»hwan plant, white elm, ordinary elm, fresh or dry, soaked
»in water or rcndered unctuous, they shall moisten and lubricate
»the same *; with fat and oil they shall enrich them; and
» after the parents or parents-in-law have certainly tasted tliem, the
»young people shall withdraw .... While father and mother are
»both alive, at their regular meals in the morning and evening
»the eldest son and his wife shall encourage them to eat of everything,
»and what is left after all they will themselves eat" 3.
2 It is not possible to determine what these k i n and li w a n plants were, neither
ean we say which parts of the elm were used for food, as no culinary works have
been bequeathed to posterity by the ancient*.
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120
FUNEKAT, RITES.
The close connexion between the abovc precepts and the sacri-
fices now under notice was frankly acknowledged already in the
second century of our era by Ching Khang-ch\'ing, the ever famous
founder of the authoritative school of criticism on the ancient
classics, whom we have had occasion to introducé to our readers
more than once. Coinmenting on the above passage of ch. 31
of the I li, he says: »Filial sons can not bear to neglect for
» one day their duty to serve their parents; therefore, every day they
» set out the articles in the lower chambcr as if the deceased were
» still abiding with thera alive"\'. Confucius taught: » Serving the
» dead as they were served when alive, and those who have passed
»iiway as if they were still abiding amongst us, this is the summit
» of filial conduct" \\ Now considcring that such filial conduct, or,
in other terms, implicit submission and devotion to parents de-
nominated among the Chinese by the special word hiao 3, has since the
oldest times stood foremost in China amongst all ethics, and has
been preachcd by all philosophers as the highest of domestic and
national duties, it can by no means be a matter of surprise to
find, that sufficiënt importance was attached to the ancient howling
and sacrificial rite described above to induce even dignitaries of
the highest rank and noblenien from other kingdoms to con-
gregate and attend it in the case of an ordinary servant of the
State. Neither is it unnatural that this rite has outlived the
ravages of time and is still faithfully observed in every case of
death: in fact, the sway of the doctrine of hiao is still as un-
disputed as ever and has not suffered the least decline. The name
which the sacrifice now bears, viz. » presentation of lood prescribed
by filial conduct" (see p. 115), still testifies to its origin.
Customary law, based on precepts laid down in the ancient books
ffi [jH or » üocti-ine of the Mean", XIX.                             3 ^.
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121
RITES OF SAr.VATION.
of rites, rcquires sacrifices to be offered in the hall to the soul-
tablet at long, regular periods after the decease. These sacrifices stand in
no relation whatever to the burial; hence they are also performed
at their proper dates though the coffin be stored away in the
house. They will be described in our Second Book, in the chapters
which are devoted to the worship of the soul.
This is the proper place to mention the fact that the niourners,
as long as the coffin is in the house, are bound by custom to offer
every evening burning candles and a few incense-sticks to the soul,
allowing the lights and the odoriferous matter to burn away entirely
in front of the soul-tablet and the coffin. Friends and relatives, on
entering the hall, will scarcely ever neglect to respectfully join their
hands together and politely bow to the coffin, silently acknowledging
in this way that the dead man lying inside, or his soul hovering
over the spot, is still the actual chieftain of the family.
We have spoken more than once of a great requiem mass,
which people usually celebrate after a case of cleath, in order
to liberate the soul from the miseries of the Nether-world and to
translate it to the Buddhist Paradise. Though this ceremony or,
more correctly, this concatenation of ceremonies, may commence im-
mediately after the coffining, we can not enter upon it here. Tt has
indeed, under the influence of Shakyamuni\'s Church, so completely
taken a Buddhist shape, that we are compelled to reserve a detailed
account of it for our Book on Buddhism. Families wealthy and
distinguished enough to affbrd the luxury of storing coffins away,
always set apart a whole series of days for this mass, wasting
on each day much money, in order that the ceremonies may be
celebrated with unusual pomp and splendour. On this account
they have in most instances to wait a long time ere the con-
dition of their cash and the state of the business of each mourner
are such as to allow of the required outlay and loss of time. A
provisory mass on a smaller scale then becomes requisite, it being
of course, highly unfilial, nay a disgraceful infamy, to leave the
soul of a father or mother without relief for any length of time;
and the mourners take good care to perform as soon as possible
after the coffining what duty demands.
In an apartment adjoining the hall, large coloured pictures of
three images representing the Buddha, the Dharma or the Law, and
the Sangha or the Church, are suspended on one of the walls, in
most cases over the domestic altar which, as the reader no doubt
remembers, was removed out of the hall after the demise. On both
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122                                               FUNKKAi. RITES.
sides of those images are similar portraits of bodhisatwas, of Awaló-
kitêcwara and of eighteen famous apostles of the Church. Tables
Kig. 10.
standing in front are spread with cakes, fruit
and various eatablea of a vegetable kind, but
in eat and fish are strictly excluded, because
the Buddhist Church forbids aninial food and
consequently ncver offers this to her saints.
This altar, which is called a jmt tod" \' or
» altar of buddhas", is adorned with banners
(see the annexed figure) each composed of seven
strips of linen, three of which are aftixed
betwcen two wooden boards; the other four
strips hang loosely down from the lower board
and have each a srnall globular jingling bell
at the extremity. Each of these so-called tong
honn *), » strearaers or banners", bears on the
topmost board, which is triangular in shape,
the portrait of one of the buddhas of the six
points of the Universe and, hesides, the name
of this being on the middlemost of the three
upper strips; the strips are also of the colour
which Chinese philosophy identifies with the
corresponding point of the compass. So, there
is an azure, a red, white, black, yellow and
hearing respectively the
Akshobhya of the East,
deep blue streamer
inscriptions •.
1.   The Buddha
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Y
*
more precious than any
otherwise called Torch of
2.   The Buddha
Buddha Banner.
other, of the South,
the Sun and Moon , 0 fl \'Jg£ $jj.
3.   The Buddha Amitabha of the West, ® jf ^ |$ %.
4.   The Buddha with flaming Shoulders of the North, ;([> -}j
5.   The Buddha Singha of the World below, ~fC -% gjfi ^
i. e. Shakyamuni.
6.  The Buddha of Brahma\'s Voice, of the Zenith, J^ ~)j $£ ^-
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RITES TO EFFECT THE SAI-VATION OF THE SOUL.               123
According to the Amitabha Siïtral, which is the principal
authority on which the Buddhist Church in China bases her
doctrine of the Western Paradise, these six buddhas each govern a
part of the Univcrse in concert with myriads of other buddhas.
They are represented on the altar because the said Sütra is to play
a most important part in the ceremonies; indeed, it is an article
in the creed of the Church that the recitation of no other sacred
book can equal it in efticacy, when the object is to gain admission
for a soul into Paradise. Thanks to the streamers, the spirit of
each of the six mighty saints is present on the altar and may exert
its beneficial influence upon the meritorious work of redemption,
which is about to be performed on the spot. With regard to the
host of other holy ones the same result is effected by means of
square pieces of pasteboard, each inscribed with the name of a
bodhisatwa or dewa, or hearing a collective expression embracing
a whole class of saints. These so-called khia sg * or » standing in-
vocations" are arranged over the whole altar, each at a place suitable
to the rank and dignity of the being or class of beings which it
represents. Pinally, the altar is nicely decorated with pieces of
variegated enibroidered silk, lamps, candlesticks, images of wood and
metal, and the like, according to taste and wealth. A complete
set of instruments used by Buddhist priests when reading
prayers and sending up invocations and hymns, are never wanting;
and so one may also see upon or at the side of the altar, in a
standing position, one or two crosiers, these objects having, as has
been said on page 55, an extensive power over Heil, which has
now to be conquered to obtain the delivery of the soul frotn its pains-
In case the house should not have a room large enough to con-
tain such an altar, this may be erected in a neighbouring dweiling,
in an apartment hired to that end by the family.
Either three or five Buddhist priests, in the case of rich people
even seven, are employed by the family to perform the work of delivery.
Arrayed in their Kashaya or ceremonial dress of the highest order,
they spend nearly the whole day in reciting before the altar such
canonical books as are known specially to possess the power of
redeeming souls from Heil and of sending them up to the Western
Paradise. The Church in China has many productions of this kind,
all of which themselves profess to be endowed with such power,
2 ±ifc-
1 nmmmmm-
-ocr page 161-
124                                              FUNERAL RITES.
but, as has been said, the Amitabha Sütra is the best of all.
While reading, the priests keep exact time by means of the wooden
globe mentioned on page 72, on which one of them gives a
geutle knock at each syllable pronounced. And when tbey come to
rythmical parts wherewith all Buddhist canons in China are
interspersed, their voices pass into a kind of choral singing, the
accompaniment then, in addition to an open metal bowl also
mentioned on page 72, consisting of a few ordinary instruments,
played by a small band of musicians engaged for the purpose.
Such recitations of holy scriptures are from time to time per-
formed also in front of the coffin, at a table placed in the
central part of the hall. One or more tables bearing a complete
sacrificial meal with sundry sorts of dainties and cakes, stand
in the immediate vicinity of the coffin all day long, and the
mourners, clad in sackcloth, may be seen to advance often, especially
when fresh articles are brought in from the kitchen, to offer incense
and wailingly bow their heads to the ground, encouraging the soul
in this way to eat and drink at pleasure. That considerable quan-
tities of paper money are burned at intervals we need scarcely say.
The most important part of these ceremonies is a walk under-
taken through the hall and the adjacent apartments, with the purpose
of leading the soul into Paradise. With the children, grandchildren
and other relatives in the rear, all wailing and lamenting in a loud
tonc of voice, the priests, after having first finished a reading of
the Amitabha Siitra by way of introduction, march one behind the
other between benches, chairs, tables, and around the coffin,
winding their way through one door to another and incessantly
repeating the word O-bi-tó, which is a corruption of the name of
Amitabha. This Buddha of the West has also the control of the
Paradise, which the Church teaches as existing in that part of the
Universe. His name is of a most wonderful efficacy in matters of
salvation, and it is therefore not to be wondered at that the
priests, at the critical moment when they have to bring the
redemption of the soul to a conclusion, simultaneously repeat it
thousands of times, thus accumulating a large amount of merit,
which they transfer to the benefit of the dead. The utterance is
rapid, but time is kept by the help of the wooden globe and a
small metal bell on a long handle, each played on by one of the
marching priests.
A peculiar streamer (see Fig. 11), more than a metre long, is,
during the promenade, solemnly carried on the top of a staff by the
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125
RITES TO EFFECT THE SALVATION OF THE SOUL.
principal mourner. It is shaped like the banners of the six buddhas
raentioned above, but flies from under a circular frame of baraboo splints,
covered with the same raaterial of which the strips are made, and
which is of blue glossy
silk amongst the well-
Fig. 11.
to-do, of blue or white
paper with the poor.
Six ornamental tapes
hang loosely down from
the frame. The inscrip-
tion is placed on the
raiddlemost of the three
upper strips and ad-
dressed to Amitabha.
Here is the translation
of .one, out of many.
» Om, May Thy nim-
» bus call to Thee the
»real soul of the de-
»ceased Wën-jii, the
»chief of the Yang
»family, upon whom
» the Imperial house of
» Tscing has conferred
»the honorary title of
»the sixth degree and
» who was a graduate
»of this district witli
» the dignity of Archiv-
»ist of the Imperial
» Academy of Learning.
» May his soul speedily
» repair to the regions
» of the West to entrust
»itself to the process
» of transformation into
» an independent exist-
»ence of careless di-
»version amidst the
» lotus-tanks; may it
Streamer harboaring the Soul.
receive and enjoy the
relations sacrifice to
treasures and food
it), being entirely
»(which the
survivmg
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120
FÜNERAL RITES.
»extricated from the bitter wheel of transmigration. Ahum" *.
On the reverse side the slip has: »Buddha Amitabha of me,
»sacerdotal leader of the ninth rank 9, we salute ïhee, who
» reigneth in the realia of peace, in the region of extreme delight,
»in the pure land of the West where the souls are received and
»introduced" 3.
This /wan 4 or »streamer" presents one of the best illustrations
of the genius of the Chinese people in inventing expedients to
insure the happiness of the dead. Note that there is an ancient
theory that the human soul is composed of three parts which are
created by the Yang, and of seven parts produced by the Yin
element. Now, the streamer is made expressly of three broad strips
and seven strips, that the soul of the dead may exactly fit in and
consequently not hesitate to take up its abode therein immediately.
But, by so doing, it places itself forthwith under the full influence
of the powerful inscription and is, thanks to the sanie, easily
piloted into the desired Paradise. Indeed, as the streamer bears the
ineffable name of Amitabha, it exercises, when waved about, the
same redeeming influence as the verbal recitation of that name
thousands and thousands of times. And the streamers of the six
buddhas, likewise made of seven strips, all serve a similar purpose.
Therefore they are, when priests and mourners deern fit, also carried
about during the procession.
Gaining admission tbr the soul to the Paradise of the West by
these ceremonies is called tng se-hong 5, »sending home to the
regions of the West". In most cases only one day is devoted to
the celebration. With the rich, however, this celebration sometimes
lasts three days, and then the purse of the family is severely taxed,
as relations and friends usually honour the rites with their presence
and have in consequence to be invited to dinner and supper.
Each day is concluded with a burnt offering of a large quantity of
word Om at the head oi\' the invocation is the first, and Ahum the last word of
the well-known Buddliist formula \'Om mani padme hum\'.
2 Apostrophe by the priest who presides at the rites.
-ocr page 164-
STORING COFFINS AWAY OUTSIDE THE DWELMNG.               127
»treasury money", in many instances connected with all the
religious practices described in detail on page 78 sqq.
Storing coffins away outside the dwelling.
It is, of course, a very inconvenient matter to have to keep a
cottin at home for a long time. Most Chinese are, moreover, ex-
tremely superstitious and firrnly believe that, if burial is dclayed
for say one year or longer, the corpse may bring evil over the
house. Indeed, even the most angelic soul w ould be naturally driven
to madness if so long deprived of all ehance of obtaining final rest
in the tomb; it might even re-unite itself with the body, change
into a hiang si and kill the inmates of the house. Especially if
three years are allowed to elapse, the dreaded metamorphosis will
certainly take place, as most people assert.
It is consequently very common to deposit comned bodies, for
which no proper burial site has as yet been found, outside the
precincts of the town. The spot selected to such an end is
generally a plot of ground belonging to the family or held on lease;
sometimes a corner of some field is rented on purpose for the time
being. A small cottage of bricks, or of clay and linie mixed
together, is erected and good care taken that it is closed on all
sides, lest sun or moon peep through the openings of the
walls or the roof-tiles and further the metamorphosis of the
corpse into a kiang si. More generally still the cotfin is covered
over with a very narrow vault of masonry, or of straw, matting,
bamboo and wood plastered all over with clay and linie, one or
more small holes being left at the sides to allow the soul to freely
wander in and out. It is very usual to make these openings in
the shape of the characters ~J~, »male individuals", and >j~,
»talents", that by the infiuence of these symbols the dead may
bless the offspring with a great nuniber of sons, who by their
talents shall arrive at high positions and thus surround the family
with an aureola of glory.
Such a shed or vault goes by the name sip ts\'tïl, a term which
may be translated by » sepulchral house" or » funeral vault". The
coffin is taken to it with all the rites, pomp and splendour
appertaining to a funeral; afterwards, when a burial site is found,
it is carried to the grave with very little ceremony. To protect
* PM
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12S
FÜNEBAL RITES.
the coliin against the attacks of white ants and other destructive
vermin, the moumers take good care to leave a small space
between it and the ground; they also cover it with oiled
paper to prevent the paint and the wood from being spoiled by
the influence of the weather. If the sip lszü be a cottage and thus
afford the required space, a table is placed in front of the coffin
with a censer and a pair of candlesticks, that the tenant of the
field, or some one living in the neighbourhood und appointed by the
family to look after the coffin, may offer incense-sticks and candles
every day, and the kinsmen do this at every new moon and full
moon, when they pay their usual visit to the spot.
Farmers who happen to have a small hut in their field or
garden, often derive a regular income from it by keeping
there in safe custody, against remunerative payment, the cotfins of
other people. Kut the well-to-do, who can afford to pay well,
prefer to deposit their dead in Buddhist mountain temples, of which
there are several in the environs of most towns of importance. It
is, however, generally very difficult to obtain permission for this
from the consistory and the priests of such an establishment, they
being well aware that, if they were too liberal on the point, so
many corpses would soon be accuinulated within the premises, that
the laymen and laywomen, who are in the habit of visiting the
place to worship the gods, would refrain from coming back. So,
coffins are only admitted against a very high payment, and on
condition that they shall soon be taken away. The duty of
daily burning candles and incense before them then devolves on
the priests, who inhabit the establishment. That the dead are stored
up in an obscure apartment into which no worshippers are expected
to penetrate, need scarcely be said. The consistories of most mountain
temples flatly refuse to take any coffins inside the precincts.
It is by no means a matter of rare occurrence that, when a
coffin is about to be lowered into the grave, some individuals sud-
denly turn up to protest against the interment and even to forcibly
prevent it, pretending that the soil is their property, or that the
grave will completely spoil the auspicious situation of a tomb in
the neighbourhood belonging to them. Noisy q.uarrels and vociferous
discussions immediately ensue. The grave-diggers, coffin-bearers and
other men employed in the funeral train, convinced that the
matter does not in the least concern them, render the moumers
no assistance, but quietly stand around smoking their pipes to see
what will be the end of the matter; meanwhile the auspicious
-ocr page 166-
129
STORING COFF1NS UP IN THE F1ELDS.
hour assigned for the interraent elapses, the end being that the
mourners have either to take the coffin to a temple in the vicinity,
or leave it on or near the spot and quickly build a sip lscu over
it. Custom severely forbids taking a coffin homewards again, on
account of the ancient principle mentioned on page 32, that
in funeral matters there should be a regular progress, no retro-
gressive movement; moreover Confucius hiniself has said: »An
encoffined body may not be taken back" l. Many a sip tscti
owes its origin to events of the above kind, disputes about landed
property and immovablc goods in general being perhaps nowhere
in the world more common than in the badly administered Empire
of the Midst. Many also are erected because it is usual for every
family, on discovering that an interred coffin has been attacked by
white ants or suffers from the ground-water, to exhume it without
delay and to leave it on or near the spot until a better grave
has been found and purchased.
Temporarily confiding a corpse to other pcople for safe keeping,
which the inhabitants of Amoy call kia koan 2, »intrusting others with
a coffin", is also commonly recurred to when the dead man\'s family seat
is in another part of the empire, and his kindred expect tliey may
sooner or later be able to convey his mortal remains thither.
Sending the dead to their ancestral home, there to be buried, is,
indeed, very common with the well-to-do, as will be demonstrated
in the tenth chapter of the third part of this Book.
The reasons for leaving collins for a time unburied being
manifold, it is very natural that in many parts of China, especially
in such where burial ground is scarce, the soil is as it were
studded with corpses awaiting interment. In my own journeys
through the empire scarcely a day passed on which I did not see
several. In the environs of Kung-chcwen\', a little town on the
Min between the cities of Yung-ngan-hien * and Yen-phing-fu \\
I found them in the fields in such large numbers, that I al most
feit compelled to conclude no in terments took place in this
part of the country at all. By scores and scores they were piled
up in small huts consisting of three walls with a roof, having
neither wall nor door in front. Just outside the large village of
« &U ^ *T B ÏÏ. % &• Li «. c,,- 27-\'-:^sect- f" T- M•"•
9
-ocr page 167-
130
FUNEIlAli RITES.
Hing-thicn\', situated in the north-west of Fuhkien province, on
the highroad between Kien-yang-hien2 and Chcung-ngan-hien 3,
dozens of well-raade substantial coffins merely covered with a loose
piece of old matting studded the open ground; at the head
of each was pasted a sheet of red paper hearing the character ^,
»long life", to prevent them from emanating life-destroying influences
and so operating destructively upon the living beings thereabout.
A similar spectacle presented itself in the environs of Chcung-ngan-
hien, and in the neighbouring mountains which separate the sources
of the Min from the river-land of the Yang-tszë. There many coffins
had been severely daraaged by time and weather, others were
reduced to dust, and yct nobody seemed to care about the decaying
bones. There were, however, also a good nuniber closely covered
in by a vault of masonry. Sip tscü of this description, invariably
accompanied by a much larger number of uncovered coffins, I found
also in many places near Nanking, even inside the city wal Is in
the vast plains covered with rubbish, which were densely populated
quarters before the doublé capture by the Thai-pcing rebels and
the imperial armies in 1853 and 1864 had reduced the town to
ruins. Further 1 beheld the same spectacle around Kiu-kiang and
Shanghai, in the hills about Swatow and Canton, and in many
other localities.
In his rambles through various parts of the empire Dr. Gray
also observed coffins near the sides of hills, in the open plains, on
the banks of rivers and canals and, in some instances, by the way.
side 4. Sometimes, says he, they were covered with matting, stones
or straw, but as a rule they were uncovered. In the cities of Kiu-
kiang, Chin-kiang, and in the town of Han-kow he saw coffins at
the doors of houses in the less frequented streets, a custom, he was
informed, arising not so much from a difficulty in finding lucky
sites for interment, as from a reluctance to remove their dead out of
their sight. This sentiment, he continues, prevails to a still greater
extent at Yang-cheu-fu s in Kiangsu province, where it is not unusual
for tradespeople and others to keep their dead within their dwellings.
At Canton, the custom of storing coffins away for the want of
proper burial sites, or because they are to be afterwards taken to
the native place, has occasioned the erection of large buildings
* na. 2 m%m- s M&M-
4 China, ch. XII.                      5 jfö fl\\ jjj.
-ocr page 168-
131
CITIES OF THE DEAD.
capable of holding several hundreds of coffins. To these c h o n g \\
as they are called in the local dialect, moumers are in the habit
of conveying their dead with funeral pomp, should the professor
of geomancy have failed to find an auspicious gmve-site in due time.
They consist of long rows of rooms, each on an average ten feet
by twenty and partly divided in two apartments by an open work
screen across the middle. In the inner apartment is the coffin,
generally resting on two inverted water-jars, because wooden supports
are often attacked by white ants and might cause the coffin to fall
to the ground. In the outer division is a table with candlesticks and an
incense burner, in many instances also with a tablet for the soul;
there may be seen on the walls narrow scrolls of paper inscribed
with poetical sentences. Light and air are admitted only by the doors
in front, which open into an uncovered passage dividing two
opposite rows of rooms.
Besides three large establishments of this kind, there are in
Canton many smaller ones. Some are specially erected for the oc-
cupancy of natives of certain parts of the empire, who remain there
until their relatives are able to take them to their ancestral home. The
most interesting c h o n g is situated at a distance of one mile beyond
the east gate of the city. It is laid out, like the others, in the
form of a small town, two of its sides being tlanked by a lofty
vvall, loopholed for musketry. This precaution is taken against
robbers, who sometimes remove the body of a person who has
bequeathed wealth to his relatives, and hold it till a ransom has
been paid. When a suspicion of anything of this sort is entertained
by the relatives of the deceased, a few armed men are hired to
keep watch by night. In the court-yard there is a pond, the east
bank of which is planted witli trees and shrubs. Attached to this
same »city of the dead" there is a garden with a large garden
house. To this bower, persons, when visiting their dead, resort to
dine, and many pic-nic parties are held here.
In each necropolis two or three Buddhist priests reside, whose
duty it is to say occasional masses for the repose of the souls \\
These institutions are all private property, but licensed by govern-
ment. They are kept in good order, and at once strike the
foreigner as being cleaner and neater in appearance than most
of the abodes of the living. Besides an entrance fee, a monthly
rent of from one to three dollars is paid by those who place
* JEË
2 Gray, China, ch. XII.
-ocr page 169-
132
FUNERAL RITES.
their dead in the c h o n g, the sum varying according to the means
and the rank of the family. They are made use of also by those
who postpone a funeral because they desire to lay father and mother
in the grave at the same time. Sometiines coffins are left for years
after the rent has ceased to be paid. Filial piety, even amongst the
Chinese, may be dullcd by lapse of time or increasing poverty;
men leave their homes hoping to return, but business, misfortune
or death prevents their doing so; people are reduced to poverty
and, hoping for better times, they allow the c h o n g rent to ac-
cumulate till deatli takes them off, or till their position with respect
to the rent becomes irretrievable; families die out and coffins con-
taining unclaimed bones are left in the hands of the proprietor of
a chong. In such cases they are put aside in some inferior room,
and if at the end of ten or more years they are still unclaimed,
a report is made to the magistrate and permission to bury them
is given, the expenses being defrayed by the contributions of those
who wish to lay up for themselves a store of merit for good works l.
Also in Fuhchow there exist some Cities of the Dead, but they
are much smaller than those of Canton. No doubt inquiries would
show them to exist in many other towns of the empire.
Poslponement of burials, denounced by Law and Government.
The Chinese of all classes unanimously assert that it is quite
incompatible with the all-pervading doctrines of the hiaoto leave
coffins unburicd for any great length of time. It would indeed be
difficult to find a man ready to contest the fact that burial is
indispensable for the repose of the dead, and that postponement
is nothing short of a calamity for the soul, which is then
compelled to wander about in a state of sad disquietude. The;
fact that, in spite of these conceptions, so many coffins, mostly
belonging to people of the best classes of society, remain unburied
even for years, indicates better than anything else could do how
firmly the mind of the nation is held in captivity by the fung
shui theories, according to which a body ought not be interred
except in a grave situated under the good influences of nature.
These theories, entailing so many sins against the hiao, have
also been severely denounced by the Imperial Government. The Ta
TsHng luk li2 or »* Laws and Statutes of the Great Tscing dynasty",
1 Theos. Sampson, in Notes and Queries on China and Japan, vol. II, p. HO seq.
-ocr page 170-
PROHIB1TIONS AGAINST POSTPONEMENT OF BURIALS.              133
the civil and penal code of the empire, says in its official com-
mentary. »The fung shui doctrines date from latter ages. At the
»bottom they are absurd and false, and not worthy of belief.
»Thinking that future happiness is transmitted to children and
» grandchildren by the decayed bones of father and mother, people
» postpone the interment of the latter for years, leaving the coffin
»uncovered and unburied: this is the highest degree of unfilial
»conduct" \'. Filial conduct embracing in the first place implicit
obedience to everything the parents desire, it is systematically
enforced by the Government upon all its subjects as the highest
social duty, because it is calculated that in this way every
individual will be kept under strict authority and so order shall
prevail in the whole empire. Consequently it is quite logical
that the Code of Laws should interdict the practice of post-
poning burials. » Any family, it says, in which a death has occur-
»red, is certainly obliged to set the deceased at rest in a tomb,
» with observance of the established rites. He who, led astray by
»fung shui or under any other pretext, keeps a coffin with a
» corpse in it in his house over a year, leaving it uncovered and
»unburied, shall receive eighty blows with the long wooden
» stick" *. But in China laws are not made to be implicitly obeyed.
ïhey only exist to serve the governing classes, in cases of need,
as a means to uphold their authority and to prevent any disturb-
ance of the public peace. Consequently any body may at any time
keep as many coftins unburied as he likes, so long as the local
authorities are not seized with the huuiour of undertaking a
crusade against the transgressors of the law. Edicts are then
promulgated, threatening with severe punishments those who
do not quickly inter their dead. A few persons are, perhaps,
taken into custody to undergo a cruel bastinado, and to have their
money squeezed out of thein by the authorities and their under-
lings; but after a short time hiao, law, edicts and coiïins are
forgotten, and inatters go on as before. Public health is never used
-ocr page 171-
134
PÜNERAL RITES.
as an argument against the practice. Such things never cross the
brains of the Chinese, who all believe that diseases and epidemics
are simply caused by evil spirits.
An event such as the above occurred in Amoy in 1882. The edict
wherewith the Taotai or highest civil authority rcsiding in that
place opened the crusade, ran as follows: —
» Sun, Intendant of the Circuit embracing the departments of
»Hing-hwa, Tsuen-cheu and Yung-chcun in Fuhkien province,
»Controller of the Maritime military forces, promoted by the
» Emperor to the official rank of the second degree,
» — considers that the practice of storing coffins away and of
» neglecting burials must be prohibited and abolished.
» To serve the living and to bury the dead is in fact commanded
» by the duties of a son, and by committing coffins to the care
» of others or by storing them away, souls of parents are actually
»deprived of anything whereon they can rely. Already at the
» very moment I stepped down from my carriage (to enter upon
» office here), I was informed that the practice of keeping coffins
» unburied was prevalent in Amoy country. I said to myself: The
»dead consider rest to consist in returning to the earth, so that
» a coffin kept one day unburied means a soul left one day without
»anything to rely upon; therefore, how can the minds of men
»deviate so far from the ciistoras of antiquity that, deluded
» by the reasonings of geomancers, they so often keep the encoffined
» bodies of their parents for a long time unburied, thus causing
» the same to gradually become nests of mole-crickets and ants!
» People wish only to make use of a set of unconscious white bones
»of their forefathers as implements wherewith to seek fame and
» glory for their descendants; but they simply forget that wealth
»and consideration in human life are from the outset flxed by
» Heaven, so that it is impossible to secure greatness and glory to
» posterity by a selection of lucky spots for burying. Such things
» are detrimental to good manners and customs, and, even were
» there no articles in the Law positively proscribing them, there are
» feelings of the heart which cannot tolerate their existence.
» From the moment this proclamation is issued, I expect that
»all the soldiers and citizens of Amoy, who may be keeping
» coffined corpses in their houses or may have stored them away
»in Buddhist temples, shall have all of them carried out for burial
»within three months. If any one venture to delay the burial
» beyond this period and thus oppose this order, I will investigate the
-ocr page 172-
CORPSES OF UNKNOWN OR MURDERED PERSONS.                135
»case immediately and pass sentence without leniency or pardon.
» Do not resist this special order.
»Issued in the 8th. year of the Kwang sü period, on the
» 21st. of the 7th. month" \\
Treatment of corpses of unknown or murdered persons.
Before finishing this subject we have still to mention, that post-
poneraent of burial is also of very frequent occurrence in cases of
wilful murder or manslaughter, and when the corpses of unknown
persons are concerned. The Ta Tiing luh li has the following
article: — » When a person is found dead within the precincts
» of a place, the headman of the village and the people living in
>> the neighbourhood shall be punished with cighty blows with the
»long wooden stick if they neglect to inform the Magistrate of
»the fact, that he may hold an inquest, or if they arbitrarily
»transfer the corpse to another spot, or bury it. If in consequence
» of their proceedings the corpse has disappeared, the chief culprits
»shall receive one hundrcd blows. In case the body is muti-
»lated or cast into the water, the chief perpetrators shall have
»sixty blows and be deported for one year; and if it is cast
» away but not lost, or the hair is injured, one degree loss punish-
»ment (*. e. one hundred blows) shall be inflicted upon all of
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-ocr page 173-
136
ÏUNKRAT, RITES.
»thera. If people steal the clothes or knowingly receive the sanie,
»they are to be dealt with as in a case of ordinary theft" \\
As a natural conseqnence of this law, no unknown corpse found
dead is ever touched until official permission lias been granted to
remove or bury it. Even if on the point of dying or only ap-
parently dead, the body is left on the spot without a helping hand
being stretched out to it. Indeed, any goocl Samaritan in China
would be called a fooi; for, should the object of his pity happen
to die, the grateful family would at once attack him asawelcoine
prey out of which to squeeze money. Flatly accusing him of having
murdered the man, they would give him the choice between paying
a large sum as an indemnification, or having a complaint lodged
against him with the magistrate. If he prefer the denounceraent, he
is immediately imprisoned and subjected to the most ignominous
ill-treatment by the jailers, unless his family bribe these men with
large suins to leave him alone and let him have food enough to
keep him from starvation. The flogging and tortures, which he has
to suffer in the tribunal, like everybody who falls into the hands
of the mandarins and who does not forthwith confess his guilt,
need not be expatiated on. This pretty state of affairs also compels
every inn-keeper, who happens to have a lodger who is seriously
UI, to carry him clandestinely out of his house before he breathes
his last, and to lay him down somewhere in the street, to die
miserably of cold and hunger, and for want of assistance.
The laws of the empire prescribe tlmt the magistrates shall hold
an inquest on the body if there are traces of a violent death upon
it. The headman of the ward in such a case immediately sends a
message to the District Magistrate, to inform him of the matter.
But as a rule a couplc of days elapse before this worthy makes
up his mind to do what his duty requires, and during the whole
of this time the corpse is left untouched in the narrow street, to
the frightful annoyance, especially in summer, of the olfactory nerves
of neighbours and passers-by. At last the magistrate is conveyed
-ocr page 174-
coroner\'s inquests.                                137
to the spot in his sedan-chair, escorted by the usual retinue of
Uctors and attendants, and stations himself underneath a sort of
tent, pitched windward of the spot where the corpse is lying. Here
some chairs have been arranged for his convenience, as also a
table with writing materials.
Now, a sort of coroner called ffü tsoh l, a functionary of very
inferior rank attached to the Yam en, begins to wash the body
with a lukewarm decoction of onions and other ingredients, which
is believed to possess the property of rendering injured places more
conspicuous. If the corpse has been long on the spot, this washing
destroys a great part of the epidermis. When it is over, the coroner
inspects every part of the body, probing it with his fingers and
with a chopstick; and after he has examined each lirab he turns
himself to the mandarin, to kneelingly report with the assistance of
an interpreter whether an injury has been detected on it, of what
nature it is, by which instrument it is likely to have been pro-
duced, and so on. All his depositions are carefully taken down by
a secretiiry. Thereupon the mandarin and the lower officials of his
suite, holding handkerchiefs or towels to their mouths and noses,
proceed towards the body to look at the injuries reported by the
coroner. Then they purify themselves by passing through a small
fire of straw kindled on the pavement, and get into their sedan-
chairs to return home. At this moment, the bystanders explode a
large quantity of fire-crackers, to frighten away the bad influences
of death. This doublé process of purification is repeated at the gate
of the Yamen when the procession re-enters. The costs of the
fire-works, the tent etc. have to be defrayed by the relations of
the dead, if any have been found, otherwise by the headman and
the inhabitants of the ward.
At Amoy such a coroner\'s inquest goes by the name of giëm si *,
»to hold an inquest on a corpse". Elaborate precepts regulating
such procedure are laid down in a work called Si yuen luh 3,
» Book on the Redress of Wrongs", which was published in the
13th. century and is officially appended to many copies of the
Ta TsHng luh li. lts minute indications, often very amusing, how to
ascertain the cause of nearly every kind of death resulting from
accident, murder, poison or any suspicious circumstance, form a
-ocr page 175-
138
FÜNERAL RITES.
rich mine of information regarding the Chinese ideas on physics
and anatomics 1.
The inquest over, the corpse is left at the disposal of the
relatives, to be coffined. If, however, the family of the dead is unknown,
the headman of the ward collects money for a coffin among the
people living around, the highest contribution being levied on
those who dweil nearest to the spot where the corpse has been
found and who are therefore more than others interested in its
removal. But in most instances it is not even now allowed to
be committed to the earth. A second, nay, perhaps a third coroner\'s
inquest may be deemed necessary by the authorities to verify
statements made by witnesses or persons implicated; and even
when putrefaction has done its work, the mandarins may for
the same purpose think it useful to scorch or boil the flesh or
bones, or to burn parts of the skeleton, which proceedings are all
conducted on rules laid down in the book mentioned above. There
is no question of burial if the culprit or the culprits have not
been detected. Consequently the coffin is deposited somewhere near
the spot where the body was found, there to remain in charge
of the headman and the inhabitants of the ward until it is
claimed by the authorities. Sometimes they screen it from view
by a thatching of straw, matting or boards. Scarcely ever is it
buried before the judicial investigation is crowned with a satisfactory
result and sentence has been passed on the culprits, after which
the main piece of evidence is, of course, no more wanted.
If the judicial inquiry has pointed out that there is no question
of premeditated or wilful murder, but only of manslaughter, and
the culprit has been sentenced to pay an indemnification to the
family of the slain, the coffin is kept unburied until the fine
has been paid in full and therewith the whole affiiir settled.
When villages have been in bloody encounter with one another,
which in many parts of the empire is a matter of almost daily
occurrence, the same line of conduct is foliowed with regard to
the slain outnumbering those who have fallen on the other side,
because, should peace and mutual understanding be afterwards
restored, a retribution will have to be paid for that surplus.
In the e vent of an unknown person having been found dead
without marks of violence on his body, so that the magistrates do
1 A translation in Dutch was published by Mr. De Grys in 18G3, in vol. 30 of
the Transactions of the Society of Arts and Sciences at Batavia.
-ocr page 176-
139
TREATMENT OF UNKNOWN DEAO.
not deern it necessary to hold an official inquest, the neighbouring
people, as soon as they become aware that the family is not to
be found, coffin the corpse under the superintendance of their chiefs
and elders, and deposit it somewhcre in the hills or the open fields.
Want of interest in the deceased prevents the people from
doing more in his behalf. The coffin, which is in raany instances
supplied by a benevolent society, is as a mie of a very bad quality,
so that during several days there emanates from the body a most
sickening smell. After some time the wood decays and the bones
remain scattered ubout the spot, until some one, anxious to derive
a small supply of merit from an act of benevolence and to obtain a
good reward from the soul, covers them with earth. In many
instances such bodies are forthwith interred by the neighbours in
one of the public grave-yards, which benevolent societies have laid
out near most towns for the poor who cannot afford to buy their
own graves for their dead.
-ocr page 177-
C HAPT ER VII.
THE BUUIAL.
Preyarations and introduclory rites.
On page 103 it lias been stated that a lucky day and
auspicious liours have always to be selected for the burial if the
same takes place seven or more days subsequent to the deraise. As
in such cases the day-professor generally delivers the results of his
calculations a good nuniber of days beforehand, the mourners have
plenty of time to arrange everything for the burial at their leisure.
This is amongst the vvealthy a matter of no small importance, as
they are accustomed to send a father or mother to the toinb with
a pomp that entails long and difncult preparations.
Arrangements are in the first pliice made with one or more
undertaker\'s shops, which, as was said on page 13, provide for
temporary use all the principal rcquisites for a funeral train, as
also the necessary workmen, coolies and musicians. Further, written
niessages are sent round to graduate acquaintances and intimate
friends, inviting them to kindly officiate in the cortege as overseers
of the bearers of the coftin and of sonie portable tents of
particular interest, or to act as leaders in certain subdivisions of
the procession. Notable families in some instances distribute printed
notifications ainong kinsinen and friends, announcing the day and
hour of the cereinony «and containing a polite request that they
will not attend the funeral. But these documents mean just the
opposite of what they express, and are in reality a formal notice
that the family sets much value on the presence of kinsmen and
friends and by no means expects that they will be absent.
The hab png sacrifices with the introductory bowling ceremonies
kib k/ti and kib khun (p. 115) are performed anow on the
two days preceding the burial or, in a few cases, even on six
days; in conclusion it is repeated on the niorning of the burial
day itself. In the course of this morning, when the hour fixed
by the day-professor as suitable for setting the coffin in motion
has ariïved, a certain nuniber of workmen, despatched by the
-ocr page 178-
141
THE PARTING SACRIFICE.
undertaker, shift the bulky object a couple of inches, during
which proceeding the members of the family hide themselves
in the inner apartments to escape the wrath and anger of the
spirits of the earth who, shaken out of their rest by the motion
of the coffin, might revengefully leap upon the bystanders (comp.
page 105). Each workman shields his own person against such
dangerous assaults by winding his headkerchief round his waist.
As a compensation for the danger to which they have exposed
themselves notwithstanding, they are rewarded by the family with
an extra fee in money. If it is still too early for the burial, the
coffin is now left on the spot, until the fit moment for its removal
arrivés.
Meanwhile the females and servants are busily occupied in the
kitchen, as a bounteous meal must be offered to the dead before
he is sent to the tomb. The edibles, which consist of several meats,
fowls, ducks, cakes and the like, are arranged on one or more
tables in front of the coffin and the Mn péh. As a rule the
number of dishes is even, because even ciphers are identified with
the principle of death and darkness Yin (see p. 65). Burning tapers
are placed in the candlesticks, to liglit the soul while partaking of
the meal. When everything is ready, the mourners, clad in the
deepest mourning prescribed according to each one\'s special rank
of relationship, advance and wailingly kneel down in front of the
tables, the males keeping to the left, the females to the right. The
principal mourner, that is to say the eldest son, stands before the
table, takes burning incense sticks between his thumb and fingers
and, clasping his hands together, makes an obeisance to the spirit,
thereupon informing it that, the hour of interment having arrived,
a farewell dinner has been affectionately set out on its behalf. He
now places the incense in the censer and kneels down on the
floor. One of the more removed kinsmen of the dead, who acts as
an attendant, then pours a little rice spirits into small porcelain cups
that stand in a row on the table, and immediately repeats this
twice successively, thus filling the cups to the brim; this rite is called
aavi Itièn tsiu \\ »threefold presentation of spirits". When it is
finished, the principal mourner bends his forehead to the ground
thfee or four times, wailing in this position a few seconds at the
last bow, and then he gets up to allow the other relations to per-
1 HHu*s.
-ocr page 179-
142
FUNERAL RITES.
form similar acts of worship in the order of proximity. It often
occurs, however, that want of time prevents a great number of
them from doing so. All the while the mourners keep up a piteous
wailing and lainenting. fn the end it is ascertained by means of
the two divining cash whether the soul has finished his meal. If
so, a quantity of mockmoney is burnt and the tables are cleared.
This ceremonious sacrifice is designated k/d béx, »to start the
horses". The term owes its origin to the fact that, as the / li
and the Li ki teach us, horses were anciently used in burials of
grandees to convey carts loacled with sacrificial articles and other
things to the tomb; now-a-days, however, no animals are in Fuhkien
ever used for such purposes. Ceremonious and solemn though the
khi bé sacrifice be, it is only a poor ceremony compared with
the entertainment that is shortly afterwards, at the moment, of
starting, oflered to the soul in the street.
Two or more tables are arranged there near the door. The
principal mourner, a relative or a friend reverently places the hiln
péh upon one of those tables, taking care it faces the direction
in which the procession is to go. At its side, or just behind it,
comes the permanent soul tablet, which after the interment
is to harbour the spirit and now makes its appearance in the
obsequies for the first time. A piece of red silk and a skein of
threads of the sarae material and colour are tied around it; a few
copper coins strung on a red cord, a stick of vermilion ink
wrapped in a sheet of paper, and an ordinary writing pencil are
fastcned in front; in many cases, a twig bearing a few gilt leaves
or flowers is stuck in the red cloth on both the left and the
riglit side of the tablet. It would carry us too far from our subject
to enter upon a description of this tablet. Full particulars about it
will be found in the Second Book, which is devoted entirely to
the human soul and its worship. We here confine ourselves to
stating that it is an object much like the kin péh, but lower and
broader; it does not taper away at the top, neither is it covered with
silk, the inscription being written or cut out on the wooden surface.
The sacrificial tables are loaded with a variety of dishes, bowls
and plates, containing various sorts of food. As a rule the sons
provide at least one set of so-called ngó sing s or » five sacrificial
viands", being five open platters which hold respectively a pig\'s
* jË$.       2 3t#-
-ocr page 180-
143
THE PARTING SACRIFICE.
head, a fowl, a duck, a fisli and a pig\'s tripe, with slight
variations according to circumstances. The married daughters are
in duty bound to do the same, but in many instances every child
provides a set, especially if the deceased is a person of great
distinction. Thus the number of dishes is often very great, even
exceedingly so when the children are anxious to give testimony
of their affection and respect for the deceased by adding many
more dainties and articles of food.
Fig. 12.
Amongst the offerings are a couple of tapers, placed in candle-
sticks of tin which have the shape of the character ^, »long
life". Between them stands a so-called kong-pó ló \\ or »incense
burner for the ancestors". It is squ<are, has a cover and four feet,
and on each side a big ear or handle; it stands in a square
plate or tray which, like the censer itself, is of tin. All these in-
struments, which are depicted in Fig. 12, are taken from the
* 4$«f-
-ocr page 181-
144
FUNERAL RITES.
domestic altar, of the furniture of which they form a part. Id
front of the edibles are also arranged some sexangular flat-bottomed
tsia pan i or » wine tankards" of tin, tapering avvay at the top and
closed with a cover; each hiis a spont and a handle. Of these in-
struments, filled with spirits distilled from rice, there are as many
1 mm-
-ocr page 182-
BACaiFICINO TO THE SP1IIIT OF THE HEAIISE.                   145
as thcre are sets of sacrificial viands, each person who provides such
a set being bound to add a tankard. There is also one larger
tankard of tin, round, with a long and narrow neek closed with
a cover; the spout is elegantly curved and, like the handle, very
slender. This flacon goes by the name of lö-si pan 1, »heron jug",
because its elegant .«ind slender shape reminds one of this aquatic
bird. With three tin globular cups called isiu tuink * or »wine-
goblets", having two ears or handles, three feet ;ind, at
the opening, two rlat, project ing moutlis, these form a set of
instrurnents which are generally used for wine libations on the
most solemn occasions (see Fig. 13).
While the offerings and sacrificial implements are being arranged
on the tables, a curious ceremony may be witnessed on the part
of the cottin bearers, who have in the meantime placed the hearse,
on which the corpse is to be cariïed to the grave, upon two low
trestles beliind the tables. Some of them busily occupv themselves
with putting small sheets of mock money between the gaping
joints of the hearse. Others place a few dishes of meats and other
eatables, provided for this purpose by the mourning family, on the
pavement, after which one man pours out spirits from a tankard into
three little earthenware cups arranged on the spot, and the headman,
having taken burning incense sticks between lus thumb andfingers,
inakes a couple of bous to the hearse. A bonlire of paper money
closes the ceremony. The food is carried off by one of the cottin
bearers, who will dividc it with his fellows as an extra emolument
for their services. This sacrifice is intended to propitiate the spirit
that is supposed to inhabit and control the hearse. As Mr.
üoolittle, who observed the saine practice at Fuhchow, has very
judiciously remarked, »it will cause the soul of the departed to
» be more peaceful en route to the grave than it would have been
»had the sacrifice not been made; it will help the bearers to
» carry it more easily; it is feared, unless it is done, the god of
»the hearse will injure the cottin in some way, making it ditticult
» and heavy to bear" 3.
When everything is properly arranged, a piece of sackcloth,
white cotton or linen is suspended between the fore-legs of the
foremost sacrificial table, and the coffin ordered out. Scarcely
1 mnm- 2 mm-
3 Social Life ot\' the Chinese, ch. VII.
10
-ocr page 183-
146
FUNKRAL RITES.
have the bearers set to work to move it, when all the bystanders
rush into the adjoining apartments, especially in case it has not
yet been shifted as described on p. 141, But instantly the prinoipal
mourners re-appear wailing, to follow the dead out of the
house. The coffin is carried across the threshold feet foremost and
placed on the liearse, the feet pointing towards the tables and
accordingly in the direction which the procession is to take. The sons,
dressed in hem pen sackcloth like the other principal mourners,
each carry, as a token of the deepest sorrow, a mourning stafF,
which is a very short stick pasted all over with thin curls of white
paper. The more distant relations, in white linen or cotton garments,
come out after them, and all kneel round the coffin, pouring forth
the most piteous lainentations and death dirges. Meanwhile the
coffin bearers fit on carrying poles and ropes to the hearse, and
place an embroidered pall over the coffin, scarcely anything being
done much unedifying vociferation.
While one of the several bands of musicians, that is to do dury
in the funeral cortege, sends forth the discordant tones of its
instruments into the narrow street, some friends or more distant
kinsmen, clad in white mourning, take up a position in front of
the sacrificial tables, one or two on the right and the samenumber
on the left side. They are to officiate as attendants or masters of
the ceremonies. One of them holds a thick bundie of incense
sticks. The principal mourner, creeping along the pavement in
token of tne deepest grief, advances to the table. Out of the hands
of the last mentioned attendant he receives two burning incense
sticks, with which, his hands clasped together, he makes a deep
obeisance to the tablets and the coffin. Thereupon he gives the
sticks to an attendant on the other side, who immediately plants
them in the ashes of the »incense burner for the ancestors", and
then he kneels down upon the pavement, to bow his forehead to
the ground four times in succession.
Meanwhile another of the assistants performs the threefold
presentation of spirits described on p. 141, in a long row of earthenware
cups arranged for the purpose on the table, using one of the
sexangular tankards. The mourner, without rising to his feet, now
receives one of these cups or, in case of the well-to-do, a tin
wine goblet, and has spirits poured into it from the » heron-jug"
by the fourth attendant; thereupon he moves the goblet upwards
as if to present it to the soul, and slowly pours the contents over
the ground by a circular movement. This libation goes by the
-ocr page 184-
THE BACRIFICK IN THE STREET.                               147
name of koan tóe1, »to pour over the ground"; it is also called
tien tsiu1, »to make a libatiun of spirits", or, in literary sryle,
koan tien*, »to pour out a libation". When it is iinished, the
assistant on the otlier side places the cup on tlic table again,
whereupon a second and a third cup are consecutively presented
to the dead in a siinilar inanner.
Now follows the third part of the ceremony. The wailing relatives
suddenly put a stop to their lamentations, the musicians to their
music, and one of the attendants, kneeling down devoutly, reads
in tl ie mandarin tongue an address to the soul from a sheet
of yellow paper. Here is a translation of such a document, taken
from real life: —
»In the thirteenth year of the Kwang sü period, bcing the
»cyclus year ting-hai, in tlie tirst or jen-yin montli and on
»the day jen-chcen, whicli is the third from the new moon, tlie
» unfilial orphan son Kung-ch\'u and the other mourners, respect-
»fully presenting an offering of sacrificial viands, must, sundry
»delicacies, incensc and paper, venture to address the soul of
»their departed father, chief of the family jNgeu-yang, in the
» following terms:
» Man\'s innate nature harbours disparate inclinations, but in our
»father\'s character kindness and benevolence were sublime. We
» were just living in the hope that Thy overHowing virtuc would
»enjoy a long existence, blessed with strength; but who could
»have expected this would be a mere dream of ours, a dreain
»of yellow inillet *, out of which we would not awake to behold
4 A dream of yellow inillet means a short dream of happiness. The expression
owes its orijiin to a popular legend, ol\' which one version runs as Ibllows. » In the
«\'Records on the Inside of the Pillow\' it is related, that in the period Khai yiien
»(A. D. 713—742) Lü Wan<^ mastered the mystic arts of the gods and the im-
»mortal beings. Wandering about in Han-tan (in the south-west corner ol\' the
«present Chihli province), on the road he feil in with a yonnji man of the name of
»Lu Sheng, in whose cornpany he i>assed the ni<;lit at an inn. With sighs this
» person revealed to iiim his poverty and misery. When he had Iinished speaking
» and thought of going asleep, Wang took a pillow from his bag and oflered it to
»him, saying: \'Lay your head down on this, then you will attain to glory, and
»whatever you may desire shall lalI to your share\'. Sheng did as he was told
»and dreanit that his person crept into the inside of the pillow, that not long
» afterwards he was appointed to an official dignity, that duiing fiity years he was
»promoted from one high office of state to another and that, having enjoyed
» unparalleled glory and prosperity, his life was translated on a certain day. At this
-ocr page 185-
148
FUNKRAI. RITES.
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Frayer at the Sacrifice in the Street.
»its realization! Like a white cloud Thou hast passed away to go to
» the West, and it is in vain we look up to Thee, in order to continue
» our reliance on Thee; so we have founded a nice city (i. e. a grave),
» of which we venture to teil Thee some particulars, to wit that
»point he awoke from his sleep; Lü Wang was still by his side and the
» yellow millet, which the inn-keeper had on the (ire, was not yet done". l?t* \\U
the Liao ch\'ai chi i ^) ?M jfó J5^, ch. V, the appendix of\'the taleentitled JÖÉ
^ Jj£. Also the Pei wén yun fu ^ jj£ ^ JfJ, ch. XXII, 3,.leaf 85.
-ocr page 186-
149
THE SACR1FICE IN Til E STREET.
» we have selected a first rate plot of ground on the sunny side
»of the raountains, and there have laid out a quiet abode on
»the borders of the water. The revolving wheels of the bier now
» HU our souls with pain and grief; the men who grasp the ropes
»to draw it forth afrlict us and pierce our hearts. There will be no
»more opportunities to serve Thee by holding up the washing
» basin \'; what way is there to receive the siniles from Thy face
»again! Seeing the foremost carts drive off, we cry to Heaven
»from the depths of our souls and invoke the pity of Earth. We
»set out a sacrifiee of viands to give testitnony of the sinccrity
»and depth of our feeling, hoping that Thou mayest come and
»taste of the offerings. Alas, what woe! Mayest Thou enjoy this
» our sacrifiee!"
At the words » Alas, what woe!", which are expressed in a very
plaintive, protracted tone of voice, all the mourners suddenly join
in an outburst of pitiful wailing. The musicians at the same
moment pour forth the shrill tones of their Instruments into the
melancholy concert, and one of the attendants burns the prayer,
thus dispatching it to the soul by means of fire and smoke. The
principal mourner, who up to this moment has not risen from his
kneeling posture, now bows his head to the ground four successive
times and creeps on all fours over the pavement to the other
mourners prostrated at the side of the coffin, there to wail and
lament in concert with them.
Alter hira, the mourner next in rank creeps towards the table,
to offer incense and wine in just the same manner. The other
sons and their wives, the unmarried daughters and the grand-
sons of the dead subsequently go one by one through the same
ceremony in regular order of proximity and age; but if the approach*
ing auspicious hour for lowering the coffin into the grave does not
allow them sufficiënt time, the libations are omitted by those at least
who have not presented a set of sacrificial viands. When every one
has taken his turn, a mat is placed on the pavement and covered
with a piece of red cloth, lest the brothers of the dead and the
other mourners in the second degree, who may be prompted by
feelings of respect and affection to pay homage to the deceased by
an offering of incense nnd spirits, should be compelled to kneel
on the bare stones. But none of them touches the cloth with his
1 An allusion to one of tlie dutjes of children as prescribed by ch. 39 ot\' the
Li ki: see p. 119.
-ocr page 187-
150
FUNKRAI, RITES.
knees before he has folded up one of its corners, to express
his willingness to dispense with the cloth, as the mourners ot
the first degree have done. They neither advance to the table, nor
retire firom it, in a creeping attitude. The relatives who have to
wear mourning. in a still lower degree, come last. They do not
perform a libation, but content theinselves with presenting incense
and making prostrations; in the end, especially if time presses,
even the incense offering is omitted, and all simply bow their heads
to the ground in groups of twos or threes at a time. In very
fashionable families, a friend or distant relative, stationed a little to
the rear on the right side, kneels down and prostrates himself
simultaneously with each of the worshippers of the third and lower
degrees: an act of courtesy prescribed by the rules of etiquette,
which goes by the name poe pai\', »to keep company in prostrat-
ing". It is noteworthy also that many a kinsman, on bowing his
head to the ground, at the last bow bursts into a short fit of
whining without lifting up his head, as if he were so overwhelmed
with grief as to be unable to rise. Two other kinsmen immediately
rush up to hirn, to help him on his feet.
The last of the prostrations and libations is a sign for the funeral
proeession, which lias meanwhile been arranged in the street, to
prepare for starting. Some of the friends, kinsmen or servants
hasten to set on fire a quantity of mock money on the pavement,
uhile the cottin bearers, loudly vociferating, take the bier upon
their shoulders, violently kicking down the trestles on which it
was placed. At this moment the principal mourners lay their hands
on the bier with a new outburst of lamentation, as if to prevent
their beloved paient from being carried away, and then they arrange
themselves behind it, wailinglv following it to the grave.
The ceremonious farewell sacrifice fiere described is called Mi
tsca-t/mó1, which means, » to take the cofhn away", as the word
Utd is obviously an abbreviation of koaH-t£a 3, »coftin". Music
accompanies the solemnity from the beginning to the end. At some
fashionable funerals, three or five Buddhist priests, dressed in
ceremonial robes of the highest order, are employed to recite in
front of the sacrificial tables the Amitabha Sütra and some
invocations, chants and prayers, before the mourners enter upon
their libations. These sacerdotal rites, which are called kfiai lü
* nn- 2 &ttM- 3 ti#-
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THE FAREWELT, SACRIFICE IN ANCIENT TIMES.                   151
ts\'aml, » rit uu Is to open the way", are intended to obtain admission for
the soul to the western regions of bliss. When they are over, the priests
arrange themselves in the funeral train, to further the salvation of
the soul by muttering along the way without interraission
Amitabha\'s sacred name.
Sacrificing to the dead outside the dweiling at the moment the
coffin is carried out for the tomb, is a custom of old standing.
After having described how, in case of ordinary officials, the cutfin
was, on the day preceding the burial, taken to the ancestral
temple and left there in the open court-yard with an offering
of eatables at its side, the / li gives an account of a bounteous
farewell sacrifice presented on the sanie spot, which reads as
follows: —
»On the next morning, five caldrons are arranged outside the
» gate as fonnerly, (that is, as at the sacrifice connected with the
» coffining). They contain the left side of a goat without the leg,
» and its five intestines and five stomachs, exclusive of the lungs.
»Further there is a similar part of a pig, cut into pieces, but
» without any of its intestines or stomachs. There are also fishes, dried
»meat, and fresh raeat of quadrupeds, altogether the same as
»formerly. On the east of the court-yard are set out: four
»pots, respectively holding pci sih 2, pickled meat of bivalves of
» the kind p i, uncut k w e i pickles and pickled meat of snails; —
» four baskets, respectively with jujube fruits, cakes of parched rice
» or of flour, chestnuts and dried fruit; — must, and spirits.
» The torches having been extinguished, candle-bearers keep near
»to the thill-ropes of the catafalque, facing the north. The guests
»who enter the gate are saluted with bows (by the principal
» mourner). Now the caldrons are taken inside the gate and the
» offerings put down (on the west side of the catafalque). The pots
» are so placed that the principal ones come on the south; they are
»tilted over. The baskets come on the south side of the dried snails\'
» meat, the principal on the north, and they lie tilted over also.
» Each stand for the meats is loaded with two pieces, of which
» the principal is on the south. They are not tilted over. There is an
»extra stand for the fresh meat of quadrupeds. The must and
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2 It is not known what p\'i sih was. Ching Khang-ch\'ing says, it means
H|, »centiloil"(?)
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152
l\'ÜNERAI, RITES.
»the spirits are on the west side of the baskets, the principal
» article (t. e. the must) on the north.
» The men who have put the offerings in their places now leave the
» gate, tlie mourners stamping their feet at the important moments" *.
That during the Cheu dynasty the sacritice in question, which
the / li calls » sacritice at sending away the dead" 8, did not inerely
exist in theory, is fully testitied by the Li ki. Chapter 13 of
this Classic (1. 11) relates that Tszë-yiu, Confucius\'s disciple whom
we had occasion to introducé to our readers on page 32, said on
a certain occasion: »lmmediately after the demise there is an
» offering of dried and pickled meat; when the corpse is about to
» be carried off, tlie sacriftce of sending it away is perforraed and
»thereupon it is conveyed away; and after the interment food is
» presented to the deceased. Nobody has ever seen the dead enjoy
»these offerings, and yet, from the remotest ages to the present
»time nobody has ever neglected them" 3.
The funeral procession.
Funeral processions as a rule may be said to differ from one
another rather with regard to show and length than with regard
to arrangement. The wealth of the family, the social rank of
the dead and the consideration in which he was held during
bis life, the position of bis sons, the number of his friends and
acquaintances, etc. have a most decisive influence on the pomp
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DISTRIBUTION OF BETEL-NUTS AND SIRI-LEAVES.             153
displayed in the train and on the number of persons and groups 00111-
posing it One may sometimes see corteges of not more than a dozen
people, whilst others consist of niany hundreds. Public opinion is
wont to judge of the filial devotion of mourners frorn the way in
whicli they celebrate the obsequies of their parents. Consequently,
in burying a father or a mother, sons searcely ever neglect to
spend as much as they can afford on the cortege, everybody in
China being most anxious to show that he possesses such filial conduct,
the cardinal virtue of the nation, in the highest degree.
In the following pages we intend passing in review a funeral
procession of the highest classes of society. In this way our description
will be pretty complete, and the reader can then easily judge for
himself which groups fall out at the funerals of the lower classes
and the poor.
A kinsman or a friend of the family, in a mourning dress of
white linen and with a cap of the sarae material on his head,
opens the procession. His function is to clear the way in a polite
and peaceful manner. Wherever he comes across anything which
obstructs the passage, as e. g. a bench or counter on which articles
are exposed for sale, a portable furnace belonging to an ambulant
cook who sells warm food to the people in the streets, a load
temporarily set down by a cooly who is taking a rest or food, or
any obstacle of the sort, he requests the owner to remove it,
at the same time offering him, by the hands of a cooly who
follows at his heels, a piece of a betel-nut and a little wet lime-
dough, wrapped in one or two siri-leaves. This cooly, who wears
no mourning, carries a basket of these articles for distribution. In
southern China, the chewing of betel and siri as a stimulant
seems to have been very common in bygone centuries, but it has
now almost entirely died out, being supplanted, it would appear,
by tobacco and opium-smoking. Nevertheless, probably as a survival
of those good old times, it is still customary for any man living at
variance with another, in case he desires to apologize and accom-
modate inatters, to send some of those articles to the latter\'s house
like a fiag of truce; and it would be considered highly improper
on the part of the party, to whom the hand of reconciliation is
tendered in this way, to refuse to accept the same. This fully
explains why betel and siri are also distributed at funerals. Indeed,
the clearer of the road confesses himself in the wrong with regard
to the person whom he disarranges, and accordingly he inmiediately
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154                                                    FUNERAL RITES.
makes his apologies. In many instances, clearing the road is
simply entrusted to the cooly alone; at most of the plainer funerals
it is entirely omitted.
Fig. 14.
Papcr-Scatterer, Trumpeters, Flag and Lantern Kearers in a Funeral Procession.
(l\'nim a native Drawing)
Next follows a so-called pang tsoaê lang1, or »paper-scatterer"
(Fig. 14). This is a distant relation, a friend or an acquaintance,
likewise dressed in a white robe and cap, or, in some cases, in
sackcloth. His function is to strew round or octangular sheets
of tinned paper, from cight to ten centimetres in diameter,
along the road, and also in the water when the train lias to cross
a creek or stream by a bridge or in boats. A great number of
these sheets, strung on a little stick like metal coins on a
cord, he carries in his hands for the purpose. This paper money
is destined for the malevolent spirits who, according to the
popidar conception, provvl abont everywhere and infest streets and
thoroughfares, mountains and forests, rivers and creeks, causing
all sorts of tnishap to befall men. Wisely concluding that great
numbers of these beings, hungry and miserable because of their
not having been cared for by a dutiful posterity, must be
swarming chiefly on the roads where eotfins have to pass, for the
express purpose of robbing, by importunate begging or by brute
force, every deceased person of the money wherewith the living have
so unscltishly enriched hini during the funeral rites, the measure
in question is recurred to in order to divert their attention. Like
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RENDERING DEMONS AND SPECTRES HARMF.ESS.                 155
famished wolves on their prey, the spirits rush upon the money,
and thus forgetting both cofKn and soul, permit the procession to
pass by unmolested. In numerous cases the tinfoil is coloured yellow,
that the sheets may represent golden coins. Many families in easy
circurastances prefer to use square sheets of good white paper,
such so-called pék tsin \' or » white money" being higher in price
than tinned paper and consequently more valued by the unseen
spirits. Both sorts of mock money bcar the generic name of bóe
lö tsin 2, » paper to buy off a passage".
Not seldom the distribution of siri-cuds is also entrusted to the
paper-scatterer. It is, moreover, incumbent on this man to affix a sinall
shred of red clotli to every street-gate through which the procession
passes, and to every bridge which it has to cross. The baneful,
inauspicious inHuences emitted by the cortege of death are thus
kept away froni those spots and prevented from settling on
the spirits which inhabit and control the same; if the family
should neglect to show this little attention, it might experience
the wrath and anger of those beings, in other words, incur sundry
misfortunes. For a similar reason, the man with the siri-cuds
and the paper-scatterer, at every temple they pass, wam the
custodian, or the persons loitering about the premises, to shut the
door quickly, in order to prevent the divinities from being seen
by the cortege. At some temples, instead of closing the door, they
lower a nicely sculptured and painted triangular wooden board,
which, with a view to such cases, hangs from a pulley in front
of the gods.
Much though the unseen spirits may be propitiated by such
liberal gifts of paper money, these are by no means deemed a decisive
expediënt to keep them at a respectable distance from the funeral
train. Two long trunipets of copper, with a thin sliding tube and
curved-up mouth, are stdl required to frighten away those among
them on whom the distribution of money has no effect. These
instruments, which are called ho lliaó3 or hü sin*, »signal-
heads", are not proper musical instruments, as they only give two
or three notes; the men who carry them behind the paper-
scatterer (Fig. 14) simply emit monotonous, protracted sounds through
them at intervals. These persons wear a jacket of black linen,
which is fastened on the middle of the breast and has along each
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15C
l\'UNKRAIi RITES.
side of the opening a broad hem of red colour; moreover, there is
on the middle of the breast and on the back a piece of white
cloth hearing the inscription Jiö sin. Thcy wear a low round
hat, likewise black, with a small brim. A fringe of red silken
threads, fastened on the top, hangs down upon their hat.
These trumpeters reniind us of the rnusicians who, in ancient
Rome, marched at the head of funeral trains, each armed with a
tuba or tibia longa of about the same length as the performer and
ending in a bell-shaped raouth. At their heels follow two dirty
blackguard boys, without either uniform, shoes or stockings;
each carries over his shoulder a banncr of white cloth about one
meter by three decimetres, the long side being fastened to a pole
(Fig. 14). Of such tscai kix or » decomtive flags" there are, asarule»
several in the procession. Most of them are red, because this colour
dispels nialevolent spirits.
Thanks to all these ingenious arrangements, both the soul and
the mortal remains are now pretty well insured along the whole
way against the attacks of invisible ghosts. But in several
parts of Fuhkien niany families consider it advisable to add a
third efficacious means for keeping them away: they at intervals
explode lire-crackers in the van of the procession. This custom we
found to bc specially in vogue at Tsuen-cheu-fu 2, the capital of the
department in which the town of Amoy is situated.
So far for what we may call the vanguard of the procession, which
consists exclusively of clearers of the road. The second division
opens with two men, in a dress resembling that of the trumpeters,
each carrying on a straight pole a great cylindric lantern of paper,
the upper part of which is covered with as niany flounces of sack-
cloth as there are generations of the dead man\'s familv, himself
counting for one generation (Fig. 14). Each flounce only partly covers
the one underneath, so that they are all visible. On one side these
lantems are inscribed with the official titles and the surname of
the dead; the other side displays, in case of a man, the inscription:
» Illustrious father of {e. ff.) four generations" 3, in case of a woman:
»lllustrious mother of (e. ff.) four generations" *. They are called
péh ting 5, »white lanterns", or mod ting 8, » hempen lantems". In
this part of the train there are, besides, two very big lanterns of
4 i>ytt*# 5 ó\'M- 6 ft».
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fiANTERNS AND MUS IC.                                             157
red colour, called kam ting \' or »orange lanterns", on account of
their reserablance to that fruit. They are suspendcd from the top of
a curved pole and display, in variegated characters, the names and
official titles of the deceased.
At the outset lighted candles are placed in all these lanterns;
but they are soon burnt up or blown out by the wind, and
nobody troubles hiniself to light them again. Their use in broad
daylight shows decidedly that they are designed to pilot the soul,
which lives in complete darkness, along the right path to the burial
ground, and we believe that the inscriptions, they bear, are
intended to prevent the soul from being led astray by other
lanterns, which it may happen to see along the road.
The lantern bearers are foliowed by a band of professional
musicians, consisting of six or eight men (Fig. 15). They play the
Fig. 15.
Band of Musicians in a Funerul Procession.
(From a Chinese Urawing.)
following instruments. Either two or four wooden clarionets with
wide copper mouths and, at the upper end, a flat mouth-piece of
reed. One small drum, in most cases carried on a handle which passes
through the barrel; it is beaten by the right hand with a single stick.
Very oftcn this instrument is replaced by a small flat drum which has
a body of wood covered with buft\'alo-skin on one side only, and which is
likewise beaten with one stick. One pair of cymbals. A small gong
with a boss in the middle. A frame in which two little gongs
are artixed side by side by means of sHk cords; this instrument is
carried on a handle and beaten with one stick. The musicians,
who always belong to the lowest classes of society, wear hats with
red tassels like those described on page 50; on their red uniform
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158
FUNERAL RITES.
coats is stitched, on the raiddle of the breast and back, a square
ornamental piece of white cloth, displaying a painted animal or
some other figure. If it is hot, they usually tie their coats like a
bundie on their backs and walk along with the upper parts of
their bodies quite naked. This band is in rnany cases accompanied
by two trutnpeters like those who march in the van of the proccssion.
Quite independent of the music, they send forth from time to time
grave and dismal ghost-frightening sounds through the streets.
The music of such bands, of which there are many in the train,
is called mourning music, as being quite different from that played
on joyful occasions. But we do not believe that European ears
would be able to distinguish between the two sorts, because the
Chinese do not know major and minor scales and, moreover, the
claiïonets, which are the only instruments in the band by which
more than one single note can be produced, are exceedingly
shrieky and never tuned in the same key. The only impression
which Chinese funereal music, like their music in general, makes
on foreign ears, is that of a noisy confusion of some four or five
discordant tones, played by men absolutely ignorant of the
principles of harmony, who merely do their utmost to outvie all
the other mombers of the band in making as mucli noise as possible.
From a European point of view it does not even deserve the
name of music.
But apart from the quality of this music, we sec at any rate that
the Chinese observe a custom which has likewise flourished in our
Western world since very high antiquity, and which, being faithfully
maintained in the burials of princes, grandees and the military,
has given birth in modern times to those sublime productions of
musical genius, known as funeral matches. Everybody is acquainted
with the ancient Christian custom , still survivingin Catholic lands, of
conveying the dead to the grave with psalmody. With the Chinese,
the use of music in funeral processions and at other important
moments of the rites connected with the disposal of the dead, is
declared to have for its object the gratifying of the soul of the
dead with dulcet tones, buf is not intended to increase or decrease the
melancholy character of the rites. Sundry passages in the Clieu li
show, that the custom of having music in this connection
is, in China, as ancient as the remotest ages into which the
literature of the empire allows us to penetrate. Describing the
functions of a Great Director of Music, the book states that »this
»dignitary, at Great Eunerals, controls the arrangement of the
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MUSIC IN FUNERAL TRAINS.                                  159
» musical instruraents and does so too when, at the interment,
»those instruments are stored away" \'. Further it says: The
»Master of the Music, at obsequies in general, arranges the
»instruraents of music and then takes the lead of the musical
»functionaries. He acts in the same manner at the vvailing by
»regular turns" *. Still we have the following passages: »At
» Great Funerals, the Grandmaster heads the blind musicians and
»starts the elegy 3. — The clear-sighted musicians start the in-
»struments of music at Great Funerals4. — At Great Obsequies
»the Masters of the Pandean Pipes start their instruments, and
» at the interment they present the same and store them away (in the
» cave of the tomb)s. — The Master of the Musical Bells and the
» Master of the Flutes start their instruments at Great Funerals;
»they present them and store them away in the graveB. — The
» Director of the Instruments of Merit arranges, at Great Funerals,
»the stands for the bells and for the sonorous stones" 7.
The musical band described serves as an escort to a white
portable tent or pavilion of wood, open in front and on the two
sides; it has a roof of white cloth, linen or silk, on which dragons of
gold thread are embroidered and which has a deep fringe on every
side (see Plate X). By means of two large and two small poles it
rests on the shoulders of four bearers, of whom one couple walks behind
each otlier in front and the other behind each other at the back. In most
cases these men are dressed in the poorest possible way, without the
shade of a pretence to uniform dress; they even go half-naked when
the weather is hot. On each side, this white pavilion is escorted by
a boy, carrying a tidi kt which is likewise white; in addition there
is, in some cases, on each side a boy bearing aloft a paper
Ch. 22. I. 39 seq.
;£. Ch. 22, I. 51.
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160                                              FUNERAI, RITKS.
lantern on a wooden pole. The pavilion contains an image, composed
of a hollow frame of bamboo splints covered with variegated paper.
(see PI. IX). ïhis is never more than three quarters of a meter high, the
dimensions of the pavilion not allowing the use of a larger figure.
lts appearance is, according to Chinese conceptions, exceedingly
terrific and therefore well fitted to strike the whole host of evil
spirits with terror. The face, of a blood-red colour, has two large white
eyes, from which black, protruding eye-balls cast about terrible
looks; a third eye stands perpendicular in the middle of the
forehead, and a long purple beard of woollen threads heightens
the intimidating aspect. The dress is that of a wariïor: a heimet
covers the head, a coat of mail the breast, thigh-plates the
lower limbs. A long red gown hangs down from underneath the
arraour; the broad girdle, which encircles the waist, bears the
character ^, »King", to make manifest to the evil spirits that
they have to do with a being of great importance and power.
This image is always made to stand, as an erect attitude renders
it more formidable, martial and imposing. lts right hand brandishes
a trident, its left hand, which is stretched out aloft, holds a red
seal as a token of authority. Variegated ornaments like flowers
and stars are attixed to sundry parts of its body. On the whole,
the figure is a motley mixture of colours, amongst which, besides
gold and green, red, which is so much feared by the spirits ot
darkness, is most conspicuous.
Although bamboo and paper are the ordinary materials of which
such a clearer of the road is made, cloth and inferior sorts of
silk sometimes enter into its composition at the burials of the
rich. For reasons of economy it has in most cases no back, because
this part of the body, if constructed, would be rendered invisible by
the back-panel of the pavilion. The name by which this image is
generally denoted, reads Mai-lö sin \', »spirit that clears the way".
In some instances its size is enormous. It is then often wheeled
along the road on an open cart, no pavilion being large enough
to contain it. When so big, it is usually stuffed with the heart,
the liver, the paunch and other intestines of a pig. In Java, where
the Chinese inhabitants are nearly all descended from natives of south-
eastern Fuhkien, there are frequently to be seen khai-lö sin higher than
the roofs of two-storied houses; but in most towns of the southern
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Pi. IX.
The Spirit that clears the Way.
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161
THE SPIRIT WHO CfiEARS THE WAY.
provinces of the empire such gigantic figures cannot be used,
because the streets are too narrow and, moreover, in most places
are covered with bamboo thatch and mats. Mr. Doolittle \' writes,
that in Fuhchow two immense khai-lö sin may sometiines be seen
at the burial of high mandarins, the one dressed to represent a
civil, the other to represent a military officer.
Chinese authors tracé the use of such images at the head of
funeral corteges back to the dawn of their national history. The
San kiao yuen Hu shing ti f ah shmai sheu shen kt2, » Description
of Holy Sovereigns, Buddhist Leaders and sundry Divinities of the
Source and Branches of the Three Doctrines", says in its 4th.
chapter: »The Divine Prince who clears the Road is the Rescuer
» of the Country mentioned in the Cheu- li. A tradition says, when
»the emperor Hien-yuen (t. e. Hwang-ti, whom chronology places
»in the 26th century before our era), travelled through the nine
» provinces of his territory, his chief concubine Lo-tsu died on the
»road. He then ordered his concubine next in rank, who bore
»the name of Hao-jü, to take care of the dead body, and this
»woman bought a Rescuer to watch over the corpse during the
» night. This is the origin of the divinity in question. His popular
»name is Spirit of the dangerous Roads; an other appellation
» runs: General who vociferates along the Roads and the Streets;
»a third is: Spiritual Prince who clears the Roads. This divinity
»is over ten feet high; his forehead is three feet broad, his beard
»three feet five inches long and of a red colour. His face is
»dark blue, his hair is tied in a knot on the top of his head,
»and he wears a metal hood. He is clad in a red war-tunic and
»wears black leather boots; his left hand holds a seal of jade,
»his right a painted halberd with a square blade. When a coffin
»is carried out with this being in front, all baleful influences
»are suppressed and malevolent spectres conceal themselves. He
1  Social Life of the Chinese, ch. VII.
2   H %. ffl. \'%L Ü *$ #& Êlj) tS II IE- This interesting collection of
biographies of the saints of the Confuciun, Taoist and Buddhist pantheon is said to
have been written by Yii Pao -f-- =||r, in the earlier part of the fourth century.
At present no other edition is to be had except an enlarged one published by a
certain Jü Lin ifff lyt of this dynasty, in which it is impossible to gift the
ancient parts from the modern interpolations. It need not be said that this deprives
the work of a great part of the value which it might otherwise claim as a pro-
duction of antiquity.
11
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1G2
FUNKRAI, RITES.
»is the spirit who ensures happiness to coffins that are in motion.
»This lias survived, and lias been transmitted as a custom to
» subsequent generations" \'.
We see frora this, that the khai-lö_ sin have their origin in the
employment of living individuals as exorcists. This explains why
people are still in the habit of placing the intestincs of an animal
inside the image. The above extract speaks of a Rescuer of the
Country, nientioned by the Cheu li. If we open this book, we find
indeed a description of the functions of certain exorcists bearing
that title; these consequently were actual officers of the state,
probably also in the feudal kingdoms, among which the greatest
part of the empire was dividcd in those times. »If is incumbent
»on the Rescuer of the Country to cover himself with a bear\'s
»skin, to mask himself with four eyes of yellow metal, to put
»on a black coat and a red skirt, and thus, lance in hand and
» brandishing a shield, to perform, at the head of a hundred followers,
» a purification in every season of the year, which means the finding
» out of (haunted) dwellings and driving away contagious diseases.
»At royal funerals he walks ahead of the coifin and, arriving at
»the gravc, he leaps into the pit to beat the four corners with his
»lance, in order to drive away the fang-liang spectres"\'. Such
a curious devil-dispeller, or perhaps more than one, also figured
at the head of imperial funeral corteges during the Han dynasty,
as the Books of the After Han dynasty say: » The Rescuer of the
»Country lias four eyes of yellow metal; he is covered with a
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163
LIVING EXORCISTS AT BURIAI.S.
» bear\'s skin and dressed in a black coat and a red skirt. Bearing
» a lance and wielding a shield, he stands on a cart drawn by four
» horses and drives on in the van" \'.
Living exorcists at burials are by no means out of fashion in
the present age. At Amoy it is still fresh in the memory of the
people how at the burial of a gentleman, who had been the
prefect of a department in Kiangsi province, four men, clad in
fanciful spectral attire, walked in front of a khai-lö sin of colossal
size, dancing and screaming all the way. At the grave they worked
themselves into a fit of raving which resembled a demoniacal
possession; they cast themselves by turns into the pit, frantically
yelling and brandishing their swords, and thus brought about a
general sauve qui peut in the unseen world of spirits. People at
that time denoted them by the name of khbng clikings, which
perhaps means: »grave-pit hoppers". Eye-witnesses have told this
writer, that it had cost the family much trouble and expense
to find persons to act this dangerous part in the burial. Indeed,
everybody feit sure that some of the spectres, mad with fear and
acting on an impulse of desperate self-defence, might throw them-
selves upon the exorcists and strike them with illness, nay, with
death.
It must be noted by the way that, when the procession is on
the point of starting, a petty sacrifice of sweetmeats, cups of tea
and such like articles is arranged by the family in front of the
k/iai-lö sin, and offered to him as a luncheon by one of the attendant
relatives, who, holding burning incense-sticks in his joined hands,
makes a reverence to the image. This ceremony clearly shows that
the figure is in point of fact conceived of as being possessed by a
soul. Indeed, the Chinese scarcely believe in the existence of any
inanimate object. Most families belonging to the middle and lower
classes go to no expense for a k/mi-/ö sin image. They only make
use of a pavilion intended for its occupancy, obviously expecting
that, though there is no image inside it, the soul of one of the
ancients who formerly acted the part of Rescuers of the Country
will nevertheless settle in it, or, at any rate, that the spirits of
darkness will be intimidated by the mere aspect of the vehicle.
2 ^o.
-ocr page 202-
164                                               PÜNKRAL RITES.
In a former chapter we have already had an opportunity of
stating that scarcely any well-to-do Chinese gentleman neglects to
purchase an official degree, wherewith to crown the distinguished
position to which his inoney has raised him (p. 50). After his death,
the original iinperial brevet of his rank is paraded in his funeral
behind the khai-ló sin: thus men may see how illustrious a
personage they have to do with, and evil ghosts, awe struck,
keep their distance. The document is rolled up and wrapt in a
piece of yellow cloth; at either end a gilt flower is affixed, and
so it is placed over two pins projecting like cloak-pegs from a
small wooden stand, which is placed in a pavilion like that repre-
sented on Plate X. In the present case this pavilion and its
embroidered roof are of the imperial yellow colour, in honour of
the imperial document which lies inside.
Fig. 16.
It is quite a matter of course that this Mo hong ting\', or
»pavilion for the dignity conferred", should be surrounded with
awe inspiring pomp. Everything, in fact, which stands in any
relation whatever to the Son of Heaven ought to be attended with
becoming respect. A couple of boys, each with a yellow »decorative
fiag", walk on the right and left of the pavilion, and a complete
band of musicians marches ahead; moreover there is, in front, an
escort of attendants and lictors as described on page 87 (Fig. 16).
The gongbearers in this case have flags over their shoulders.
< &m*-
-ocr page 203-
PI. X.
Portable Pavilion.
.ICHTDflU* VAN f*«U é BltGER , HAARLEM.
-ocr page 204-
165
PARADING THE BREVET OF RANK.
In addition there are some men, bearing each a square board
on a long wooden handle. Two of these tng-kha ydil, » tablets with
a long leg", display, in raised characters, the official title of the
dead; two others the name of the dignity with which he has been
invested during his life; a third pair bears the words: » Be respectful
and keep silent" *, and the fourth: »Turn away and abscond" 3.
The dress of the bearers resembles that of the trum peters mentioned
on page 155. This party of men are supposed to escort the dead, who
is the bearer of the dignity, not the patent, which is merely a
badge of it *.
But the principal group in this subdivision of the train, the
pride and glory of the mourning family, is a set of two or four
literary graduates of the lowest degree, so-called » Cultivated Talents",
siu tseais, who have been engaged to act as tsiüng khb-hong
ting8 or »directors of the pavilion with the dignity conferred".
It is very grand, in fact the height of fashion, to have such mira-
cles ot learning in the train. No wonder they are dressed in the
full uniform their rank entitles them to wear, lest anybody should
mistake them for ordinary individuals. As long as the procession is
passing through inhabited wards, these worthies walk afoot behind
the yellow pavilion, most stately and majestic; but when the open
country is reached, where not so many eyes are fixed upon them
in silent admiration, they immediately betake themselves to the
palanquins, designedly posted there by the family for their ease and
comfort.
Even though the departed has never been invested with an
official rank or dignity, a mandarin\'s retinue raay likewise be
seen in this part of the procession. The long-legged boards are
then borrowed, either gratuitously or for money, from some
* mmw- *mm- *mm-
4 The above reminds us of our own European practica of exposing the insignia
of the orders, which sovereigns have bestowed upon the deceased during his life , upon his
catafalque on the way to the grave; if he is a prince or high nobleman, a crown
decorates the pall. With the ancient Romans, the metal medals or phalerae, the
torques or decorative rings that were worn on the breast, the coronae or wreathes,
and similai\' public presents which had been bestowed on the dead, were solemnly
carried in his funeral train. Moreover, there was a company of lictors, carrying
rods and axes, who were surrounded by all the attributes of the offices and dignities
with which the deceased had been invested.
5^*                emmm^
-ocr page 205-
166
KUNERAT, RITES.
relative or acquaintance who, being in reality the bearer of
a grade or title, keeps such instruments in his house as a ne-
cessary appendix to his dignity. This manner of decking one\'s deceased
parent in borrowed pluraes does not in the least shock anybody.
On the contrary, every one highly approves of this sort of thing,
as the doctrines ol filial devotion teach that it is a sacred duty
on the part of children and grandchildren to exalt and magnify
their seniors as much as is in their power.
A red pavilion with an embroidered cover of the same colour
and accompanied by a couple of red decorative flags, appears next
in the procession. It contains a shallow slide box of red lacquered
wood, which is placed erect on one of its small sides, so that
the slide, on which gilt dragons are sculptured, comes in front.
A gilt flower is affixed to either side of the box. This is designed
as a receptacle for one or more square plates of thick slate stone
on which a short necrology of the dead is engraved, and which are
to be deposed in the grave \'. Still for some obscure reason, these
stones are not enclosed in the box, but are brought to the grave
by a cornmon cooly, who niakes his way tliither after his own
fashion, regardless of the procession. This course of conduct is so
generally foliowed, that the box, which, like all the funeral instru-
ments, is provided by the undertaker, in most instanoes has not
even a side which can be opened, and is merely the imitation
of a box. Inside the pavilion one may also see a censer with
burning incense, and two tapers in candle-sticks, all likewise destined
to be put into the grave. In many cases these implements of worship
are conveyed in a special pavilion, which precedes that with the
box for the slate stones.
For relations, acquaintances or friends, who wish to give a
visible testimony of their sympathy with the mourning family
and the deceased, it is customary to enlarge the funeral train with
a red pavilion carried by four bearers. In this way they express
their willingness to provide the family with the necessary means
of carrying the soul and the implements of burial to the tombjin
other words, each pavilion represents a gift to help the family in
defraying the expenses of the obsequies. A piece of inscribed red
paper, posted on the back panel, shows who the donor is or the
donors are; it expresses this in plain terms, e.g. » The family Wu
1 They will be dealt with at length in the next Volume, containing the third
p rt of this Book, ch. 14.
-ocr page 206-
PAVILIONS SENT BY SYMPATHIZING FRIENDS.                   167
allied by marriage" \', »The sworn brethera"9, and the like. Not
seldom each pavilion is escorted by a couple of lanterns, carried on
poles and beaiïng the sarae inscription as the back panel; two boys
with decorative flags act as satellites to the pavilion and, in most
cases, a band of musicians marches ahead, as another appendage.
These vehicles, which are called tna/i ting3, »auxiliary pavilions",
or kfie/i tint/ \', » guest pavilions", remain quite einpty, because the
family have nothing to put inside. It is scarcely necessary to
say, that in funerals of persons of distinction they are often
numerous; we have sometimes seen a row of several dozens. The
undertakers, who provide them, do not charge tnuch over one dollar
or one dollar fifty cents a piece, bearers, musicians, flags and lanterns
included, so that the costs do not weigh heavily upon the donors.
For the mourning family, however, the case is different, because
custom compels them afterwards to repay the attention of all these
ofticious people witli a present equal to the outlay they have made.
No wonder therefore that the family often see with reluctance such
numerous proofs of friendship enforced upon them. At all events
the undertaker is the greatest gainer, as this useful man wisely
increases his own profits by providing fewer bearers and fewer
musicians than have been contracted for. It is easy for him to do
this. For, most of the persons who are so intimately connected with
the dead as to send a pavilion, are also in duty bound to accompany
him to the grave; and, whereas they then walk in the rear of the
procession, they cannot see what happens so far ahead of them.
But, not liking to be fleeced if he can avoid it, many a donor
sends a servant to guard against the rapacious proceedings of the
undertaker. This ingenious measure generally entails much clamorous
discussion and, occasionally, hot quarrels.
The custom now under notice derives a peculiar interest from
the fact that it represents a survival of very remote ages, when it
was usual for princes and dignitaries to send horses and carriages
^ Ét HÜ yti i$ \' \'l\'m(".V : » brethren of the golden orchid". Orchids are in
China syrnbols of sweet harmony, since Confucius" has said: » The words oïthosewho
are one in heart are fragrant like orchid plants" 13 jfc ~p? =? ^! ^. Ap Wft ;
see the Yih hing, sect. #8t ^S, I, 2. Ch. 14 of the imperial edition of 1715, leaf 4.
3 ^^.               4 ^^5.
-ocr page 207-
168
FUNERAI, RITES.
to the obsequies of deceased servants of the state and to those
of friends and aoquaintances, always adding some pieces of silk, which
were to be placed in\'thetomb with the dead. The 11%, after having
related how, on the day preceding the burial of an ordinary officer,
the corpse was transferred to the ancestral temple and placed there
underneath the catafalque in the open court-yard, says, at the
outset of chapter 30:
»The Ruler sends presents, to wit, a bundie of black and
» scarlet silk and a couple of horses \'.
» The Usher who introduces the visitors leaves the gate, to ask the
» messenger what he comes for; then he enters again, to announce
»hini. The principal mourner, having laid his niourning staff
»aside 2, receives the visitor outside the gate of the temple,
»abstaining from wailing. He then precedes him in entering the
»gate, turns to the left, stations himself with his face to the
» north, and, together with the other principal mourners, bares the
» upper part of his body \\
» The horses now enter and are posted (in the court-yard). The
» visitor, holding the silk upon his hands, passes by the horses on
» the west side, places himself near the foremost thill-rope of the
»catafalque and, with his face turned to the north, delivers his
» message. The principal mourner thereupon wails, makes reverences,
»knocks his forehead against the ground and perforrns a full
» stamping with his feet. And the visitor, having deposed the silk
»in the left box of the hearse, leaves the gate4.
» Passing by the principal mourner on the north side, the steward
»takes the silk up to bring it eastward, while strong men take
» hold of the horses and lead them out of the gate. The principal
»mourner sees the visitor ofi outside the outer gate, makes
»reverences to him, re-adjusts his dress and, entering the gate
2 The staff being not only a badge of mourning, but also a symbol of autliority,
one was not allowed to carry it in the presence ot\' a higher authority, nor in that
of a person acting as his substitute.
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-ocr page 208-
PRESENTING HOU sus ETC. FOll THE FUNERAI, PROCESSION. 169
»again, returns to his place, to take his staff in his hands as
» before \'.
»A visitor who brings presents (frora a nobleman or from
» another officer) is also the bearer of a message. The Usher asks him
» what the object of his coming is, enters the gate and announces
» his arrival; then he leaves the gate again, to teil the visitor that
» he is waited for2.
»The horses enter the gate and are posted (in the court-yard).
»The visitor takes the silk upon his hands, the Usher enters
»the gate first, and the visitor follows him, to acquit himself of
»his message as in the above case. The principal mourner bows
»to him from his place, but without stamping his feet; then the
» visitor deposes the silk as in the foregoing case, and it is taken
»up and the horses are accepted as in the above case 3.
»The brothers of the dead are allowed to give presents and to
»sacrifice; but acquaintances give presents without sacrificing" *.
These presents consisted likewise of horses and silk. The f;ict that
they are denoted in the / li and all other ancient books by a
peculiar character, vis. J|||, which nowhere occurs in any other
sense, certainly points to a custom of established importance at
that time and, very likely, also of high antiquity.
Horses were not only presented to the deceased, in order to
make them draw the carts loaded with articles and implements
that were to be placed in the tomb for the use of the soul, but
also to the family, for the transport of carriages and objects that
were only to do service in the funeral procession. This follows from
chapter 48 of the Li ki, which says, on leaf 6: » Horses presented
»to the dead enter the gate of the ancestral temple; but neither
» horses presented to the family, nor the additional silk, large white
» flags nor war-chariots enter that gate" \\
* ?ɱAt**lra*,±SilKlli.±A
8ï#Pl#, n, tt> A, #te. tt
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5 m m a m n. • m * ^ w* e ^ m t> ai
P^.Sect. $>&.
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170
FUNERAI, RITES.
The Li ki ;;!so gives an account of the way in which the
messenger of a Ruler acquitted himself of his charge to present horses
to a mourning family. lt differs slightly from that given by the
ƒ li, and runs as follows (ch. 54, 1. 32): —
» The principal of the attendants who have to deliver the horses
»for the dead, fakes a long symbol of jade in his hands and
» delivers his message, saying: \'Our Ruler has sent me to present
»horses to the dead\'. The assistant hereupon enters the gate
»to announce the visitor, and then returns to him with this
»message: \'The orphan So-and-so awaits you\'. The yellow team
» and the Great carriage are now posted in the central court-yard,
»the thills to the north, and the visitor, his symbol in his hands,
»communicates his message, while his followers place the horses
»on the west side of the carriage. The son having bowed and
» knocked his head against the ground, the visitor squats down to
»place the gift on the east side of the encotfined body, at the
»south corner. It is then taken up by the steward and brought
» to the east\'.
Contemporary works contain so many passages relative to the
custom now under notice, that thcre is no room for doubt that it
anciently prevailed on a most extensive scale. In the Tso c/ictoen
we read: »In the 23rd year (471 B. C), in spring, King-tsao of
» Sung (the mother of the ruler of that state) died. Ki Khang-tszë
»(her grandson) then sent this message: \'I possess a couple of
» poor horses bred by my father, and have ordered Khiu to deliver
»them to the steward of the lady. May they be used to convey the
»streamers and ornaments?\'" \'. Chapter 10 of the Li ki (1. 11)
relates • » At the funeral rites for Poh-kao, before the messenger of
»Confucius had arrived, Jan-tszë (a disciple of the sage) took it
»on himself as his substitute to present a bundie of silk and a
»team of horses. Confucius said: \'Strange, that my disciple niakes
j^ ^ ^., 23rd Year oi the Ruler Np;ai.
-ocr page 210-
THE PAViUON CONTAINING THE SOÜI. TABLET.                  171
»me fail in showing my sincerity towards Poh-kao\'" \\ And on
leaf 21 of the same chapter we read: » When Confucius went to
» Wei, he found the mourning rites being celebrated for a rnan,
» who had lodged hiin in bygone days. He entered and wailed for
» him bitterly. On coming out, he ordered Tsze-kung to loose the
» team of three horses from his carriage and to present them; but Tszë-
» kung said : \'At none of your disciples\' funerals has your team ever
» been taken off; is it not an exaggeration to do so for a man with
» whom you merely lodged ?\' The Master replied: \'A while ago, when
»I entered there to wail for the man, I found them so entirely
» overwhelmed with grief that I shed tears. I should be sorry if those
»tears were not foliowed by something more. Do so, my child!\'" 2.
After the auxiliary pavilions comes the last and most important
subdivision of the train, in which are the soul, the cotfin and
the mourners. It opens with a dark-blue pavilion, having a dark-
blue roof and, besides a band of musicians, is escorted by two
dark-blue decorative flags. It contains a small closet or tabernacle,
beautifully carved, painted and gilded, and having folding doors
in front; inside this stands the tablet with all its adjuncts as
described on page 142. In front of the tabernacle are arranged the
»incense-burner for the ancestors" (p. 143), and two candles, each
inside a small lantern to prevent the wind from blowing them out.
At the burials of the rich, the censer and the candies, which are
respectively designed to gratify the olfactory nerves of the soul that
follows behind, and to light it along its way to the grave, are
carried apart in a green pavilion, just ahead of that which contains
the tablet. Four so-called tsidng sin-tsü ting 3 or » directors of the
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Ammzmiü-Mm ttj^o "f-BXfözmfö
3 ^Üi*±^-
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172
FUNERAI, RITES.
pavilion with the tablet" walk in this part of the procession. If
practicable, they are sons-in-law or other distant relations of the
dead. They are dressed in the rnourning prescribed for each special
rank of relationship to the deceased.
At the back of the pavilion containing the tablet, outside, at each
corner, hangs a white lantern of paper, bearing the inscription:
»Hundreds of sons and thousands of grandsons" \'. And on the
frontside of this vehicle two narrow boards are suspended perpend-
icularly on the right and left. In characters, neatly carved on a
coloured ground, each of these boards bears one line of a distich
referring to the soul. As an illustration of Chinese funereal poetry
we quote the following specimen of such a distich:
»Bestriding a crane, he has already departed for the Western
Heaven,
» But we have called his soul back to this earth, and it obligingly
abides amongst us" *.
The tablet inside the pavilion is not yet inhabited by the soul.
It will be so when, after the completion of the interinent, the
procession returns homeward from the grave. On the way out, the
soul dwells in the teniporary tablet or h/a yéh, which is placed in
the next vehicle. This is a palanquin of state like those in use
with official persons, and therefore called toet kiöx, » great palanquin";
many people also call it hun kiö \' or »sedan-chair of the soul".
The painted portrait of the deceased, which, as we saw on page
113, is also a seat for his suul, is likewise placed inside this
sedan-chair, suspended from the back panel. Four relatives or
friends in rnourning dress escort the soul in the quality of so-called
tmim/ kiö6, »directors of the palanquin", and two »orange-
lanterns", shaped, inscribed and carried like those in the van of
the train, are scarcely ever wanting. These move in front, to assist
the soul in keeping the right path to the grave. In a great many
cases, two white paper lanterns which display in red characters the
titles of the deceased, are suspended from the back of the palanquin,
at the two outside corners.
1 Iff«-
5 $8i-
-ocr page 212-
THE PORTRAIT AND THE IMAGE OF THE DECEASED.             173
If the burial follows quickly on the demise, so that the portrait of the
deceased is not yet ready, there is as a rule no state-palanquin. The
provisory soul tablet is then placed in the blue pavilion, behind
the other tablet, or at the side of it. But if the burial takes place
while the great Buddhist mass, already mentioned on several
occasions, is in course of celebration, there is then always a
palanquin of state in the funeral train. It now contains a so-called
hun sin \' or » body for the soul", i. e. a bamboo-and-paper image
in which the manes of the dead man reside during that mass in order
to receive the homage and the sacrifices of the living, and which in
consequence is an object of the greatest attention and solicitude
during the long series of days those ceremonies last9.
The Buddhist clergymen, who have ofticiated at the farewell
sacrifice (p. 150) and are to continue their salutary work of opening
the road for the soul on the way to the grave, march immediately
in front of the vehicles described. Their keeping so near the same
prevents evil spirits and contrary influences from inserting them-
selves between them and the soul, and so the effects of the meritorious
sacerdotal work cannot be neutralized. A few performers of music
are adjoined to the priests, to give a certain solemnity to their
ceremonious mutterings.
At the burials of bearers of an official dignity, either purchased
1    !&#•
2  The Chinese custom of having images of the dead in the funeral procession will
appear less strange to us, il\'we bear in mind that a like custom was once widely prevalent
in our own western world. A portrait of the deceased in wax or stone was carried
immediately in front of the bier by the ancient Romans, in the midst of images
or busts of the ancestors, or so-ca!led imagines. »These pmctices, says Spencer,
» look strange to us; but a stranger thing is that we have so soon forgotten the
» like practices of civilizod nations. In Monstrelet\'s Cltronicle.i, Book I, the burial of
«Charles VI. of France is described thus: — "Over the coflin was an image of the
»late king, bearing a rich crown of gold and diamonds and holding two sl.ields,
» one of gold, the other of silver; the hands had white gloves on, and the fingers
»were adorned with very precious rings. This image was dressed with cloth of
» gold, etc. In this state was he solemnly carried to the church ol Notre Dame\'. —
«This usage was observed in the case of princes also. Speaking of the father of the
» great Condé, Mme. de Motteville says: — \'The effigy of this prince was attended
»(servit) for three days, as was customary\', forty days having been the original
»time during which food was supplied to such an efligy at the usual hours\'.
» Monstrelet describes a like figure used at the burial of Henry V. of England; and
» the efflgies of many English monarchs, thus honoured at their funerals, are still
» preserved in Westminster Abbey, the older having decayed into fragments". —
The Principles of Sociology, § 150.
-ocr page 213-
174
FUNERAI, RITES.
or gained by merit and literary attainments, there is in the
train still another seat for the soul in the
Fig. 17.
shape of a very long streanier or pennon of
dark rosy satin, flying frora the top of a pole.
It is knovvn as ling tsing\', »soul banner"
(Fig. 17). It usually varies in length from two
to three metres, having a vvidth of from three
to four decimetres. At the top it is attached
to a small triangular wooden board, which
hangs from the top of the pole by means of
which the streamer is carried aloft. A decorat-
ive strip of blue satin is affixed over the
upper rim of this board, in such a way that
the ends may hang down a few feet on either
side of the streamer and freely nutter about
in the wind. To prevent the streamer itself
#«
from flying up too high and getting entangled
with the surrounding objects, a small painted
board of sufficiënt weight is affixed to its lower
extremity.
As in the case of the hun péh (comp. page
7.1), the »soul banner" is rendered fit to be
an abode for the soul and so to replace the
body enclosed in the coffin, by means of a
description of the deceased, which is painted
on it in one single column of characters
running down the middle from top to bottom.
A second column of smaller characters
mentions the name, the titles and dignities
of the person who, theoretically, wrote the
inscription. Here is, for example, the inscrip-
tion copied by us from the streamer of a
prefect of a department, who died in Amoy
during our stay in that town:
»Inscribed streamer of Mr. Khiu of the
»name Yun-lung, on whom the reigning
» Imperial house of Tscing has conferred the title
» connected with the third degree of rank, as
*. w
*m
BSKM
Soul Banner.
m
-ocr page 214-
175
THE SOUL BANNKR.
» also the dignity of Prefect of a Department; he was the illustrious
» father of four generations and has enjoyed a life of seventy-two years.
» Tliis is written by Tseng Shi-yuh, his stupid younger brother \'
»in this World of Light, specially invested with the rank of
» Second Class Secretary of a Board, who in the year kwei-yiu
» was promoted to the degree which qualifies him for admission to
»the metropolitan examinations administered by the Board of Rites.
» He bows his head to the ground" *.
When any person is invested with an official dignity, his
principal consort is, simply in virtue of this promotion of her
husband, simultaneously endowed with an honorary title. Ac-
cordingly she also has at her obsequies a streamer of the same
description. The wife of the aforesaid prefect happening to die
shortly after her husband, we had an opportunity of seeing her
funeral too. Her streamer was inscribed as follows:
»Animated encoffined corpse of Her accomplished Ladyship of
»the family Hwang, who bears the posthumous title Kung-kien s
»and was espoused to the house Khiu. On her the Imperial
» house of Tscing has conferred the title connected with the third
» degree of rank. She was the illustrious mother of four generations
» and enjoyed a life of sixty-eight years.
»This is written by Yang Hiung-fei, her consort\'s stupid
»younger brother in this World of Light, who is specially endowed
»with the dignity of Second Class Secretary of a Board and
»entitled to compete at the metropolitan examinations conducted
»by the Board of Rites. He bows his forehead to the ground"«.
1 In China, everybody calls his friend his elder brother ( 5? ) and styles himself
the younger brother ( jjl& ) of his friend.
3 Many deceased ladies and gentlemen are, after their death,denoted by another name,
because that by which theywere distinguished during life is tlien toosacred to bepronounc-
ed. More particulars on the custom of avoiding names will be givon in our Second Book.
Aumm^^^m±mAzmm-
-ocr page 215-
176
FUNKRAIi RITES.
The characters on such streamers have the square form
generally used in printing, or, in other words, they are the so-
called pien tszë1, » flat or low characters", or Sung thi tszë8,
» characters of the shape in vogue during the Sung dynasty". They
are painted on the silk with a yellow water-colour in which some
glue is mixed to fix it; in a few cases the whole inscription is
gilt, which looks very pretty on the pink ground.
It would be a mistake to suppose that such a soul banner is
merely a symbolic representation of the deceased. On the contrary,
it is actually the soul, or, at any rate, the streamer and the nianes
of the dead person are most intimately fused into one. At the
interment it is placed in the tomb upon the lid of the coftin, and
thus the soul is made to establish itself in the grave, froin whence
it is expected henceforward to issue blessings of every kind to the
offspring. The part which the streamer performs in the obsequies
being of so much importance, it is natural that in every respect it
becomes an object of great solicitude. It is written by a person invested
with an official rank, the higher the better, because in this way
the soul, which it harbours, is surrounded, nay infused, with
influences which cannot fail to endow it with the capacity to help to
high official dignities from out of its tomb. But this end is attained
all the same if the grandee merely writes the banner in theory,
that is to say, if his illustrious name and his titles only figure
on it as if he had actually written it. Accordingly, the relations
simply ask his permission to use his name for the purpose, and
then the streamer is inscribed by an ordinary workman, or by
some clever member of their own family. A grandee will scarcely
ever refuse to lend his name and titles for a funereal streamer
when a fashionable family applies to him, because he knows
custom requires that he should be liberally rewarded for his kind
permission when the burial is over.
To increase the power of the streamer for ensuring titles and
dignities to the offspring, it is nominally carried to the tomb by a
military mandarin, either titular or in active service. This grandee
appears in the procession on horseback, in the rear of the customary
cortege of lictors, servants and bearers of title-boards; and if he is
actually in the service of the State, he is generally escorted by a
certain number of soldiers with matchlocks, swords and other
1 m^-            2^fi^-
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THE STREAMER WHICH HARBOURS THE SOUL.                   177
weapons of every description, in many instances with bows and
arrows. Tn everybody\'s eyes this cortege adds great dignity to the
obsequies and, of course, the family are very proud of it. Civil
mandarins are never engaged to act as bearers of a soul banner.
For, these worthies cannot ride on horseback; they scarcely ever use
any other means of locoraotion than a covered palanquin, and a
man sitting in such a vehicle cannot possibly carry a long object
like a streamer on a staff.
We have said that the streamer is only nominally carried by the
mandarin. In fact, the work is actually done by a servant in a
kind of uniform, or even by a dirty cooly who walks on foot
behind Rozinante, winding, for convenience\'s sake, the streamer
carelessly round the pole. The practical effect which the streamer
is expected to have on the glory of the offspring, is not in the
least diminished by this measure which eases the great man on
horseback of a troublesome burden.
The soul banner derives a peculiar interest from the fact that
it represents an institution of very ancient times and, like the
hun péh, which is only another form of it, has played an important
part in the ancestral rites of the ruling classes in ages as far back as
the Cheu dynasty. Since it would carry us too far from our present
purpose to enter now into the historical origin of these two interesting
objects, we defer dealing with them till our Second Book, a part
of which will be specially devoted to the different sorts of seats
which the Chinese are, or formerly were, in the habit of providing
for the disembodied souls of their parents and ancestors.
Einally we come to the rear of the procession, which consists of
the coffin and its attendant mourners, musicians and others. Two
youthful male relations of the family, dressed in white mourning,
come first, each with an oblong piece of white linen, suspended
from the top of a pole like a banner and inscribed with the
characters ^ff ^jj, »linen of which mourning clothes of the third
and fourth degree are made". We read in the ƒ li that, when the
coftin of an otticer had to be removed for burial, and to this end
was taken out of the shed wherein it had been stored away for a
time (see p. 99), »the Invoker after the manner of the Shnng
» dynasty, having bared his head and the upper part of nis body,
» entered the gate with a cloth of linen of which mourning clothes
»of the third and fourth degree were made, and ascended the
»western steps to their top; there, without going up to the
» hall, he cried three times to the soul, and exclaimed thrice: \'Open
12
-ocr page 217-
17S
FUNERAI, RITES.
»the shed!\', finallj ordering the mourners to wail. . . Subsequently
»he wiped over the coffin with the cloth and
Fig. 17.
^ it
»covered the latter with a corpse-pall" \'. And
describing the arrangements for the funeral proces-
sion, the I li says: » The Invoker after the manner
» of the Shang dynasty holds the cloth of raourning
»rnaterial in his hands, using it to direct the
» nioveraents of the coffin\'\' \\ He placed himself,
adds Ching Khang-ch\'ing, in front of the coffin,
and all the way gave signals to the men who
drew the catafalque.
Fig. 17 is a reproduction of the picture which
the Khienlung editors of the I li (ch. 44) and the
Li ki (ch. 82) give of the cloth in question\'. The
Amoy Chinese of the present day, evidently misled
by the accidental circurnstance that the characters
~Xfa rffi also mean » dissemination of merit", seem
\\
to consider the ancient cloth as having been a
kind of honorary banner signalizing the virtues
of the deceased. This is apparent from the fact
that the corresponding pieces of linen, which
they use at their burials, bear the tvvo characters
as conspicuously as possible, while in addition two
Banncr of Mourning
Linen.
similar banners are carried behind the first, inscribed,
in the case of a man, with the binomium ^ -jg,
»faithftil and devoted", and in that of a woman, with j=| J|]|(,
* fömnm, m^^A, ftêmm, *»*#
Jfê ^. Ch. 29, 1. 7 and 9.
2 fó Ü ft $ ^ M #P ^ • Ch 30\' \'• 32-
3 Tliey have evidently boirowed it from the » Illustrations for the Three Rituals"
Sam li tliu ^ ffi§| [^ , the work oi\'Nieh Ch\'ung-i ^j& 2j=L §Êk ,arenowned schoiar.
This author presented the manuscript in 902 to the first emperor of theSung dynasty,
and it was adopted as a Standard authority tbr the state religion during that
dynasty. Nieh\'s book was compiled trom divers works of\' the same character, in existence
at the time, one of which dates from the Sui dynasty; but we do not know
whether any of these writings are still extant.
The second-hand pictures, which the Sam li thu contains , accordingly are for a great
part pretty old, and this increases the probability that they represent objects
and instruments as they were in pre-christian times. A biography of Nieh with
-ocr page 218-
179
MNEN BANNERS AND TORCHES
»chastity and submission" viz. to her husband. These two banners
are likewise carried by two boys in mourning.
A band of eiglit musicians comes next. ïliey play a gong, a
drum, a pair of cymbals and, instead of the detestably discordant
clarionets, two or three stringed instrument» and a flute. Four so-
called tsiang pan \' or » managers of the coffin", being kinsmen or
friends of the family in white garments, walk immediately in front
of the bier, which is, as their title indicates, intrusted to tlieir
care. In many parts of southern Fuhkien, and sometimes in Amoy
also, these men and the musicians ahead of them are preceded
by either two or four bearers of long torches of bamboo splints
drenched with oil or other combustible matter, designed, like the
lanterns at the head of the procession, to light the spirit of the
dead along the road. If the torch-bearers are members of the family,
they are dressed in a mourning attire; but vvhen common coolies
are hired for this work, a simple band of white cloth is tied
around their foreheads. Torches are also used in Chinese funeralsin
the isle of Borneo, amongst immigrants from the department of
Ch\'ao-cheu-fu \', which is a part of Kwangtung province 3.
The coffin follows immediately behind the four tsiang pan.
The marnier in which corpses generally are conveyed to the
tomb and the instruments used therefore are easily described.
As may be seen from the first figure of Plate XI, which
represents the catafalque without the drapery that generally
covers it, the coffin is placed on a strong oblong frame of wood,
which is strengthened by some extra bars inserted
athwart, and accordingly looks like this figure:
When this bier has been placed on a couple of
trestles (see p. 145), and the coffin arranged lengthwise upon it,
particulars of his works is to be found in ch. 431 of the History oftheSungdynasty.
The chapters of the Satn li thu on mattere relating to mourning and funeial rites
have been reprinted in the Ku kin thu shu tsih ch\'irig, the renowned giant the-
saurus already mentioned on page 75.
3 It may here be observed that the ancient Romans never solemnized l\'unerals
without the addition of torches, and that with the Greeks the first man in the
procession most likely bore a lighted torch, which was alter a time passed to
the person following behind liim, and so on, till everybody had carried it lor a
few moments. We need scarcely say that in the Christian world too the use of torches
and tapers in obsequies is of very old standing, and that with many savage and
semi-civilized tribes in various parts of the globe torches are carried in funeial
processions.
-ocr page 219-
180
FUNERAI. RITES.
a triangular frame of wood is inserted upright in the middle of
each long bar of the bier, in two holes made there for the pur-
pose. Across the lid, through the tops of these two triangles, which
reach a little over the coilin, is then passed a strong piece of wood;
finally, on either side of the coffin, a strong rope passing over
this cross-beam is tied firmly to the bier on the right and left
of each triangle, so that all the different pieces of the catafalque
are held tightly together and cannot be dislocated unless the ropes
are renioved or snap off.
Over this bier, which is popularly styled a clfiax or »carriage",
a large rafter, called »big ox" ton gil2, or »big dragon"
toa ling 3, is made fast by means of an iron bolt, which passes
loosely through a hole in the middle of the rafter and the center
of the cross beam mentioned above. It will be clear now that,
when the coffin bearers take the rafter upon their shoulders, the
whole catafalque hangs down and can turn on the bolt as on a
pivot. This is of great advantage in carrying the cumbersome
burden through the narrow alleys which in Chinese towns bear
the name of streets; otherwise short corners could never be turned.
With the better classes, the coffin and hearse are generally so bulky
and weighty that a good nuinber of men are required to move
them. Therefore, at each end of the rafter a cross pole is contrived
by means of a loose bolt of iron or wood, so that there is room
for four bearers, one at each end of these poles. This number can
be doubled by fixing to each end of the two cross poles another
cross pole in a corresponding manner, and so on. Thirty-two
may be said to be the largest number of bearers ever employed in
Fuhkien; even sixteen are rare, eight being the usual number,
also with the well-to-do. A desire to make a show is as often an
element in determining the number of bearers as the weight of the
coffin itself.
No family, not even the poorest, will ever send a kinsman to the
grave without having the coffin concealed on the road thither by
means of a so-called koan ta * or » coffin cover". As the first figure
on Plate XI shows, a rough frame of bamboo is placed over the
lid, underneath the rafter. Over this frame is cast a sort of roof-
like awning, consisting in most cases of drapery, sometimes of
silk; further, a piece of the same material is suspended by tapes
1 $          2A^-         3*«-        * J&*.
-ocr page 220-
PI. XI.
ft.
Catafalque.
a, Without the Drapery. b, With the Drapery.
(.ICHTOHUK vAV EMttH * IINOId* MAAI
-ocr page 221-
181
THE CATAFA1.QUE.
from each of the four sides of the frame, so that the coffin is
entirely hidden from view. In the case of a male person the koan
ta is red, in that of a woman it is dark blue. On all sides it is
beautifully embroidered with tigures of gold thread and variegated
silk. The side curtains generally exhibit episodes illustrating the
most striking historical or would-be historical instances of filial
devotion, which Chinese moralists have for centuries held up to the
nation as Standard examples and models for all generations present
and to come. On the front curtain are a couple of dragons rising
out of the waves, surrounded by clouds and with a sun between
them; the back displays a tiger or unicorn, the top exhibits
dragons, sundry ornamental flowers, and tigures representing clouds.
Thanks to these clouds and to the dragons which produce the
same in their quality of watergods, the greatest blessings which
the Universe can bestow, viz. fertilizing rains causing crops
to grow and so giving food, raiment and wealth, surround the
dead, and he may avail himself of those blessing for dissemination
among his descendants from out the tomb. The unicorn enables
the dead man to cause famous persons to be bom into the family,
for, since this fabulous animal made its appearance at the birtli of
Confucius, its image can bring about the birth of sages and of
men destined to everlasting renown. And as to the tiger, its
portrait keeps evil spirits away from the coffin, all Chinamen being
convinced that ghosts and demons fear nothing so much as this
monster \\ For this reason there is also on the most conspicuous
part of the catafalque, viz. over the great bolt by means of which
the latter is suspended underneath the rafter, the wooden effigy of
a tiger, nicely gilded and painted.
The catafalques are not everywhere in China made and decorated
after the same plan. In many parts of the empire, where the narrow-
ness of the strcets is no impediment, they are, for rich burials,
of a size bordering on the gigantic. Instead of being suspended
from one single pole, the coffin is then placed lengthwise upon two
parallel rafters, which at the same time bear a huge square
canopy, the corners of which are elegantly turned up after the
well known Chinese house-roof fashion. Underneath this canopy
embroidered sereens of drapery hang down along the sides of
the coffin, which in this way is rendered invisible, while other
1 The reasons for this will be explnined in onr Second Book, in the chapters
on Denionology.
-ocr page 222-
182
FUNERAL B1TE8.
pieces of drapery are affixed to the rafters, so as nearly to veach
the pavement when the catafalque stands still. A catafalque of
this descripüon may have a lcngth of over three metres with au
equal hcight, reckoning from the tiger at the top of the canopy;
it is carried by means of a siinilar system of poles and cross*
poles as has been described above, and often requires thirty-two
or even sixty-four bearers. Catafalques of various sizes and styles
fall bet ween the ones described and those used in Amoy by the
very poor, who merely have a rafter tied lengthwise over the lid
by ropes passing underneath the bottom of the coffin, with some
pieces of coarse drapery carelessly thrown over it.
But, however much their shapes may differ in the several parts
of the empire and for the sundry classes of society, they are all
decidetl imitations of the wheeled catafalques, which tradition and
some passages in the ancient works on ritual teach us were in
use for the Riders, noblcs and officials during the oldest historical
period of the empire. Chapter 58 of the Li ki says on leaf 39:
»In decorating a coffin they use, for a Ruler, side curtains
» with dragons depicted on them, three rain-catchers with moving
»streamers, further a roof with figures of axe heads .and showiug
»three flames side by side, as also three jjji figures arranged
»side by side. There is also a tent-like cover of plain tapestry
»(placed immediately over the coffin), and over this conies a false
» roof. The searlet strings (for connecting the roof with the curtains)
» are six in nutuber. The top of the roof is composed of material
» of five different colours, and decorated with five cowries. There
» are, moreover, two s h a h with the figure of an axe depicted on
»them, two with the figure jj|j, and two painted (with clouds);
»all of them are surrnounted each by sceptres of stone. The
»fishes jurnp and wave the rain-catchers to and fro. For a
» Ruler there are also six searlet cords to tie the ropes of the coffin
»to the catafalque, with six searlet ends drawn through the side
» curtains" \'.
In translating this passage we have closely foliowed the interpret-
ation of Ching Khang-ch\'ing, who, standing nearer to the Cheu
-ocr page 223-
1S3
CATAFALQUES OF ANTIUUITY.
dynasty than any expounder of the Li ki, has generally been
recognized by all as a Standard authority. This renowned scholar
explains the rain-catchers as a sort of bamboo trays covered vvith
blue cloth, which were suspended under the roof to represent
the gutters that, on the houses of the living, catch the rain from
the eaves; in fact, says he, the catafalque represented for the dead
man the dweiling he occupied during his life. A copper fish
was suspended underneath each tray, and under each fish hung
a moving streamer, upon which, according to the commentators, a
pheasant was depicted. Such things were, however, not suspended
on the" catafalque of a Great officer, as may be inferred from
chapter 53 of the JA ki (1. 28), where it is said: » For a Great
»officer yellowish blue pendants are not aftixed underneath the
» water-catchers" \'.
A picture of                                    Fis- 18
such a prince-
ly catafalque,
as the editors,
relying on tra-
dition in con-
nexion with the
above interpret-
ation by Ching
Khang-ch\'ing
believe it to
have been, is
to be found in
the Khienlung
edition of both
the Li ki and
the C/ieu li,
respectively in
ch. 82 and ch.
48. Kg. 18isa
reproduction of
it on a smaller
scale. About the
Ancient Catafalque for the Kuier of a State.
catafalque of
J^j&T-^-lftlB\'1\'1"
1 *£*
-ocr page 224-
184
FIJNERAT, RITES.
official persons of lower rank than a Ruler the Li ki relates, also
on the 39th. leaf of ch. 5S:
» Eor a Great offieer they use side curtains painted (with clouds),
»two riiin-catchers without moving streamers, a roof painted with
» clouds, with threc flames side by side, and three figures jj[j ar-
» ranged side by side. There is also a tent-like cover of plain tapestry,
»two scarlet and two black strings (for connecting the roof and
» the side curtains). The top of the catafalque is of tri-coloured
» niaterial and ornamented with three cowries. There are two shah
»with the §g figure, and two shah painted with clouds, each
» of them surmounted by yak tails. The fishes jump and wave the
» rain-catchers to and fro. And in the case of a Great offieer, the
»cords which tie the ropes of the coffin to the catafalque are,
» when placed tovvards the front of the catafalque, scarlet, and at
»the back they are black, and the sarne is the case with the ends
» drawn through the side curtains \'.
» For an ordinary offieer they use side curtains of (undyed) cloth
»and a roof of the same niaterial, further one rain-catcher with
» yellowish blue pendant, two scarlet and two black strings. The
»top of the roof\' is of tri-coloured niaterial and ornamented with
» one cowry. There are two shah painted with clouds, and each
»is surmounted by yak tails. In the case of an offieer, the cords
»which connect the ropes of the coffin with the catafalque are,
» when placed towards the front, scarlet, while those at the back
» are black; and the two ends which pass through the side curtains
» are scarlet" *.
Fig. 19 is a reproduction on a reduced scale of a picture which
ch. 44 of the / (i gives of such a catafalque of an ordinary offieer.
The above quotations, which it illustrates, sufficiently prove that
we are perfectly justified in suggesting, that the modern cata-
falques are imitations of those of ancient China. Besides the
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BOARDS EXHIBITING THE INSIONIA OF RANK.                  185
catafalques, the shah which, according to the above extracts, were
used in the burials of
Kg. 19.
grandees, have survived
till the present day. It
is not exactly known
what their shape was in
the time of the Li ki,
but we may learn frora
ChingKhang-chcing how
they looked in his titne,
to wit, during the Han
dynasty; and as this
house no doubt bor-
rowed thern from the
more ancient dynasties,
there are grounds for
believing that Ching\'s
description also holds
good to a great extent
for the shah of the
house of Cheu. He says:
» A shah consists of a
Ancient Catafalque for an ordinary Ofticer.
» frame made of wood,
»three feet broad by two feet four inches high; it is square, has
» raised corners and is covered with white linen. As to the figures
»painted on them, they represent clouds and for the rest they
»exhibit the respective insignia of the person for whom they are
» made. The handle is five feet long. When the funeral car moves
»on, men are employed to carry them behind it, and when the
»coftin has been lowered into the grave, they are planted inside
»the pit"1. That this description holds good, at le;ist on some
points, for the shah of the Cheu dynasty also, may be inferred
from the fact that the Cheu li contains the following passages:
» When there is a funeral, the tailor sheathes the woodwork of the
Eu *«Óffi. **
The Khienlung edition of tho Li ki, ch. 58, 1. 40.
-ocr page 226-
186
FUNERAL RITES.
»shah" >. — At the funeral of an empress, the female attendants
»hold the shah"2.
The reader will have recognized already in these shah the
forerunners of the square boards inscribed with the titles and
dignities, and fixed on the t"p of long handles, which are now
carried in the retinue of raandarins whenever they appear in public,
and, at the death of a titled person, in his funeral procession
(comp. p. 165). The part they played in the obsequies of antiquity
sufficiently accounts for the reason why even at the present day
people are most partial to having them in the burial train of their
dead: as we have said, if the dead man be not entitled to have
them himself, the family will borrow them for the purpose from titled
friends or from mandarins with whom they are acquainted. As these
so-called » long-legged boards" or ing kha pdi3 do now, so the shah
formerly displayed the rank of the grandee, though not by characters,
but by embleniatical figures. Apart from the testimony of Ching
Khang-chcing, who explicitly states this in the passage just quoted,
it is proved by the yak tails suspended over them, these objects
being in ancient times symbols of official dignity. Moreover, the
number of shah was increased in proportion to the rank of the
person, as is proved by chapter 34 of the Li ki, which has on
1. 13: »In some ceremonial usages the quantity of things forms
»the mark of distinction: the Son of Heaven has eight shah,
»a feudal prince six, a Great officer four" 4. The symbolic meaning
of the axe-heads and \\\\ figures depicted on them is not clear; the
clouds which , as we have seen, also decorated the ancient catafalques
and are still found on the modern ones, may have represented the
blessings of the dragon or rain-god, which has from time immemorial
been an emblein of a blissful government represented by the
emperor and by the officials as his deputies.
The Khienlung editors of the Three Rituals suggest that the
two shah which, according to the above citation from the Li ki,
the Son of Heaven had in addition to the six of a feudal prince,
were painted with a dragon, the characteristic symbol of the imperial
1  iA5l*ïit*t-Ch-7\'l<9-
2  ± m Jm Z BI W ï- Ch- 7< \'• 34- 3 M W M-
-ocr page 227-
BOAKDS EXH1BITING THE 1NSIGNIA OF RANK.                   187
dignity. Now recapitulating what is contaiued in the several extracts
quoted on the foregoing pages about the s h a h, we see that —
an ordinary officer had one pair, painted with clouds,
a Great otficer two pairs, with clouds and gg figures respectively,
a feudal prince three pairs, with clouds, gg tigures and head-
axes respectively,
the emperor four pairs, with clouds, jjjj figures, head-axes and
dragons respectively.
The Khienlung edition of the Li ki (ch. 82) and that of the
C/ieu li (ch. 48) give a picture of each of the four sorts. As they
are all shaped alike, the emblematical figures alone differing,
20 the one with a
two circular sceptres
Fig. 20.
we confine ourselves to reproducing in Fig.
dragon. The pendants hanging down froin the
of stone, which surmounted the top of each
shah, consisted of feathered ornaments; for
this reason, perhaps, the element 2$5j, feathers,
enters into the composition of the written
form of the word shah, which is |j|.
To return now to the catafalques: those
n
of antiquity were, like those of modern times,
moved forward by a large number of men.
1
In ch. 56 of the Li ki we read, on leaf 17:
\\a
»When they go up to the ancestral ternple\'
1
»and there put the coffin in its place, the
»ropes attached to the carriage of the bier
>> for drawing it forth are, in the case of a
» feudal prince, grasped by five hundred men. \'
» The men at these four ropes are all gagged.
»The Minister of War holds the dapper. He
» has eight men on his left and eight on his
»right (to shout out his orders). The chief
»of the artisans directs the movements of
A Shah.
»the coffin by rneans of a bundie of feathers,
»suspended froin the top of a pole. And
»at the obsequies for a Great officer, when they go up to the
» ancestral temple eind there put the coffin in its place, three hundred
» people grasp the ropes for drawing the coffin. The man with the
1 There the coffin must remain during the day previous to the bnrial: comp.
page 151.
-ocr page 228-
188
PDNKRAli RTTES.
»clapper has then four men on either side, and the niovements
» of the coffin are guided by means of alang grass" \'.
The curious custom of gagging the men put to the carriage of
the bier naturally points to a prevailing custom of loudly vociferating
while conveying the coffin forward, a custom which was disliked
by the higher classes. Chcn Hao s of the Yuen dynasty, commenting
on the passage just quoted, describes such a gag as being » some-
»thing like a chopstick, which was tied in the mouth by means
» of two cords attached to either end and knotted tourether behind
the neck" \'. The use of these instruments seems to have been pretty
common in ancient China, as ch. 37 of the Cheu U (1. 44) describes
the functions of a certain » Officer of mouth-gags" \', on whom it
was incumbent to stop tumultuous cries at the great sacrifices of
state, to have clamorous people gagged during military reviews
and great hunting parties, and to forbid all vociferation in the
capital.
On the meaning of this crying while conveying a coffin to the
grave, some light is thrown by the Historical Books of the Tsin
dynasty. »It was an ancient institution during the Han and Wei
»dynasties that the men, who in Great (i. e. impeiïal) funerals
» and in funerals of high ministers held the drawing-ropes, chanted
» while puiling forth the carriage of the bier. When projecting new
» rites (tbr the house of Tsin), the framers acted on the supposition
» that such singing had taken its origin from the songs, by which
»serfs and bondsmen employed in the case of the emperor Wu
» (B. C. 140—87) of the Han dynasty had, during their toilsome
» labour, given vent to their deep sorrow, such songs having there-
» upon been adopted as a rite on accompanying the dead to the grave.
» The projectors of the said new rites also took into consideration that,
» though the use of songs to soothe sorrow was not mentioned in the
» Classics, yet it would be an infringement upon the Rites to allot
* z m £ ff- ie m ifc m 5 i * = w a . m m % * #
& n a , m u m 3f- ^- m ie, ". *
2 MM-
:< m T& w m s m *s * * m /& j* p m m n m #•
-ocr page 229-
189
GAGGING THE MEN AT THE CATAFAIiQUE.
» such singing ;i place among tlic statutory rituals; — further, they
» considered that, in using mouth-gags, the object was nierely to
»produce a bawling noise as a mark of affection, and that it was
» an improper tliing to have songs for the sake of show. Therefore they
» abolished all chanting at the side of the bier. But (the statesraan)
» Chi Yii (3rd. cent.) gave it as his opinion with regard to the singing at
»the bier-ropes that, though melodious songs tended indeed towards
» dispeiling sadness, gags held in the month carried the grief np to
» its highest pitch ; further, he pretender! they had the good effect of
»niaking an impression on the multitude. Moreover he stated that,
»though such singing is not nientioned in the Classics, yet it
»representcd an ancient institution maintained by a series of
»dynasties. He shovved that the Ski hing mentions a man of
»higher order singing to give vent to his sorrow \', and he de-
» monstrated in the end that having chants for the sake of show is
» beyond the reach of all blaine. His conclusion therefore was that
»the new rites should not diner on this point from those offormer
»times, and his advice was foliowed by imperial edict"*.
A careful perusal of this extract will show that the gags in question
were used with the object of changing, in burials of the highest official
classes, the custoinary singing into a wailing hubbub or monotonous
bawling, which moralists considered to be more in harmony with
the mournful character of a funeral procession. But the opinion of
the first compilers of the rites of the Tsin dynasty as to the origin
of this chanting and crying, must be accepted with great reserve.
For supposing their assertion that it took its rise during the Han
dynasty were true, how then are we to account for the fact that
the Li ki already makes mention of gagged catafalque-drawers?
\\ This is so in point of fact. See the last line of the Siao min A\\ S- section.
mMnm%k\\ttiïmnft®Az%mM&w.m
m .m & w ^ mm ®, <i\\ ^ m %m & zn.,m m
M, a^ffffii^ii. m&z-™ *>>**•
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190
FUNERAL RTTES.
This naturally suggests the prevalence of the custom in question
in much earlier times. It does not appear improbable that it
simply originated in the ancient practice of calling back tlie soul
by chanting death-dirges and expostulating with it in tenns of
reproach and grief, in short, in the death-howl already referred
to on page 10 seq. and which we shall treat exhaustively in the
first chapter of the next part of this Book. This view is confirraed
by the fact revealed in the Li ki that, in ancient times, the men
who drew the catafalque to the tomb were those who resorted to
the mortuary house to offer condolences, persons, in fact, closely
allied to the family by ties of blood or friendship, so that wailing
was incumbent on thein as a duty. »Those who condole at the
time of the burial", says the said Classic (ch. 12, leaf 9), » certainly
»grasp the drawing-ropes. And when they have foliowed the
» coffin to the grave, they all take hold of the veering-ropes"\'.
Commenting upon this passage, Khung Ying-tah 2, one of the most
renowned interpreters of the ancient books in the 7th. century,
says: » Condoling at a burial in point of fact consisted in lending
»a helping hand in the management of the matters connected
» with it; therefore the condolers did not fail to assist in puiling
»forth the funeral car. As for the men employed at the ropes,
»their number was adequate to the social rank and position,
» and when the number was complete, the rest arrayed themselves
»behind the corpse. But at the grave, when the coffin was set
» down and lowered into the pit, they all, in unlimited numbers,
»took hold of the ropes" 3.
Apart from the above extracts, we have in each of the Three
Rituals evidence that the dead were formerly carried to the tomb
by their fellow-villagers or clansmen. This is the same as to say,
by the members of their family in the broadest sense of the word,
for in China, even down to the present day, every clan and village
is but the extension of a single family. In its description of the
burial of an ordinary officer, the / li says: »When the pit has been
m. mmT*È&#mxmAWL%&&m&.
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FEU.0W VIM.AGERS AND CI.ANSMEN AS COFFIN BEARERS. 191
»filled up with earth for one third, the principal mourner bows
»to the villagers" \', thus expressing, as Ching Khang-cheing says,
his gratitude for their activity and exertions. The Li ki has (ch.
55 1. 32): »Condoling does not siinply consist in following the
»principal mourners (to the grave), but those of forty years (and
» under) must hold the ropes when the cofKn is let down into the
» pit. And as to the villagers: those who are fifty (and upwards)
»go home with the mourners to wail, while those of forty
»(and under) wait till the grave is filled up"2. Finally, the
Cliea li says: »The clan chieftains order their people to protect
»and receive one another ... in order that they may bury each
» other" 3.
Even now the same custom prevails in most villages of
Fuhkien province, which as a rule are inhabitcd by people of
one clan name only. They carry each other\'s dead to the tonib
gratuitously, though the fatnily, if they can afford the expense,
are required by custom to reward the men afterwards with small
presents of money or articles of food. We do not doubt but the
same practice obtains in most parts of the realm. Indeed, this best
accords with the clannish spirit which, owing to the fact that the
autonomy of the family and the village has ever lain at the
root of the social organization of the empire, reigns suprème in
the nation. Even many a citizen of a town is, in Fuhkien,
carried to his last resting place by the inhabitants of the village
in which he was bom and his ancestors have lived, if the
distance does not prevent the men from coming over for the
purpose, especially if the deceased has acquired wealth and a high
position, and has made a liberal use of his money and influence
for the benefit of his birth place and its inhabitants.
Apart from such exceptional cases, the coffin-bearers in towns
and cities are generally coinmon coolies, hired by the under-
taker. This is attributable to the circumstance that clanship
is by no means strongly developed there, such big settlements
consisting of an agglomeration of families with various sur-
1 *±h. ±\\nmk-^™^«-
Rm, h *#«#s^ mm.n.i.
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192
FUNERAL KITES.
nanies and no mutual coherence. Tn Amoy, such hired coffin-bearers
are scarcely ever dressed in a uniform or anything approaching
it. They generally march in the proeession in the dirty clothes
peculiar to the lowest classes of Chinese society, barefooted and,
in hot weather, even half naked. They belong to the sarae class
of men who are accustomed to proffer their services for carrying
empty cottins froni the coffin-maker\'s shops to mortuary houses
(coinp. p. 89).
In Amoy, there exist among the lovver classes many associations,
instituted for the purpose of assisting their members in the expenses
of the funeral rites of their parents. Such pê-bu hoêx or »father-
and-mother associations" mostly consist of a dozen or more members,
who work under the auspices and the protection of a divinity
of their own choice, in the face of whom the neophites are
sworn on an auspicious day. Whenever a death occurs vvhich
falls within the sphere of their office, the brethern contribute
money for the funeral, or take a sum from the fund, if one has
been accumulated for cases of emergency; moreover, in many
cases they carry the coftin to the grave, dressed for the occasion
in white mourning garments. Should the fraternity be composed
of men whose social position, as being a shade higher, does
not permit them to do the carrying themselves, they sup-
port the coffin on either side with their hands when the coolies
shoulder it, to show at least their willingness to carry it to its
last abode.
In Fuhkien we have seen hundreds of burials, but never in a
single case did the bearers of the coftin wail or pour forth
mourning dirges. We feel therefore compelled to conclude that the
ancient custom of doing so, has in that province fallen entirely
into disuse. At burials of the very rich there are nearly always
an extra number of men marching around the catafalque, to support
it with their hands when narrow spots have to be passed, or short
turns to be made round ditficult corners. These men also support
it when the bearers wish to halt for a few moments to take
breath, as then each bearer places underneath the carrying-poles,
instead of his own shoulders, a staff with a small cross-piece aftixed
at the top, which he carries in his hand for the purpose. Let us
1 ###•
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193
THE MOURNF.US IN THK ItKAK.
notc by the way that a coffin is invariably carried feet foreward,
as is also the rule in Europe \'.
If in bygone ages the family members and chmsmen, wlio
drew the coftin gravewards, liowled and chanted so loudly that
gags had to be used to mufflc their voices, it is not surprising
to see that still now-a-days the nearest kinamen of the dead, whilc
following the corpse to tlie grave, liowl and lament bitterly. The
wailing sons of the dead man follow immediately behind the coffin,
in the deepest sackcloth mourning and with straw sandals on their
feet. Their pigtails .are unbraided, so that the long dishevelled hair
flows down their back frora under a mourning cap of sackcloth.
Each one of tliem carries the small mourning stafF alrcady
mentioned on page 146. Sometimes one or more of the sons walk
at the side of the coffin, having one hand on the catafalque as it
to help in conveying it gravewards, or as if to prevent it trom
carrying away their bcloved father or mother. It is by no mcans
unusual to see a man walking on either side of the eldest son to
support him, the principal mourner being supposed to be so deeply
bowed down by grief as to be unable to walk alone.
Should ceremonies instituted to gain the soul admission to the
Western Paradise (p. 121 0^7.) have been celcbrated before the burial,
and a haan provided by the family as a seat tor the soul (page 125),
this streamer is carried in the funeral procession by the eldest son
of the principal wife of the dead man, to the exclusion of the
elder sons by concubines or by adoption. Only in the event of there
being no sons by the principal wife, have the other sons a right
to carry it and thus to support the soul on its way to and from
the grave. When the burial happens to take place whilc the
great requiem mass, often alluded to, is being celebrated, the
streamer also appears in the train, for, during these rites likewise
it is made to play an important part.
Those of the sons who cannot attend the burial because they
live abroad or are prevented by severe illness frora leaving their
homes, are represented in the funeral cortegc by a complete suit of
sackcloth garments together with a mourning staff, carried either
on a tray or in an open basket by a servaut or a remote kinsman
•1 «Nature, which headlong into Life rli<i throng iis,
Witli our feet forwani to onr Grave doth hring us:
Wliat is less ours than thé our borrow\'d Breath?
We stumble into Life, we go to Death".
Musarum Deliciae, ap. Brand, Observations on Popuiar Antiquities, p. 4GÜ.
IS
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194
FUNERAIi RITES.
in wliitc mourning apparel. Besides implying that the child,
who is unable to perform in his own pcrson the sacred duty
of burying his father or mother, is present in mind, the custom
serves to show the number of sons the deceased has left beliind,
male offspring being in China not only a reason for liappiness, but
also for display and pride. Should the eldest or only male
descendant of the deceased be an infant, it is, in sackeloth dress,
taken to the tomb in the arms of its mother or nnrse seated in
a sedan-ehair. Other male babies are usually rcpresented by a suit
of mourning clothes each, but infant sons, who are able to walk,
are always taken to the tomb, carried, if necessary, on the back or
the shoulder of full-grown relatives. They are attired in sackeloth
garments quite similar to those of thcir elder brothers. Some mothers
think it prudent to tie a copper coin between their eyebrows by
means of a red silken string fastened behind the head, to protect,
as they think, their tender age froin the attacks of nefarious
influences.
Like every important rite in respect of the disposal of the dead,
the journey to the grave is connected with loud lamentations on
the part of the nearest kindred. Their melancholy concert may often
bc heard at a great distance. But, like all Chinese death howling,
this too is chiefly a cereinonious wailing, a rite prescribed by
the laws of custom and having little concern with real feelings ot
affection and grief (see page 11); in tact, tears are vcry rarely
shed, and the howling is done with the same ardour and passion
even if the dead man have departed this life years ago and can
scarcely be remembered by the offspring. It is quite natural there-
fore that the wailing should cease in the open field, where there
are no passers-by, and that it should immediately be resumed when
the procession arrivés at inhabited quarters, meets with rernarkable
persons or approaches dwellings of note. While watching burials, it lias
often struck us to see the mourners suddenly stop their cries to
cast smiling looks of curiosity upon the foreigner so rarely seen,
and then set up their howl again as soon as they had passed
by the rara avis. The practice certainly deserves the name of
an Irish weeping, and may be placed in the same category as the
conclamatio of the ancient Romans, or the crying of the women,
which Virgil, in his description of the obsequies of the Queen of
Carthage, denominates by the term ululatus. But the Chinese of
the present age do not, like the Irish, place a band of people in
front of\' the procession, to set up, from the house to the burial
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FOIjLOWING THE DF.AD TO THE OltAVE.                         195
ground, a most barbarous Holoo-loo-loo; neithcr do we find with
tliem the mulieres prwficn; of the Romans, who probably fulfilled
the same office; neithcr do they, like the Javanese and many
barbarous and semi-civilized peoples, follow the corpse to the
grave witli outcries so hideoas and vociferations so frantic as to
make the foreign spectator think himself in presence of a procession
of raving inadmen.
Besides the sons, all the grandsons and great-grandsons in the
male line of descent walk behind the cofHn, also, in the order
of proximity, the brothers, male cousins and other relations
by blood. Every one of them wears the deepest mourning
attire prescribed for his specific degrec of kinship to the dead.
Finally come such distant rclatives as take an interest in the
deceased and his family, as also the friends and acquaintances,
many of whoiu, not falling within the ternis to wcar mourning,
are dressed in their best attire, or in the ceremonial robes tlib
pao described on page 49 sqq. Scarcely ever is a dead man foliowed
to his last resting place by any one occupying a higher rank in the
hierarchy of the family , because the rigid rules of socinl life, which
demand that every one should adhere firinly to his position of
superiority or inferiority in the domestic circle, ennnot be changed
by death itself in a country where the lint; of demarcation betwecn
the living and the dead is so faint. A father does not follow his
cliild to the grave! ïhis mie, howevcr, does not hold good for the dead
who belong to the same generation and are of inferior rank only
on account of their sex or age; e. g. a brother mav appear in the
funeral of his sister, an elder brother in that of his voumrer
brother, a husband in that of his wife. But a husband does
not follow his consort to the grave. He never followcd her, she
always foliowed Mm, and so it must ever be, even after death.
Aecordingly he walks in front of her cotlin, wearing a specific
mourning eostume prescribed for widowers, and carrving a long
staff about which more will be said in ch. VI of the third
part of this Book, which is specially devoted to mourning and
mourning dress.
The female inembers of the family, even the next of kin,
such as the wife, the unmarried daughters and the daughters-in-
law, only follow the cottin at the outset. Having gone a few
dozen paces, they return home, without interrupting their wailing,
always taking another street, as if ashamed that people who have
seen the procession start, should perceive that they have not foliowed
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i<)<;
FUNERAT, RITES.
it to the grave. It is the execrable custom of disabling the women
by criniping thcir feet which compels theni to abandon the
procession so soon. The holy ancients acted othenvise, so that the
present generation is bkmeworthy froin an orthodox point of"view,
which accounts tbr the women\'s choosing another way in going
home. Both the / li and the Li Jet prove, that in the ages
of the Cheu dvnasty the female inourners went to the grave.
üescribing the interment of ordinary olficers, the first-named
work says: »The women stand with their faces towards the east,
» and, while everybody abstains from wailing, the coffin is low-
» ered. Parcels of black and scarlet silk in pieces of eighteen feet
» long are now presented to the dead .... and, this rite accom-
» plished, the principal mourner bares the upper part of his body
» and makes reverences to the guests, the principal female mourner
»imitating him in this"1. The Li li also says (ch. 13, 1. ^): »On
»the death of the mother of Kwoh-chao-tsze, he asked Tszè\'-chang,
»saying: \'On burying her, what should be the places at the grave
» for the men and women ?\' Tsze-chang answered: \'At the burial
»of King-tszë, the Minister of the Multitudes, when Confucius
» directed the rites, the males stood with their faces to the west
» (t. e. on the east side of the pit), and the women stood with theirs
»to the east\'. \'Ah, replied the other, that will not do ... . Let the
» women stand behind the men and all have their faces towards
» the west\' " 2. Still in the great codex of the state religion enacted
in the 20th. year of the Khai-yuen period (A. ]). 732) " we find
it formally stated amongst the rescripts regulating the burial of
official persons, how the males and females have to station them-
selves at the tomb during the interment4.
The ancient rule probably still obtains in many parts of the
|ï00O 3*, |I^l\\ üf#^^.Ch. 30,1. Vsqq.
£$. Sect. |g t}, II, 2.
3  See page 236.
4  Ku kin thu shu tsih eh\'ing, sect. jjB ^, ch. 55, leaf 1.,
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CABRTIlfO SACBIF1CIAL ARTICLES IN THE PROCESSION.          197
empire. In southern Fuhkien it is, at the present day, only
tbllowed in the event of the ,dead man having no male issue, so
that all the duties of the sons devolve on his wife or unmarried
daughters. These women are then carried behind the coffin in
sedan chairs, il\' their orimped feet prevent them from walking,
and they continuously wail and lament, as the sons would do in
like case. Whether they accompany the dead for only a few paces
or all the way to the tomb, the females are dressed in the deepest
mourning prescribed for their respective degrees of relationship.
To accompany a dead man to the tomb is called sang tsbng \',
»to see off a burial". The persons who perform this sacred duty,
and those who follow behind them to show affection and esteem
to the deceased and the bereaved farnily, generally form the rear
of the procession. Hence we might herewith close our description of
the funeral corteges if there dit not remain a few things to be
inentioned which appear in the same only exceptionally.
In the first place, in many parts of the empire one may see,
a little in front of the pavilion with the soul tablet, a set of
sacrificial meats, dainties and instruments of worship. These are
carried either in one or more pavilions, or on large, square wooden
trays, each suspended from a pole which rests on the shoulders
of two men. The eatables are destined to be offered to the soul at
the grave. They have formed a part of those which were placed
on the tables at the great farewell sacrifice. Moreover, an assort-
ment of fresh offerings destined for the God of Earth are carried
gravewards in a similar manner.
We have said that such sacrificial articles only exceptionally
appear in the procession. In fact, excepting the burials of high
officials, when an entire goat and pig may be seen amongst the
offerings, the latter are nearly always carried to the tomb by men
who go their own way, regardless of the train, taking the shortest
cut, to save time and labour.
Sending to the tomb part of the offerings which have done
service at the farewell sacrifice, is again a usage borrowed from
holy antiquity. After the description of the said sacrifice, repro-
duced on page 151 seq., the / li says: »While the mourners
» stamp their feet as before, the persons charged with removing the
»offerings enter the gate. They remove the napkins placed over
< mm
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198
FUNERAI, RITES.
»the offerings, and put the sacrificial meats into baskets, taking
» only the lower quarters of the victims, and not the fish, neither the
» dried nieat \\ These baskets, which are of Fhragmites grass, are
» three feet long and made of stalks of fully the same length" \\
And in describing tlie interment, the book nientions these baskets
as aniong the articles wliieh were deposited in the tomb all around
the cotfin, to remain buried there as an offering to the dead 3.
We also read in the Li ki (ch. 13, 1. 5 and ch. 54, 1. 7—9):
»The Ruler of a state has seven pareels of ofFerings and seven
» carriages for dispatching them, a Great officer has five parcels and
»five such carriages \'. Tlie nmnber of the carriages is proportioned
»to tlie parcels of meat. They are covered in with coarse linen
»and ornainented on the fonr sides. The parcels are placed in the
» tour corners of the
» burial pit. Rice is
»also loaded upon
» the carts, but Yiu-
» tsze (a disciple ot
>> Confucius) has said
» that this is not
» consistent witli the
» ceremonial usages,
» as, at funerals, no-
» thing except dried
» and pickled meat
» must beoffered"\'.
In Fig. 21 wegive
Cart for conveying Offerings to the Tomb.                    il picture üt Sticll a
cart as found in
Nieh Cheung-i\'s Illustrations for the Three Rituals. With some
ÜJi^.Ch. 30,1. 26.
2   % f£ ^ H R , — H- Ch. 31, 1. 45.
3  Ch. 30, I. 40.
Sect. fëï ^ , U, 2.
ii^f H^iê, kitJimmb-**m§b.
I, 2.
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OARRYINU «REEN BOUOHS IN FUNERAT,S.                        199
insignificant deviations in the details, the Khienlung editors have
copied it from that work and inserted it in the Li ki and the 1 li,
respectively in ch. 82 and 44.
As a seeond category of things seen only exceptionally at burials,
ranst be nientioned large, square pieces of coloured silk or broad-
oloth, each fastened to a lath which is suspended from the top of
a pole carried aloft, in the saine inanner as inscribed banners use
to be carried auiongst Europcans. They are decorated with eulogistic
phrases implying respect and veneration for the dead, or referring
to him and his future fate. Amongst the rich, such honorary banners
are presented by friends and relatives to families who eelebrate a
great Buddhist raass for the repose of a deceased kinsrnan, that
they may use thera for decorating the walls of the hall. Hence
they do not appear at a funeral unless that mass has already been
celebrated, or is in course of celebration when the burial takes place.
In many parts of the empire it is customary to ornament such
banners with boughs of green leaves affixed to the top of the pole.
This custom exists also in West Borneo, amongst the numerous
Chinese settlers who have emigrated from Kwangtung province. In that
island, the present writer saw thera carrying in the van long bamboos
on which were left all the green leaves and twigs; they were thrown
away about the grave when the procession prepared for returning
home. This custom acquires a peculiar interest from the circum-
stance that a similar practice obtains in many parts of Europe,
where yew, willow and cypress branches, ivy, rosemary, laurel and
other evergreens are carried to the grave and cast into the pit
when the coffin has been lowered, or laid over the grave after
this has been filled up.
In the event of the coffin having been kept unburied for a
considerable time, it is not unusual to see on the way to the
grave a live white cock with its feet tied standing upon the
catafalque. In many instances, this bird is kept in a state of
drowsiness by spirits which are poured down its throat, lest it
should endeavour to fly away or disturb the bearers by fluttering
its wings. Though most Chinamen confess they do not know the
meaning of this custom, saying it is merely a legacy handed down
by a wise ancestry to its offsprings who without reasoning must act
as they have done, yet it is not difficult to find a plausible ex-
planation of it, if notice be taken of sorne ideas which are prevalent
amongst the people about the cock and expressed in native books.
Since very ancient times the cock has been the acknowledged
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200
FUNERAli RITES.
emblem of the sun, because every morning it loudly announces
the rise of the God of the Day. The ancients even went &o far as
to identify it with the sun: »It is", so an author of the llth.
century tells us, »an old saying that in the sun there is a cock, and
in the moon a hare" \\ But, whereas the sun is the chief enibodi-
ment of the great Yang element which, as the reader knows,
represents tlie light, warmth and life of the universe, the cock
naturally represents also an important depository of Yang matter:
» The cock", savs the Ciïun-tsiu shvooh thi tszë* or Disquisitions
on passages occurring in the Ctfun-tsHu, »is the emblem of the
»accumulated Yang (i.e. the sun) and of the South. Etherial
» things which partake of the character of fire and of the Y a n g element,
» have the property of naming up; hence, when the Yang rises
»above the horizon the cock crows, because things of the same
>> nature innuence each other" 3. Now, as we have said on page 22, the
human vital energy also consists of Yang matter. Therefore it is
not surprising to find that the Chinese have recourse to a cock, in
order to strengthen a soul which is cnfeebled to a great extent
by having been so long compelled to wander about miserably
in consequence of the delay of the burial, and which must make
a wearisome journey to the grave. In this they act on exactly the
same principle which teaches them to place a candle or lamp on
the couch of persons vvho have just breathed their last (page 20),
and to carry lighted lanterns and torches in funeral processions.
Besides, the use of the cock in funerals serves still another
purpose: it keeps spirits of darkness away trom the coffin. Indeed,
such spirits being identified in Chinese philosophy with the
principle of darkness Yin, everything which is imbued with niuch
Yang matter naturally exercises a neutralizing, nay destructive
influence over them. Moreover, it is an article in the creed of all
classes of Chinese society that the spirits of darkness, being unable
to withstand daylight, are every morning put to flight by the
1 Ü0 ^Wi, J3 4" \'fï J& •See tbePi y ty ft. co,"-
poseil by Luh Tien föfe /w , ch. 6.
IÜ €* \\>X M Ü ik • K»>>chi hi>"j y«™ H&%lWlW^ Minor i""\'So,l,ce
of thorough Investigation, ch. SO, I. 10.
-ocr page 241-
THE COCK IN TUK PüNEBAf, PROCESSION.                      201
crowing of the cock, standing as they do in perpetual awe of this
bird. It would lead us too far from our present scope if we were to
enter into particulars about the important position the cock holds
in China as an exorcising agency. This subject will be amply dealt
with in our Second Book, in the chapters specially devoted to
Demonology. But we must not onüt to note here that Chinese
books furnish evidence that white cocks were anciently preferred
to those of other colours for exorcising purposes, a fact wbich
explains the reason why now-a-days such birds are used in funerals
to the alinost total exclusion of others. The great Standard work
on Natural History and Materia Medica, known as Pen-tëao
kang itiuh1 or » Collectanea of Plants" which was composed in the
latter half of the I5th. century by Li Shi-chen * and has since become
a general vademecum for the wlïole host of apothecaries and quack-
doctors in the empire, lias in its 4Sth. chapter the following
quotation from the Chen kao 3, a work written in the 5th. or Gth.
century by one Thao Hung-king4: »If in the rnountains you
» study the ways to attain higher perfection, then keep white fowls
»and white dogs, because they may serve to avert evil influences
» from you" 5. » This is", adds Li Shi-chen, »the origin of the practice
» in vogue amongst modern men of the black art, of using white cocks
» for exorcising purposes" 6. Some light is also thrown on the custom
of placing a white cock on eoffins by the following passage,
occurring in the Pen-tsno shih i 7 or » Omissions in the works on
Botanics", a work written in the first half of the 8th. century
by Chen Tsang-khi8: » If a white cock be fed during three years,
it is fit to be employed by disembodied soids to serve them" 9.
It is a matter of frequent occurrence that two members of one
household are carried to the tomb in the same funeral procession. If,
for instance, a husbandand wife have manifested a desire to rest together
in one grave, and one of the couple dies when the other is
9 ö % B # = # hI fö $L HP ffr W. • /,<"-/x\'«° hM»\'j w»/\'-
ch. 48.
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202
FUNERAIi RITES.
so old that deatfa may soon be expected, the corpse is in many
instances kept unburied for the time being, in order that both
may be entoinbed simultaneously. Cases may also occur in which
brotliers and sisters die soon after each other and, their graves
having been selected near the same place, the family prefer to bury
tlieiu at the same time, to save expense. In all snch instances the
procession is arranged as if for one person only, but there are two
soul banners, if they are used at all, and, of course, one set of
soul tablets for each corpse. If both the deceased ranked on the
same level in the family hierarchv, these tablets may be placed side
by side in the same pavilion, should the family desire to limit the
number of such vehicles for economy\'s sake; otherwise those of the
person wlio died last are carried ahead of the others. For each
coftin there is a special catafalque. It is the invariable rule at
doublé burials to carry the person, who died last, ahead of the
other. For, as the Chinese of Amoy express it, sin fg\'oa kdx, » the
neu corpse should show the way to the old one"; indeed, reversing
the order, » the old dead opens the way to a new one", and this may
have the fatal consequence that the last case of death entails another
case, and so on , in endless succession. The necessity of precluding such
a disaster has caused a precept of the holy Confucius to the effect
that the principal dead ought to be carried foremost, to become
a dead letter. This precept has been handed down to posterity by
the Li ki, which relates (ch. 2(5, 1. 12): »On being asked by
» Tseng-tszë: \'What course is to be adopted when there is a doublé
»case of death? Who is then first, who last?\' the sage answered:
»\'At burials, the less important one should have the precedence,
»the more important one ought to follow\' " \'.
Let us now make a rough estimate of the number of people
coniposing a funeral procession of the highest order. In some that
passed before us, we counted more than tifty pavilions including
those contributed by friends and relations. Now calculating that
each is carried by four men and escorted by two flag-bearers and
a band of eight musicians, we obtain the considerable number of
seven hundred. Add to these the mandarins\' escorts, the persons
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bird\'s eye view of the procession.
303
in charge of the more important pavilions and of the cottin, the
sixteen or thirty-two cotfin bearers, the numerous mourners, friends
and kinsmen in the rear, and so forth, tlie total number rnay
without exaggeration be fixed at over one thousand persons. This
cipher will still be considerably increased in wet weather, the
undertaker having then an extra nninber of men in the train for
the puipose of placing covers of oiled paper or linen over the
catafalque and the roofs of the pavilions whenever a shower occnrs,
lest the costly material should be spoiled by the rain. Against this the
highest cipher we may place as the opposite extreme that of burials
of the very poor, who have to content themselves with what is
strictly required, viz. one paper-scatterer, one shabby pavilion for
the soul tablet escorted by one or two clarionet players only, and
four coffin bearers, with a few mourners in the rear.
It would be a mistake to imagine that a Chinese funeral pre-
sents an edifying spectacle bearing the character of a civilized
people under mournful circumstances. By far the most inspire a
foreigner from the West with a feeling of disgust. In order to
make as much money as possible, the undertakers employ as
bearers of the cotfin and the sundry pavilions the very scum of the
streets, abject individuals addicted to opium, the upper parts of
whose bodies are naked in summer, and in winter covered with
only a few dirty garments. As to the banners, lanterns etc,
they as a rule are intrusted to the care of impertinent, dirty
paltry boys, who are to be had cheaper than full-grown men.
Even those araongst the hirelings who wear somcthing like a
uniform do not make a more favourable impression, their clothing
bearing traces of very long usage and a total absence of any
idea of cleanliness. LI si tsit é kng hun-Ving e1: » You are the
bearer of a soul pavilion", and Li sï tsit é kidh ts\'di-Hr2: » You
are the bearer of a decorative flag", are in Amoy favourite expres-
sions in the mouth of people when calling each other hard and
ugly names, and also daily on the tongue of mothers when scold-
ing their children for abject individuals of the worst kind.
As soon as the procession starts, these wretched, shabby creatures
deern it prudent to yell and cry in a most unedifying manner. The
bearers behind every pavilion give directions to those in front
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204
KUNERAIi R1TE8.
by loud screams and revilings, and aro answered in likc innnncr.
A nurnber of men run up and down the procession to niaintain
order, and to prevent the one part from going too fast and the other
too slow, and thcy are continuously yelling and shouting at the top
of their voices. The lictors, at short intervals, send tbrth their
loud In. o. o. o., accompanied by the deep tones of the heavy
gongs. But all the hubbub produced in this way is as nothing
compared with the shrill tones of the detestable clarionets, of
which there are so many in the train that the noise of the
still more numerous drums and eymbals, mingled with the long
plaintive sounds of\' the copper sackbuts, is drowned by them. After
all, seeing that each band plays as it thinks best, regardless of
those marehing in the immediate neighbourhood, and seeing, mo-
reover, that streets in southern China are for the most part mere
narrow lanes crowdud with busy passers-by, through whieh the
procession can scarcely niake its way without endless altereations:
the reader will easily understand that a Chinese funeral is anything
but a decent mourning ceremony intended as the last honour to
the dead. From the variegated pavilions, flags and lanterns, and from
the numerous bands of musicians, a foreigner not accustomed to
such scènes might easily imagine he saw before him a cavalcade
of semi-biirbarians going to a feast.
Chiefly owing to the narrowness of the streets and the numerous
impediments from the peddlers, coolies and shopkeepers, with which
the train is every minute coming in contact, the order is con-
tinually being disturbed, in spite of the most strenuous efforts of
the men appointed to niaintain it. Even the undertaker, who has generab
ly to provide for several buiïals on one day, will cause large
gaps by hurrying on the van, in the hopes of compelling the rest
to make haste. Often, on entering a city, we have seen the van
of a funeral train calmly waiting outside the walls, and have met
the rest of the procession in the streets a long while after. At nearly
all funerals the undertaker is present in person to superintendent
the arrangements, and this reminds us of the designutor ofancient
Rome, who used to walk at the head of the cortege foliowed
by a certain number of lictors.
Tt is a fixed rule for burial processions to move forward to quick
time. This may have soinething to do with a rescript in the Li ki
(ch. 10, 1. 59) to this effect: » It is desirable that in affairs of
» mourning there should be urgency, and that festive affairs should
»be gone about in a leisurely way. But, although affairs of
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SENDINO BACK THE FWKNDS AN1) K.ELATIONS.                 205
» mourning require urgcncy, one must not violate the preseri bed mies"1.
It is prescribed by custom that, on the way to the tomb,
at three or more spots properly agreed upon beforehand, the chief
niourners should turn round and silently kneel down with their
heads bowed to the paveraent. They inean hereby to expreSs their
gratitude to the friends and kinsraen in the rear for honouring
the dead and the family by their presence, and to intimate
that they dare not expect tliem to go so far as the tomb. Some
of tlie company harangued in this silent way are then expected to
rush forwurd and help the mourners to their feet again, while a
person, previously appointed for this duty, exclaiins: Liet üi siiin9-
kang, hao-ldm sid po 2, » File of noble gentlemen, the filial sons
thank you for your presence here". Such of the noble gentlemen
as are not closely related to the deceased now leave the train and
go their own way, the majority of thein in sedan-chairs, which the
family have politely stationed at the three points, to be made use
of gratuitously by the departing guests.
This ceremonious sending away of those who have honoured the
deceased by their presence is called si kheh J, »to dismiss the
guests". At each of the three spots where it is done, a man in a
white mourning dress is seated at a table, to take down the names
of those who leave the prucession, as custom requires the family
afterwards to send presents in recognition of the marks of interest
shown on such an occasion. At very pompous funerals, the recorder
of the names is assisted by a few others, to provide against the chance
of his meeting with faces which he does not know. The names of the
donors of » auxiliary pavilions" are also noted for the same reason.
By the way it may be observed that, at burials of the highest
order, it is customary to station men along the road to distribute
siri-leaves and betel-nuts amongst the notable persons walking in
the procession. Though most of them do not partake of these drugs,
the use of the same being, as we have said on page 153, far from
general, it would be inconsistent with good manners to refuse to
accept them. So most men just hold them between their fingers,
or give them away to the coolies or anybody who likes them.
mil^üff• Sect- W.^^1^2
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20(5
FUNKRAI, RITES.
So far for the procession. Now we have to watch the behaviour
of the people on seeing it go past.
Established custom requires everybody to make room for a
cortege of death, whenever and wherever it is met. Even the
highesf mandarin, moving through the street with a numerous
attendance of lictors, soldiers and servants, forms no exeeption
to this rule: — if the street is too narrow to allow two corteges
to pass each other without collisions, he must patiently wait
until the coffin lias passed. In fact, by stopping a funeral, one
miglit cause the auspicious hour, selected with so much care
for letting down the coffin into the grave, to be misscd, and
so bring great misfortune over the dead man and his offspring;
besides, it is a holy rescript of antiquity lodged in the venerable
Li ki (ch. 55, 1. 14) that » men of higlier order should not deprive
ethers of thek funeral rites" 1.
Many persons avoid funerals from superstition, believing they
may bring life-destroying infiuenccs over them. VVomen call in their
children who are playing in the street, and close the door behind
them, or, if they cannot get away in time, they teil them to
clasp their hands together and make slight reverences to the corpse
and the soul, while they do the same themselves. That the doors
of temples are closed, or the gods residing therein prevented in
some other manner from seeing the cortege of death, lias been
stated already on page 155. If a procession carrying a bride to
the house of her parents-in-law be met, this is considered to bring
good luck to both parties. The accident will bring happiness to the
bride and to the generation of descendants to which she gives
birth, because the road, which she is going to take, has been purged
by the numerous spirit-dispelling expedients that form part of
the funeral: — no nefarious inrluences will now settle on her and
work evil on the future happiness of herself and her offspring.
On the other hand, the bridal procession undoubtedly emanates
its influences over the corpse, and these, sown in the grave,
must surely cause many happy marriages to be celebrated among
the mourners and their descendants.
In his Social Life of the Chinese (ch. VII), Mr. üoolittle makes
mcntion of sacrifices sometimes performed at Fuhchow at the
expense of personal friends or relatives in honour of a distinguished
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207
SAC&IP1CES IN THK STREKT.
man, either a civilian or a mandarin, wliile the coffin is en route
to the grave. Tables, he says, with bounteous articles of sacrifice
are placed by the roadside, the procession halts at the spot, and
the cotfin having been put down, one of the principal persons who
united in making the sacrifice approaches and kneels down before
the cotfin. Sorae of the articles are then handed to the man on
his knees, who presents them towards the dead. He retires, and
another person takes his place, kneeling, receiving and presenting
some food. Such a sacrifice honours the memory and the virtues
of the departed in a manner very gratifying to the family of which
he was once a member. In the summer of 1850 an illustration of
this custom occurred at Fuhchow, when the corpse of ex-Commissioner
Lin, of Canton opium-destroying notoriety, who died while engaged
in an expedition against the long-haired insurgents, was brought
home for burial. A large number of tables were arranged
along the sidcs of the street on the island in the river. As observed
at that time, the exhibition of articles ofFered to the manes of
the honoured dead was far more extensive than a sacrifice on
the premises occupied by the family of the deceased.
In the southern part of Fuhkien such sacrifices are of extremely rare
occurrence, at least if we are entitled to draw such inference from the
fact that (I uring our many years\' residence there we did not come
across one single instance of it. Trustworthy persons, however, relate
instances which have taken place in that part of the empire, adding
that the mourners never neglected to thank the saciïficers by throwing
themselves at their feet. It is clear that such roadside-sacrifices
are repetitions of the farewell-otfering presented by the family
itself at the departure of the funeral procession from the house of
rnourning.
The Interment.
In case the grave is situated on an eminence, the place
where the ground begins to ascend upwards is selected as the
last spot for »dismissing the guests" (p. 205). At this final sum-
mons all the friends and acquaintances retire, because, as we have
siiid on page 104, the presence of persons whose horoscopes do not
agree with the hour of burial, may have a bad intluence upon
the fate of the deceased, as well as on that of the owner of the
horoscope.
Lest these retiring friends should have to make the long journey
back on empty stomachs, the family of the dead have taken care
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208
FUNERAL RITKS.
to station at this spot sonie members of a numerous class ofpeople
who make it their special vocation to move about the streets with
a porfcible furnace, selliiig cooked food to passers-by, workmen,
etc. Macaroni and vermicelli soup, mixed with boiled shrimps and
oysters, is the special farc on such occasions, the long threads of this
food being considered very useful in counteracting the life-shortening
influences which the contact with death may have exereised
(comp. p. 68). For cveiy bowl of soup delivered, the peddler receives
a stamped counter-check from a friend or relative of the family,
who is stationed for the purpose on the spot with a large provision
of such documents; when the burial is over, he then calls at the
house of mourning and converts them into hard cash. Similar soup-
stalls are in some instances also stationed on the other spots where
guests leave the procession.
The bearers of the catafalque, setting down their cumbersome
load, break it up entirely. They tie the big rafter lengthwise
over the cofHn by winding some ropes several times around both
and, casting the pall loosely over it, they carry the coffin
up-hill, disembarrassed of all superfiuous weight. This practical
measure is not taken when the grave is situated in the plains,
and the path presents no difficulties to carrying the whole catafalque
to the edge of the pit. All the empty pavilions presented by the
friends are left behind with the hearse, as wöll as their bands of
musicians.
Arriving at the grave, the procession finds the pit perfectly
ready to receive the coffin. It has been dug by some of the so-
called tkó hong \', or » earth-workers", under supervision of the same
professor of geomancy who was employed by the family for finding
out the grave (p. 102). If the burial has been deferred over seven
days, so that it has been necessary to select a fit hour for lowering
the coffin (p. 103), it may happen that this hour has not yet come
when the procession arrivés, in which case they must wait paticntly
on the spot. The coffin having been set down on the edge of the
pit, everybody, the mourners not cxcluded, sit down on the grass
or idly stroll about, gossiping and smoking. No lamentation, not
a single sound of mourning is heard all the while, and the music
too keeps perfectly silent.
In many instances, it is considered highly salutary, even neces-
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PDRGING THE BUIUAI, PIT.                                    209
sary, to subject the pit to a certain preparative and purgative pro-
cess. One of the grave-diggers, descending, places one or more
copper coins, provided by the family for the purpose, in eacli of the
four corners, saying in a loud voice: An (si", hek hö kid\'V-sun
tiin tsdi \', »I depose money here, in order to cause your sons
and grandsons to acquire wealth". All the by-standers respond to this
by exclaiming in the affirmative hó ah. Tt is clear we have here to do
with a continuation of the practices observed at the preparation of
the coffin for receiving the body (p. 89 seg.) and that, thcrefore,
the ceremony is intended to cause the grave to erait influences
which may assist the offspring in earning money. The five kinds
of cereals and a few iron nails are subsequently scattered about
over the botton) of the grave, with accompanying sentences worded
like those pronounced on sowing the same things in the coffin.
This an khbng2 or » deposing things in the pit" can, however,
only secure wealth, food and offspring to the family if all the
contrary influences, which might prevent the grave from freely
operating in the way desired, are exorcised away. For this pur-
pose, a fire-pan in which snioulders some »purification-incense"
(see p. 33), is held inside the pit by one of the grave-diggers and
moved along its four sides. Much more effective, however, than
this tmng khbng3 or »purging the pit", is a ceremony which in
exceptional cases is performed at burials of the rich by the pro-
fessor of geomancy. Barcfooted, with blackened face and dishevelled
hair, this worthy man, otherwise extremely dignified in his habits,
as it becomes every man of learning in China to be, stands, sword
in hand, on the summit of a neighbouring knoll, where his observa-
tions have taught him the so-called fien-tik hng4 or »region of
the benefits of the heavens" is situated, in other words, where
the centre of the beneficial influences of nature lies, which the art
of geomancy purports to converge upon the resting places of the
dead. Having stood there for a while, crying and wielding his
sword like a raving madman, in order to induce the said influences
to rise out of their latent state and begin their operation upon the
grave immediately, the professor scatters about him a great number
of sheets of mock money for the unseen spirits which, if not pro-
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210                                              FUNERAI, RTTES.
pitiated in this way, might cool their wrath by neutralizing the
effects of his work. Then he suddenly rushes down-hill, yelling at the
top of his voice and brandishing his sword, with the object of bringing
about a general snuve qui peut among the spectres. Subsequently
he casts hiinself into the pit, wallows for a moment at the bottom,
scatters more paper about him, and finally climbs out, to allow
the cotfin-bearers to let the cofhn down. All the while the musicians
make as much noise as their drums, gongs, cynibals and sackbuts
can possibly produce, thus co-operating with him in driving the
evil agencies away; besides, a great quantity of crackers are fired,
and shots out of blunderbusses of the kind which are employed
in China for firing salutes for mandarins.
This odd proceeding of the geomancer goes by the term hoah
soan-ling \', »to halloo the influences of the mountains", or Mn
8oa"-ling 8, »to stir those influences up, to make them boil". It will
easily bc understood that this matter entails an extra expense for the
benefit of the professor. Indeed, dispeiling evil spirits is a business
so extremely dangerous, that nobody can be reasonably expected
to undertake it unless adequately indemnified for the risks he runs.
The coffin-bearers now place the rafter lengthwise over the pit
and unknot the ropes hy means of which the coffin is affixed under-
neath the rafter, slowly veering them away amidst the beating
of gongs, cymbals and drums. In case the dead possessed an
official rank entitling him to a salute of blunderbusses on entering
or leaving an official mansion, the same number of shots are fired
when his body is lowered into the grave. The musicians play their
instruments with all the power that is in their hands and lungs,
the lictors shout out their lü o. o. o., and the mourners loudly
wail in obedience to the / li, which says in its description of
the funeral rites for official persons: »They now lower the coffin
»into the grave, the principal mourners wailing and stamping
»their feet an unlimited number of times" \'. Most of the bystanders
recoil a few paces, lest their shadows should fall into the grave
and harm thus be done to their persons. In this they act on the same
principle as those who attended the coffining, these persons, as we
have scen on page 94, preventing their shadows from being shut up
in the receptacle of the dead. The grave-diggers and coffin-bearers,
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I.OWERING THE COFFIN INTO THE GltAVE.                      211
however, do not take this precaution. They deern themselves
sufficiently beyond the reach of evil consequences by having wound
the long strip of cloth, which, in southern Fuhkien, people of the
lower classes are in the habit of wearing around their heads,
tightly round their waists, so that their shadows cannot be
separated from their bodies. The geoniancer and his assistants are
wise enough to stand on the side of the grave which is turned away
from the sun. Many men piek a blade of grass and put it in
their mouths, this likewise serving, as they think, to protect them
from any evil connected with the interment.
As soon as the coffin has reached the bottom of the grave, the
professor approaches, to ascertain by means of a compass and with
a thread which he stretches lengthwise over the pit, whether the
corpse lies exactly in the line which his calculations have taught
him will best ensure repose to the dead and prosperity to the
family. By means of the ropes, hoes and handspikes the coffin-
bearers and gravc-diggers adjust the coffin according to his orders,
and finally lift it up a little with their hoes, to enable the other
men to draw away the ropes. In many cases much time and labour
are wasted ere this 16h khbng \' or tsin hhbng 2, » lowcring or entering
(the coffin) into the pit", is finished to the perfect satisfaction of the
professor. For, according to the geomantic doctrines, the luck
of the family may be spoiled for ever if the corpse deviates one
single inch from the calculated direction.
The sons now throw their mourning staves away and, while one
of the attending kinsmen picks them up to stick them side by side
in the ground at the head of the pit, they proceed towards the
pavilion which contains the soul tablets. Then, all the musicians
playing their instruments and the lictors shouting out an awe-inspiring
Iü o. o., the eldest son takes the Mn pé/i out, the second son the
permanent tablet, and the third the incense-burner of the ancestors,
and these three objects they place at the foot of the pit, the censer
coming in front of the tablets. The permanent tablet is now
deposed upon the lid of the coffin by the headman of the grave-
diggers, and the sons, with or without incense sticks between
their fingers, kneel down, exclaiming: Laö-pë (laö-bu) ah, khi
lai\', »Father (or mother), rise!" These words have the effect of
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212
PUNEltAl. RITES.
inducing the soul to enter the tablet. From this very moment
the tablet is considered to be imbued with afflatus of the dead,
and to luwe become his perpetual duplicate, to serve as a patron
divinity in the domestie circle and there to receive the offspring\'s
sacrifices and worship.
The grave-digger hereupon takes the tablet away from the coffin
and hands it to thé eldest son, who respectfully puts it back into
its place at the foot of the grave. This calling upon the soul to
take up its abode in the tablet is considered a ceremony of great
import. Only those persons to whorn the sacred laws of fllial de-
votion especially assign the regular worship of the soul, viz. the
sons, may make the summons. Hence, if the only male child be
a baby, the person in charge of it at the tomb gives himself much
trouble to make it stammer out the words, and only in case it
cannot speak at all does he pronounce them in its stead.
In most parts of southern Fuhkien it is an established custom
for the sons to take a handful of earth in the lap of their sack-
cloth garment and drop it on the coffin. They perform this cere-
mony in regular order of seniority. In Amoy it is known as
peè thó_l,»to take earth in the corner of the garment". No doubt
it is expressive of the idea that, as burying one\'s parents is a holy
duty, a child ought really to take an active part in it. That it is
very usual for those who attend an interment in Europe to throw
earth upon the coffin, we need scarcely say.
The soul streamer, which served to convey the soul gravewards,
is now taken down from its staff and folded lengthwise over the
lid of the coffin. But the family does not venture to place the
name of the grandee, the supposed writer of the inscription, in the
grave. If they did, they would undoubtedly bring the influences of
death over the man and endanger his life. Therefore they remove
the name by tearing off from the streamer a sraall piece of silk
loosely pasted on it, on which, with a view to this, the name
has originally been painted. The proceeding in question shows that
the Chinese have a tendency to identify names with the persons
who bcar them, a tendency which may be classed on a level with
their inability, already illustrated by numerous instances, of clearly
discriminating between semblances or symbols and the realities which
these call to mind. The surname of the writer of the streamer is
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FILMNG UP THE GRAVE.                                      213
not torn off, for, being borne by tens of thousands of people, it
does not represent a special person.
The provisoiy soul tablet, which likewise served the puipose
of carrying the afflatus of the dead to the toinb, is also placed in
the pit. The grave-digger, however, pulls off the pedestal and
throws it away outside the pit as uselcss. At burials of the poor,
vvho have to economize as much as possible, the man in soine cases
removes the silk also, that the family niay take it home and use
it for some other purpose; but the part of the silk, which bears
the names etc. of the dead, is left in the grave, as being the seat
proper of the soul.
The slate stones engraved with the biography of the deceased,
as also the censer and the candle-sticks that vvere carried along
with them in the pavilion destined for those stones, are placed
at the foot of the coffin, in a small vault made expressly for
their occupancy. In the event of the corpse having been coffined
on a day of »reduplication of death" (page 99), tlie box with the
cockroach, berlbug or louse is also put into the pit. Then come the
ashes of the » treasury money", neatly wrapped up in paper sheets
(page 80); subsequently the coftin is covered all over with oilcd
paper over which comes a layer of straw, and finally the pit is
filled up with a watery mixture of earth and lime. In time this
mixture becomes very hard and forms a vault, which prevents the
coffin froin being crushed under the weight of the earth when it
loses its solidity from the decay of the wood.
If during the earthing up of the grave rain happens to fall,
the family feel greatly gratified. Indeed, China being so often
visited by crop-destroying droughts, rains are ranked there among
the greatest blessings which nature can bestow, for, without rains,
there is no food, no raiment, no wealth. Consequently, abundance
vvill reign in the family if the heavens pour down those blessings
into the very place which is to beconie the source of their
prosperity, the centre from whence their future luck is to emanate.
Botting the Tablet.
Meanwhile, at a short distance from the grave, a mandarin who
is actually in office, or one with a purchased title, has been patiently
waiting with n complete retinue of lictors, soldiers and attendants.
For lus convenience a small house is hired there by the family
for the day, or if there are no habitations in the neighbourhood,
a tent or shed is put up for the occasion. This grandee has been
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214
FUNERAT, RITES.
prevailed upon to come to the grave, in order to perforni a certain
ceremony, the object of which is to fix the soul of the dead in
the permanent soul tablet. To none but very notable families is
the glory reserved of securing to this end the services of such a
distinguished person.
As soon as the coffin is let down into the grave, the two graduates
who acted in the train as attendants on the deceased\'s brevet of
rank (p. 165), are dispatched with a complete band of musicians, to
politely invite the mandarin to enter upon this duty. He quickly
finishes his tea, niany cups of which beverage he has, thanks to
the care of the family, swallowed while waiting, and gets into his
sedan-chair; his whole retinue follows, and so he is carried in
procession to the grave, in the rear of the music. The graduates
march ahead of him with an air of great importance. A majestic
lu o. o. o. resounds over the hills; shots from the blunderbusses and
blows on the large gongs mark the moment at which he sallies
forth. Approaching the burial site, he falls in with the mourners,
who lic prostrate on the ground to receive him. If his rank be not
too high to disallow of such condescension, he descends from his
palanquin to decline such marks of respect from the mourners,
urging them to risc to their feet, after which he continues on his
way, under a renewed concert of lü o. o. shouting and gong-
beating.
At the grave, the mandarin is offered a seat; this is placed behind
a table, on the frontside of which hangs a cloth between the legs. His
attendants arrange themselves on both sides and every one draws
near, while the eldest son, foliowed by all the chief mourners,
fetches the tablet from the border of the pit, or has it brought
to him by one of the notable by-standers. Turning his back
towards the sun, or to the east, which is the region specially
devoted to light because every day this makes its appearance
there above the horizon, he kneels down in front of the table.
While all the musicians exert their luogs and hands to the
utmost and the lictors cry In o. o, the son holds the tablet with
both hands on his back, allowing one of the principal attendants to
untie the writing brush and the vermilion ink which are fastened
to the tablet. The ink is then moistened by a servant with some
drops of spirits or, if a white cock has been carried along upon
the catafalque, with some blood obtained by making a little in-
cision in its comb; the pencil is dipped in it, and the mandarin
rising, solemnly proceeds towards the kneeling nrourner. At this
-ocr page 255-
DOTTING THE TABLET.                                        215
moment the musicians and lictors beconie, if possible, more noi.sy
than ever. All the by-standers with their parasols draw near, to
assist the bearer of the large state-umbrella in screening the liead
of the mandarin from the sun\'s rays. Tliis grandee now removes
the string of coins and the red cloth from the tablet. Holding both
these objects in his hands he receives the writing brush, breathes
over it, slowly points with it to the sim and solemnly mnrks the
frontside of the tablet with several dots. Kirst he dots the toptuost
part, which in most cases is engraved or painted with the image
of a sun in the midst of clouds, saying: Tiém thien, i/tien c/ici/ig\\
»I mark the heavens, pour out all your purity, O heavens!"
Then he marks the pedestal, pronouncing the words: Tiém tê, të
ling*, »I mark the earth, operate efficaciously, O earth!" In
this way the natural influences of the Universe are summoned to
work upon the tablet and thus insure the happiness of the soul
for all time to come. Now the frontside is dotted on the right and
left at about the middle of its height, the words pronounced running:
Tiém ni, nt (scong3, »I dot the ears, be acute, O ears!"; thcn come
two points at about the same height, but a little nearer the centre,
with the words: Tiém buk, buk bi/ig*, »I dot the eyes, be sharp, O
eyes!" Then follows a dot on the character for » males", which stands
in a smaller column of characters at the side, indicating the male
descendants who erect the tablet as an object of worship for the family,
the accompanying words being: Tiém lam , lam tióng siïï \\ »I mark
the males; males, live long!" — and in the end a dot is placed
on the character :j:, »tablet", the last one in the large central
column. Not unfrequently this character lias the shape ^£, and,
receiving the dot on the top, is transformed into the required figure.
The words pronounced here are: Tiém tsti, tsü /tien ling*: »1 mark
the word tablet; display spirituality, O tablet!" This and all the
foregoing formulas are uttered in so low a tone, that even the
nearest by-standers can scarcely catch a word of it. In tact, fashion
prescribes total abstinence from vociferousness in any man of
position and rank, especially when he appears in public.
The object aimed at by the ceremony described is fully implied
2 §m,mm-
-ocr page 256-
210
FIJNERAT. RITES.
in the last words of the dotter: » May the tablet display spirit-
uality". Already imbued with the afflatus of the dead by the
summons described on page 211, it will, thanks to the power
of the words pronounced over it, hencefortli be surrounded
with the vivifying energy emitted by heaven and earth; it will
hearken to tlie prayers and desires of the offspring; it will
have an open eye for their wants and for tliose circumstances
of life in wliich they may be in need of the soul\'s protection
and help; finally, it will cause the male desccndants to enjoy
long and happy lives, and so ensure to the soul itself sacrifices
and worship for all generations to coinc. In short, the dotting
is iutended to infuse life into the tablet, or rather into the inanes
wliieli inhabit it and are incorporated with it. A liigli mandarin
is employed to perform the ceremony because it is believed that
the influenees, emitted by his person over the inanes, will endow
thein with the power of causing the offspring likewise to becorne
men of elevated position; in other words, it is done on grounds
similar to those which induce people to employ such grandees
for nailing up the coffins and hearing the soul streamer in funeral
processions. Families who cannot afford to employ a mandarin,
have the tablet dotted without niucli formality by a literary
graduate, by some person of learning, or by an old or a wealthy
man. Should this person happen to be in mourning, having,
as a relative of the dead, foliowed the procession, he is required
by custom to put off his white or sackcloth dress before entering
upon the dotting, as this rite is considered not to be of a uiournful
character. In many cases he tirst puts on the cereinonial thb jïao
attire (p. 49). At burials of the coinmon people, the dotting is
often perfornied by the geomancer, this man being reckoned to
belong to tlie learned class, the highest cast existing. As a rule
he does not deinand an extra fee for this additional work.
It is not difficult to understand whv, during the ceremony, the
tablet is made to face the sun or the east, that is to say, the
luminary or the region froin whence all light, warmth and life of
nature emanate. It is likewise easy to oomprehend why tlie mandarin,
besides pointing with the writing brush to the sun, breathes over
it: breath is indeed considered by the Chinese to be one of the
principal manifestations of animal life. The ink used for the dotting
must be red, because red is the colour of firc and light and
consequently particularlv identitied by Chinese philosophy with the
Y a n g or the chief principle of life. And when the soul ha\'s been so much
-ocr page 257-
BLOOD OF A COCK USED IN DOTTING THE TABLET.             217
weakened by a long postponement of the burial that a cock is
required in the procession to strengthen it, sonie blood ofthisbird
is taken to raoisten the ink, because it contains the vital energy of
the very being which, as we saw on [)age 200, is a principal
depository of the energy of the Yang and the sun, in short, of
the life of nature. That the blood is taken out of its corab niay,
we believe, be safely ascribed to the puerile reasoning of the
people that the fiery-coloured portion of the head or the most im-
portant part of the bird must naturally be the focus of its Yang
energy. Tliis suggestion is strengthened by the fact, that in the Chinese
pharmacopseia blood taken out of a cock\'s comb holds a pre-eminent
place amongst the means employed for pouring vital energy
into bodies lingering between life and death, or even quite dead.
Chapter 48 of the Pen-t£ao hang muh says:
» How to treat persons expiring suddenly. If a sleeping person
» suddenly dies, this is always the consequence of his having been
» struck by a malicious agency. Take blood out of the comb of
»a cock, smear it on his face and, when it is dry, do so once
» more; moreover, blow your breath into his nostrils and make a
» circle of ashes around the dead man \\ And if some one suddenly
» expire or lose speech, then take blood out of the comb of a cock,
» mix it with pills made of pearls and insert three or four of these
» pills in his eyes; this will produce a good effect2. In the event of
» somebody having hung himself and tlius being on the point of
» dying, you should, if he is still warm about his heart, not cut
»the rope, but prick the comb of a cock and drop the blood into
» his mouth, to set his mind and manes at rest3. Tf somebody has
» hung himself and has not yet expired, then smear the blood of
»a fowl under his throat" *. Finally, the work gives this receipt,
ü£EA-tël-
4 t&ft^fëMtilW^T\'
-ocr page 258-
218
FUNBRAIi RITES.
borrowed, as it says, frora the ancient »Inquirer into Manners
and Custorns" Fung-suh thing i\', a work of the second century:
»In case somebody has suddenly died by the agency of demons,
»then smear the blood of a black cock under lus heart, and he
» will return to life" \'.
Dotting a tablet at the grave is , in Araoy, denoted by the term
tiém tsu%, »to mark the tablet". The string of coins which was
suspended on it and which the mandarin holds in his hand while
going through the ceremony, has tbr its object to endow the tablet
and manes with the property of rendering the offspring rich. The
cock whose blood has been used is immediately seized upon by the
bearers of the pavilion in which the tablet was placed on the way
to the grave, as lawful booty allotted to their profession in virtue
of an established custom.
The dead man has vacated the ancestral home, but his tablet
will occupy the place left open by him; it will live on with the
offspring as a patron divinity without whose help there can be no
prosperity; it will henceforth be the focus upon which the religion
of\' the family is to concentrate itself. Considering the important
part the tablet has to play in the future, it cannot be a
matter of surprise that the ceremony by which the manes are fixed
into it is looked upon by the people with the greatest interest and
therefore associated in many cases with even more display than we
have described. So, at pompous burials, it frequently occurs that
two masters of ceremonies are appointed by the family to attend on
the mandarin. One of these replaces him in pronouncing the for-
mulas, and then, to increase their efticacy, he adds good-omened
phrases. For instance, when the mandarin points to the sun with
his brush, he says: Tsi j/t, ko sing *, » He points at the sun,
make promotion (O offspring!) in the service of the State"; when
the last character is dotted, he exclaims: Tsu ka it tiém, tsu-sun
c/iciong sing kho kali biên ting5, »A point is placed on the cha-
racter \'tablet\', may the offspring become illustrious and prosperous,
win the highest degrees at the State examinations and advance higher
2 & w & n ffl j» ü j& m ö t , en ü-
5 ±m-m* ^^é$> ®ww&\'
-ocr page 259-
SACRIFICING TO THE GOD OF THE BARTH.                     219
and higher in official service"; and so forth. And when thegrandee,
having finished lus task, throws the vvriting brush away, honour is
rendered him by firing as many shots as his rank entitles hitn to.
At this moment the illustrious man approaches the grave, to
the foot of which the eldest son or a kinsnian lias in the meantime
brought back the tablet, his intention being to prostrate himself there
in worship of the soul. But it is exceptional tbr the sons to permit
him to execute his purpose. They throw themselves on their knees
before him, thus humbly entreating him to retire, as neither
the deceased nor themselves are worthy of such condescension
on the part of a man of his standing; but the real motive for
their protest is a fear the service may become too expensive for
their purse, as custom requires that at least doublé the fee be
paid to the mandarin if he also worships the soul. When the
dignitaiy prepares to get into his palanquin amidst the sound of
gongs and loud Iü o. o. cries, all the sons throw themselves on
their knees, to express their gratitude for his valuable services.
Now it is the great man\'s turn to deeline these acts of reverence.
Rushing up to the prostrated men, he urges them to stand up, at
the same time extending both his arms as if to assist them in
rising; then he disappears in his sedan-chair and goes off with a
salute of shots. One of the attendants has meanwhile taken good
care to place a large piece of red cloth over the roof of his vehicle,
as was also done in the case of the mandarin or graduate who
caine to the house to nail up the coffin (p. 97). Occasionally a
couple of gilt paper flowers are added to the cloth. Hurrying
on a dozen paces in advance of the mandarin, the mourners
once more prostrate themselves, to which courtesy the dignitary
tries again to put a stop in the way above-described, or, if he is
too high in rank to descend froni his palanquin, he merely pours
forth a few polite phrases.
Sacrifice to the Divinity of the Soil.
In the meantime some relatives and servants have been busily
occupied arranging the sacrificial articles, spoken of on page 197,
partly at the foot of the grave, partly on the right or left side
where a small altar will have to be erected to the God of Earth
(see p. 26 and 80), such as is to be seen at every tomb of note.
As a rule both sacrifices are simply set out on the ground, but at
very pompous burials that of the God of Earth is exposed on a
table which has an embroidered cloth in front. Besides other
-ocr page 260-
220
FCNERAL RITES.
articles of food, this sacrifice consists of the five sorts of mcat
nientioned on page 142, reduced by poor people to three. When
tlie cereinonious dotting of the tablet is drawing to an end,
the literary graduates repair again to the shed or the small liouse
hired as a waiting room (see p. 213), to invite another niandarin,
who has in the nieantime arrived there with his retinue, to conie
to the grave and present the sacrifice to the god.
He is ushered up to the grave and saluted there with the sanie
courteous observance as his colleague who dotted the tablet.
Having taken up a position in front of the sacrifice, one of the
graduates tenders three burning incense sticks to him, which he
iiinnediately presents to the god by holding them up with both
his hands on a level with his eyebrows, bowing at the sanie time.
Tlicn a graduate on the other side places the odoriferous matter in
the censor standing amongst the sacrificial articles, and the niandarin
kneels down on a mat, bows his forehead three times to the ground,
soleninly rises and retires. He is seen off with exactly the sanie
ceremony as the dotter of the tablet, red cloth and gilt flowers
being likewise placed on the roof of his palanquin.
While the grandee is thus paying honours to the god, the
mourners humbly keep behind him in a kneeling attitude. All
his movenients are directed by one of the graduates, who in
the Mandarin tongue instructs him loudly in a protracted tone of
voice when to begin an act, and w hen to cease. On his right
hand side a meiiiber of the faniily politely performs the rite of
prostration simultaneously with him (pde jjai, comp. page 150).
We need scarcely say that the presence of a third niandarin
ca mes the pomp of the burial up to the highest pitch. It is
he who places the crown upon the great work of interment, a
work which the descendants ex peet will secure them wealth, glory
and prosperity for all future ages, a work indeed which shall
insure them offices and dignities in the service of the Sonof Heaven.
To understand this aright, the reader must know that, in China,
the emperor is the second being of the whole universe; nobody is
above him but the God of Heaven, the highest deity of the
Pantheon, of whoni he is the only son and vice-regent on earth. As
over all hunian beings, he also beurs sway over all divinities; and even
these stand in rank and position below a niandarin in his quality
of iinperial proxy. Now it is easy to see, that employing a niandarin
to present a sacrifice to a local divinity of the Soü must be very
fiattering to this god, nay, the highest honour which can possibly
-ocr page 261-
221
SACRIFICINO TO THE GOD OF THE EARTH.
be conferred on him. Infinitely gratified by tliis testiiuony of respect
shown him by the family, lie cannot but feel hiraself in duty bound to
reward theiu for it by always showing liis extreme solicitude for
the fa te of the dead entrusted to bis keeping. With a liberal hand
he will pour out over the toinb the beneficial influences of the
earth at his disposal, and all the blessings a good grave eiuits
will, as a natural consequence, fall to the lot of the offspring.
Erom the above it naturally follows that, the higher the rank of
the mandarin is, the more glorious are the results which the family
may expect to derive trom his intervention. In 1SSG, at a very pompous
burial of a literary graduate of the second degree (K ü j e n *) and
his wife, which the writer witnessed at Amoy, no less a personage
than a Hai Fang Th ing2 or Maritime Sub-Prefect, the highest
local authority, perfonued the sacritice to the God of Earth. On
the same occasion the Ta o Thai * or Intendant of the Circuit
comprising the departments Tsuen-cheu-fu, Hing Hwa-fu and Yung
Chcun-cheu, a mandarin of only one degree less than the highest,
acted as dotter of the tablets, while the Ts\'an Fu\' or Commander
of the Brigade which lias its head-quarters in Amoy, carried the
soul banners. All this pomp was chiefly due to the circumstance
that one of the sons of the deceased was a literary graduate of
the first rank (Tsin shir\'), a man therefore who had carried
off the highest honours at the State examinations.
As soon as the mandarin who has worshipped the God of Earth
disappears from the scène, the sacritice, so solemnly begun
by him, is continued by the mourners. Incense is presented by
the eldest son, the »threefold presentation of spirits" perfonued,
a written offertory read off aloud by one of the graduates, and
the ceremony is closed with the customary number of deep
prostrations, everything just the same as at the sacritice previous to
the removal of the coffin out of the house (page 141). Theprincipal
junior mourners, and eventually those of lower degree, likewise
bow their heads to the ground in regular succession of kinship,
and in the end a bonfire is made of mock money, to enrich
the god. The offertory too is cast into the fiames, to reach the
1 *a-          2 nwM-
3    Zjf^f jÖ . This dignitary has been mentioned already on page 134.
4 #if-          5 ܱ\'
-ocr page 262-
222                                              FUNERAL RITES.
throne of the divinity through fire .and smoke. Th is document is
written on red paper, as a god would teel otiended if he were
addressed on the unpropitious colour of moürning.
In many cases, the mandarin, instead of going off so soon
as we have described, also presides at the » threefold presentation
of spirits" and the prayer-reading in lieu of the eldest son. Anyhow,
the prayer contains his name and title, as he is regarded as pre-
senting the sacrifice even though he does not remain to the end.
Here is the original text and a translation of such a prayer,
which was actually used at one of the burials personally attended
by the writer.
m                              *                 *
m * m*% m m.± m # ± *r
m % m m m,M m m. m m =
l>jR ^ i H l.iJ I i ^
ik 0t*ik % & & B,m M ft T
m 9è & m z m m \\- u m m
* «  jk ft #  ft «*#,ia w ^
^ n  m*m m  n m kiix
% m   % m,%  <$ m & m m m
$.#  n m m.  ï z % m m m
$i ®.m m m,z #.n $ &• =
m  %,m n  #.± % m b
is f a * i f * i ^
Prayer addressed to the God of the Earth.
»In the 13th. year of the Kwang sü period, being thecyclus*
»year ting-hai, in the first month denoted by the cyclical
» diameters jen-yin, and on the day jen-chcen which is the
-ocr page 263-
OFFERTORY ADDRESSED TO THE GOD OF THE EARTH.           223
»third from the new moon, I, Thang Pao-kien, officer presiding
»at this sacrifice, Mandarin Expectant with a Prefect\'s brevet,
» have carefully provided an offering of sacrificial victims, spirits,
»sundry delicacies, incense and paper; and, vvhercas a dweiling
» has been songht out by auguration on this spot for the chief of
» the faniily Ngeu-yang, an Intendant Expectant of a Circuit and
» deceased father of Ngeu-yang Kung-chcu who is a Second Class
»Assistant-Secretary of the Board of Punishnients, I venture to
» present the said articles as a sacrifice to Thee, O Ruler of the soil in
» these mountains and God of Happiness and Benefits, saying:
» Grand and ituniensurable are the felicities and blessings bestovved
» by Thee, O Glory of the water-streanis and mountains. Thou reignest
» suprème over the element Earth, and respectfully call we Thee
»the Spiritual Energy of the Mountains. Erom Thy see Thou
»controllest the regions at the eight points of the compass, in
» rank Thou comest immediately after the emperors and sovereigns \'.
» Thou maintainest the equilibrium between the four great terrestrial
»continents; Thy blessings overshadow the all-pervading influences
»of the winds and the waters. During thousands of autunins
»Thou hast overfilled the sacrificial dishes of mankind, and for
»ten thousand antiquities Thou hast enjoyed their sacrificial
» victims. The chief of the faniily Ngeu-yang now settles in this
» city of excellence (grave), measured out and built in surroundings
» which coinpose the ne plus ultra of configurations, and we fully
»trust that his cavern of death may rely on Thy awe-inspiring,
»efficacious protection. In this sepulchre we deposit hini, in
»order that it may cause his male offspring continuously to
»grow out like gourds and meions in Unes unbroken s, and that
»it may cause a happy posterity to wear red fringes on their
»heads from gencration to generation3. A pure sacrificial nieal
»I have respectfully prepared for Thee as a testiniony of my
»sincere devotion, and kneelingly I hope that Thou niayest
»look down upon it and descend to enjoy its savours. Mayest
»Thou enjoy it!"
1   übserve that the sovereigns of the empire stand above the gods even after
their death.
2  In the wet and hot season of the year these plants grow in China with
remarkable speed, sending forth numerous creepers over the ground in every
direction.
3  Hats with red fringes like those described on page 50 form part of the uniform
dress of mandarins.
-ocr page 264-
224                                               FUNERAT, RITES.
Offering to a local divinity of the Soil is denoted by the term
sü Hü T/ió1, » sacrificing to the Empress Earth". In a great niany
cases this rite and the dotting of the tablet are both performed
by one and the sarae niandarin, which saves expense. When circum-
stances prevent the faniily froin einploying more tlian one mandarin
and yet forbid their entrusting botli the rites to this one, for fear
the presents to be paid for his services may exceed their means,
they will ahvays have the dotting done by hini, this ceremony
being considered of higher import in securing the future greatness
of the offspring than the sacrifice. Hence it follows that, if two
mandarins are employed, the dotting is intrusted to the highest
in rank.
We have not come across any passages in the ancient books of
rites from whence it might be inferred that the sacrifice now under
notice existed already before tlie Christian era. But, summing up
in its 12th. chapter (1. 35) a few practices anciently connected
with burials, the IA ki says that, when the principal mourners
have left the grave to return home, »an officer sets out sacrificial
articles on low tables and mats to the left of the grave" s. Though
Ching Khang-chcing, the Nestor of commentators, declares that
this sacrifice was undoubtedly intended for the soul of the dead,
yet Khung Ying-tah, an authority of no less renown who lived
more than four centuries after Ching (see p. 190), advocated the view
that it was addressed to the spirit of the Soil; and it is perhaps
to be ascribed to his influence and that of his school that a
sacrifice tó this divinity was adoptcd by the Thang dynasty as an
institution of the State and as such found a place in the great
codex of official rites enacted in the 20th. year of the Khai
yuen period (A. D. 732). This codex, on which we shall have
more to say on page 236, prescribes that it shall be presented by
an official on mats spread out on the left side of the grave, and
that it shall be connected with a short offertory answering to a
given formulary. It is probably owing to this precept that the
sacrifice, based on what seems to us a rather arbitrary interpretation
of a hazy classical passage, lias been maintained by subsequent
generations as an integrate part of their funeral rites.
-ocr page 265-
225
SACRIFIOING TO THE DECEASED.
The Sacrifice to the Deceased.
The priests who accompanied the procession have meanwhile
heen very husily engaged reciting soul-saving canons, formulas
and litanies at the toot of the grave, with the acconipaniment
of handhells, wooden dappers and musical instruments. Tliis
meritorious work draws to an end when the mourners, after liaving
finished the sacrifice to the God of Earth, are preparing to present
the sacrifice to the soul, the articles required for which have also
heen brought to the tomb (see p. 197). We refrain frora giving a
description of the way in which tliis is offered, as it is quite similar
to that foliowed in the case of the God of Earth, and only
insert a specimen of the offertory recited, in order to convey to
the reader an idea of the genend tenor of such documents.
m                                 % %
m itfc wm ^m&mm&^ m
Itb "K m VÊ.m^MM.m Z T- =
ta^f u %
Z ï* M
m
m - & a % m % m m*%
& & % % ^.±.# m B,m
&ZMW3&\'&ft^ffi>
Mo± KMM m W # 8*
tö & m m ^ ii n m m
m m m m m & * n
m m.w m & m $.
5*  ft
*  T
®  H
M  IE
m  n
m  ^
k  n
«  m
is  m
ft  =
fi*%\\         —•
g £ m it m.m^.m
Offertory addressed to the Soul.
»In the 13th. year of the Kwang sü period, heing the cyclus-
»year ting-hai, in the first or jen-yin month, and on the
15
-ocr page 266-
2:26
FUNKRAL RITES.
» day j e n - c hc e n whicli is the third from the new moon, the
» unfilial orplmn son Kung-chcu and the other raourners carefully
» set out an offering of sacrificial victims, spirits, sundry delicacies,
»incense and paper, and present it to the manes of their deceased
»father, chief of the family Ngeu-yang, addressing them in the
» following terms:
» Oh, what sorrow, what pain! During a long period of time,
» O father, Thy fame was on the lips of all in our native place, and we
» were just fervently hoping that an unliiuited age would be granted
»to Thy eminent virtue, when unexpectedly Thou hast departed
»to the West, from vvhence there is no returning in the barge of
» mercy \\ The calamity of death has befallen our deceased father
» ere we, immersed in heavy sins and profound wickedness, have
» requited the favours bestowed by him upon us during the course
» of our lives; so, sending up long protracted cries to the azure
» canopy of heaven, we provide for Thee a resting place here in this
» ground. The crane\'s chariot soars away through the sky\': like
» gibbons we scream for sorrow and grief. We entreat Thee, establish
» Tliyself in this grave; suffer Thy mortal coil to be installed in
»this burial cavern, and allow Thy soul to return with us to the
» hall of our home! At these our words our eyes fill with tears
»and our hearts feel alarmed; for indeed, there is alas nothing
» here but wind, trees, shrubs and twigs; this high land with its
» water-springs is so vast, so sandy; clouds and vapours soar over
» it. Thy solitary abode will be boundless and dreary; therefore come
» home with us, O soul! Abide here on this spot during the hoar-
» frosts of succeeding autumns and the dews of springs, as long as
»Earth shall exist and Heaven last! Each handful of earth is
»to us a draught of sorrow, which rends our bowels asunder. O
»father, may Thy manes look down upon these pure sacrificial
»goblets! Alas, woe is us!3 Mayest Thou enjoy this sacrifice!"
The sacrifice is concluded with a bonfire of paper money, into
which the prayer is also cast. The khai-lü dn which, up to this
moment, has faithfully stood by the side of the grave on the watch
against malign spirits, is made to return to its disembodied state
i Kwan-yin or Awfilókitécvvara is said by the Buddhist Church in China to
convey sou Is to Paradise in a ship.
2  Departed souls are sometimes popularly represented as repairing to the regions
of bliss on the back of a crane.
3  As in the case of the recital of the prayer at the farewell sacrifice on the
preraises (page 149), the mourners at these words simultaneously bui\'st into wailing.
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227
THE RETURN OK THE PROCESSION.
by being committed to the flaraes. The principal mourner removes
the tablet from its place behind the offerings, and reverently puts
it back in the sarae pavilion in which it has been brought to the
tomb; this done, he thanks the geomancer and the headman of
the grave-diggers for their services, with courteous bows to each
in particular. Another mourner meanwhile places the incense-burner
in the pavilion of the tablet, while sonie of the relatives distiïbute
small parcels of evil-dispelling red silk threads to everyborty present,
excepting the musicians, coolies, pavilion-bearers and such like
rabble. The grave-diggers in the nieantinie have eagerly appropriated
the offerings which were presented to the Divinity of the Soil. They
divide them amongst themselves as their emolument, but the edibles
that were ofFered to the soul they may not touch, custom requiring
these to be consumed at the funeral meal which is to be given in
the house of mourning. Hence the men, who have brought them to
the tomb, pack them up again and take them home.
The Return of the Procession.
The cortege returns in the same order in which it proceeded
to the grave. As the tablet now plays the principal part, the
procession is spoken of as hoan tsül, »the return home of the
tablet". The man who scattered about paper money in the
vanguard now places himself amongst the relatives in the rear
ranks, no such distribution to the evil spirits being deemed
necessary on the way home. The empty bier is never allowed to
get mixed up with the train. In fact, since the soul is taken home
to be happy and prosperous in the midst of its ofFspring, whom
it in turn is to render happy and prosperous by its blessings, the
procession now bears a festive and cheerful character; hence there is no
room in it for signs of mourning. For this reason the mourners
entirely abstain from wailing and lamenting, until they come within
sight of the house. All the bands, hovvever, play assiduously in a
cheerful key, as the Chinese say.
Care is always taken to go home by the sarae road which was
foliowed to the grave, the soul having become to a certain
extent familiar with this way and being therefore less exposed
to the danger of going astray. To assist it in finding its way,
the torches, which were extinguished on reaching the grave
1 fc±-
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228
FUNERAL RITES.
(p. 179), are relighted and carried in the van of the tahlet. The
lanterns hearing the inscription » Hundreda of\' sons and thousands of
grandsons", suspended from the palanquin of tliesoul (p. 172),now do
excellent service by bringing influences, which may enable the soul
to bless itself and its offspring with an endless line of descendants,
froin the tomb homewards, influences which, as the reader may
remcmber, were carefully sown in the cotfin and the grave by
artificial means truly wonderful.
Before reaching the house, the procession conies across the
feinale members of the farailv in sackcloth garments, who wailingly
lie prostrate on the pavenient of the street to receive the tablet.
This act of respect and courtesy towards the departed is called tsih
hoon tsit1, »to receive the returning tablet". As soon as the
procession, the females in the rear, halts on the premises, the
principal mourner takes the tablet out of its vehiole, the next
mourner the » soul-body", if this lias figured in the procession (see
p. 173), and the third one the incense-burner, and these sacred
objects they reverently carry through the main entrance, to arrange
theni on the table which stood in front of the coftin before the
burial. The lictors and musicians give solemnity to this act by
respectivelv crying and playing with their most strenuous efforts. And
now, while the crowd of attendants with the musicians take their station
in the lower part of the hall or in the court-yard in front, the
priests recite a t\'ew formulas before the tablet to set the soul at
rest, upon which the mourners, having changed their sackcloth
garments for gowns and caps of white linen, commence a series
of prostrations, in every instance precedcd by the usual presentation
of incense-sticks, being assisted hei ein by two masters of ceremonies
The more removed kinsmen generally confine themselves to prostra-
tions only, carefully observing one cinother\'s social position, age
and order of relationship as they succeed each other. If they are
numerous and time is short, they prostrate themselves in couples
or greater numbers at a time. When all the males have taken
their turn, the women emerge from the inner apartments and go
through similar acts of reverence.
T/te Funeral Entertainment.
During these prostrations the procession disperse, returning to
the undertaker\'s shop, or going to a sccond house of mourning
<&üt±-
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229
THE FIJNERAT, ENTERTAINMENT.
which has a funeral on the sarae day. The red naine-cards affixed
on the back-panels of the » auxiliaiy pavilions" are tirst torn off
by the family, tó check tlie list of the donors prepared on the road
(p. 205), after which tliey are returned to the owners of tlie pavilions,
who present them at the houses of the donors when collecting
their bills.
Subsequently the mourning garraents are all taken off and every-
body sits down to a sumptuous banquet. As at large festive meals
in general, the guests are arranged around several tables, with strict
observance of each one\'s social position, age, and rank in the
family hierarchy. The principal seats are politely oftered to the
mandarins who took such an active part in the burial. He of
the soul streamer lias comc hitlier with the procession; the two
others have made their way to the house of mourning of their own
accord. We need not say that the graduates obtain seats of
honour. Servants are sent out in all directions to those who have
seen the dead man to his grave but have not as yet made their
appearance, in order to prevail upon them to join the least. Among
tliose invited are the geomancer and the headnian of the grave-
diggers; indeed, these men must be well treated, because the repose
of the departed soul and the happiness of the family depends so
much upon them. At many a notiible burial, the number of guests
is too great for them all to be seated in the hall and the adjaeent
apartments. Then the family are obliged to hire some apartments
in their neighbours\' houses for the feast.
In obedience to the established rules of decorum, the wonien do
not join the society of the men, but they celebrate the feast of the
dead amongst themselves in the inner apartments. Neither do the
mourners mix with the guests. They take their meal in a separate
room or in some inconspicuous part of the house, both law and
custom forbidding their taking part in any festivities so long as
they are in deep mourning. Doing the honours at this banquet con-
sequently devolves on the other relations and the friends, one of
whom presides at each table.
As to the food which is served up, it is especially noteworthy
that the offerings used at the farewell sacrifice on the premises
and at that to the manes at the grave form the chief part
thereof. The food has in fact been brought home from the grave for
this purpose, while that offered to the God of the Soil was given
away to the grave-diggers. From this it is sufficiently evident that
the idea lying at the bottom of the burial banquet, is to let
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230
FUNKRAI, RITES.
the dead and the living partake of one raeal together. In many
cases every table is served with at least one dish of the so-called
dng tsao bah l, » meat of red sediment", being pork cooked in a
red condiment which is prcpared from the refuse of the distillation ot
spirits. This food is intended to promote the welfare of the eaters,
because, being very red, it wards off unpropitious influences in
general and those resulting from contact with death in particular.
Wliile the guests are decorously satiating their appetites, music
and merry sounds are conspicuous by their absence, such things
being considered inconsistent with mourning.
The repast over, every guest is seen off by the mourners, who
pour fortli all kinds of polite phrases to express their profound
gratitude at his having honoured the dead and the family by
his presence. With regard to the mandarins, they even go so far
as to prostrate themselves on the floor; bat this humble expression
of their thankfulness is invariably declined in the customary way.
When the official, whó carried the soul-streamer, leaves, he receives a
conplc of gilt ffowers and a piece of red cloth over his sedan-chair,
as did his two colleagues on leaving the burial ground. Most of
the guests are carried home in palanquins courteously provided at
the expense of the mourners.
The ladies, who have spent the day in the house of mourning
to assist in preparing the banquet and in doing other work,
are likewise sent off in palanquins. On leaving, each of them
is piesented with a couple of\' red tapers, to be burned on their
domestic altar; further they receive some mock paper money
which is to be reduced to ashes on that sacred spot, a pair of gilt
paper flowers symbolizing the wish of the mourners that abundance
may reign in their house, and about a dozen of the red cakes ór
dng i* mentioned on page 70. These cakes are intended to convey the
same idea as the red meat condiment served up at the entertainment.
In many instances sugar is added to these articles, as a sign
of the wish that sweetness of life may fall to the lot of the
person to whom it is given. Many families send these presents to
the homes of the persons for whom they are intended, being of
opinion that this is more in keeping with good mannen. The
male persons who have lent a helping hand during such a busy day,
are favoured with like gifts. Finally it remains to be said that
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THE FONERAI, MEAI,.                                         231
some of the guests, especially thoso belonging to the female sex,
purify themselves at their own homes in the vvay described on
page 32.
The funeral banquet is not always celebrated immediately after
the interment. The burial may occupy the greater part of the day, so
that sufficiënt time does not remain to properly entertain many guests,
in which case only a luncheon is offered and the great meal post-
poned to the day following. In cases — not unfrequent — of the
burial taking place during the niglit because of the day-professor
not having been able to find a lucky hour falling within daylight,
the same tliing may occur. On some occasions, those are immediately
regaled who have returned with the procession to the house of
mourning, sucli guests as have left previously being invited the
next day, or even the day following that.
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CHAPTER VIII.
ÜSAGES AFTER THE REMOVAL OF THE COFFIN AND AFTER THE BURIAL.
Among the rites performed after the removal of the coffin out of
the house of mourning, the first which deserves notice is the so-called
te/i koan Ui\', » putting things in the place wliere the coffin stood".
As soon as the deceased is carried out of the hall for burial, a
feniale niember or acquaintance of the fainily, who is reputed to be
a happy creature because she is of a great age, or well-to-do, or the
motlier of many sons, and so fortli, stations herself, either in a standing
attitude or sitting on a chair, upon the vacant place, in order to
neutralize by the influence of her auspicious personage the inauspicious
influences which stick to the spot in consequence of the long piesence
of death. This wonderful effect is still enhanced by her dress, in
which no tracé whatever of mourning is to be seen; moreover,
some gilt paper flowers are stuck in her hair to increase the luck
promoted by her person. In soine cases, a male member of the faruily
or even a hired individual, who unites in his person the enviable
and propitious qualities mentioned above, acts in lieu oftheworaan.
After this lucky person has been seated for a while on the spot,
she retires and gives place to a nuniber of things which the
fainily set out on the same place to produce the sanie effect. We
may rucntion a hont ké2 or » fennented tart" of flour, to cause the
quantity of food in store in the house henceforth to swell and
increase like fennented food; further, a mixture of the fivecereals,
a few pecks of uncooked rice, some ten pairs of chopsticks and so
many small bowls such as the Chinese use to eat out, all of which
serve to prevent the spot in question trom ever causing want of
food in the house, or want of inmates to consume it. A bucket of
water in which are a couple of silver dollars and a few copper
coins, is also set down there, to ensure acquisition of riches
produced by the fertilizing waters of heaven; further, a handful
of charcoal, in order that fuel may ever be abundant in the
house; a hoop of bamboo, that felicity in the house may be round
or, as we sliould say, complete and perfect; lastly, a couple
of artificial flowers which, being styled chcun ki \\ »vernal sprigs"
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SENDING PHESENTS TO FBIEND8 AND OTHERS.                  233
or » sprigs of profusion", are endowed with the property ofcausing
the family always to have enough and to spare, as in a fruitful
spring. About the hour the funeral procession is expected to return,
just as many couples of red tapers are lighted on the spot as there
are mourning sons; and when the latter re-enter the dweiling, each
one takes his couple into his private room, to transplant thitlier
the felicity created by the happy person and the felicitous articles.
The ceremonious cleansing of the house, described on page 107
sqq., is as a rule pcrformed after the burial when this takes place
only a very few dnys after the decease. We had already an
opportunity to note this on page 111.
Nou turning our attention to the day following the interinent;
especially in sumnier, when ineat and edibles in general are liable
to taint speedily, this day is set apart for sending slices of the
pig\'s-heads which figured amongst the offerings at the farewell
sacrifice on the premises (page 143), to those who, shortly after
the deniise, carae to the house of mourning to pay homage to
the dead and to condole with the bereaved family. Some of the
remains of the burial entertainment are added to each portion,
e. g. part of fermented tarts, some of the fowls and ducks and
so forth, the quantity and quality varying in proportion to the
value of the coffin-paper presented at the visit of condolence (see
p. 31). In this way, the persons who showed an interest in the
family but did not attend the burial feast are enabled to partake
of it, though in a different way. To those who did not come
to condole in person, but simply sent coffin-paper to the mortuary
house, presents of food are also made. It is customary for those
who receive such a present to place in the basket, in which the
articles are brouglit to their house, a few sweet-meats, expressive
of their desire tliat the sweets of life may fall to the lot of the
mourners; the rules of etiquette further bind them to pay the
messenger for his errand with money wrapped in red paper.
When there bas been a postponement of the burial for a con-
siderable length of time, this distribution of edibles does not take
place, the recognitions in the shape of presents liaving in such
case been sent round already previous to the interraent (see p. 110 se//.).
On the saine day or, if there be no more time for this, on one
of the following days, presents are also sent to all persons of
distinction who took an active part in the burial. Among them
the mandarin who dotted the tablet is the first and principal. A
messenger is sent to him with a parcel of silver, the value of
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234                                             FUNBRAT, RITES.
which depends upon his rank and upon the wealth of the family;
and this messenger, on delivering the money at the gate of the
Yaraen, receives the mandarin\'s card, which he must take home as
a proof that the present has safely reached its destination. In some
instances, as when the grandee\'s rank is very high and the family
are not on terras of intimacy with him, the male mourners, dressed
in plain white clothes, repair in a body to the Yamen, solicit an
audience and prostrate theraselves before the great man, to thank
him once more for what he has done in their behalf and in that
of the deceased. The pecuniary part of the business being in the
meantime arranged by their respective servants.
The mandarin who sacrificed to the divinity of the Soil, and he
who carried the soul streamer, also receive presents in silver and,
in many cases, a visit of ceremony is paid them. If any of these
magistrates should happen to be on such good terms with the
family that they cannot expect him to accept silver, articles of
value are presented to him instead, especially edible bird\'s-nests,
which are held in \'high esteem by the notables. Silver is sent
also to the graduates who were employed at the obsequies; these
gentlemen are at the same time presented with a piece of red cloth and
a couple of gilt fiowers, such articles not having been presented to
them sooner, as in the case of the mandarins. And to the grandee
who allowed the family to make use of his exalted name and
titles for the soul streamer, the mourners send, besides a present
of coined or uncoined silver, the small piece of silk bearing his
name, which, as we have seen on page 212, was torn from the
streamer before the latter was deposed in the grave: he may now
feel convinced that the burial will do no harm to his personage.
Finally it remains to be mentioned that gifts are also forwarded
to those friends and acquaintances who foliowed the dead man on
his way to the grave, or added glory to the funeral procession by
sending auxiliary pavilions. The latter generally receive a ham,
this being considered to be the best portion of a pig, as also some
red cakes of flour, incense sticks, mock paper money and a few
tapers, the total value of which articles being about equal to the
expenses they have incurred. The rule is, that every one who
receives presents from the mourning family should sacrifice them to
the manes and lares on his domestic altar before consuming them.
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CHAPTER IX.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANCIENT AND MODERN
FUNERAL RITES. — PINAL REMARKS.
Our description of the way in which the Chinese of Amoy
dispose of their dead, has introduced the reader to many practices
already mentioned in literary remains which have been handed
down as valuable relies of what may be said to represent the
most ancient historical epoch of the Chinese empire. That these
practices still are in as full vigour as they were during the age of
Cheu, is undoubtedly due, in the first place, to the influential
position which the said documents have always occupied in Chinese
society during the whole range of dynasties that have borne sway
over the realm. Even if we give the fullest weight to the
idiosyncrasy of the nation slavishly to imitate what previous
generations have done, it can scarcely be denied that few, perhaps
none of the practices in question would have outlived the ravages
of time, had not the ancient books preserved the knowledge of
them to posterity.
It may be admitted as a matter beyond dispute that the house
of Han adopled by simple tradition many of the official rites and
institutions of earlier ages. The sovereigns of this house undertook the
collecting and arranging of the fragments of the ancient literature,
and under their auspices able scholars rescued the 1 li, the Li ki
and the Cheu li from eternal oblivion. The results of their
strenuous efforts to save whatever could be saved from perdition
enabled the dynasty to supply many deficiencies in the rites which
it had adopted as its own, and to constantly improve the same
by abolishing much to which no reference was made in the
documents brought to light. Subsequent dynasties framed their
institutions on those of the house of Han, adniitting, however,
modifications of more or less import. All adopted the Classics
and the Three Rituals as the fundamental constitution of the State.
Instances of eminent statesmen presenting memorials to the throne
as how to interpret, how to practise sundry rescripts contained
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236                                              FUNERAL RITES.
in these books abouncl in the historial works, whieh circumstance
gives us a right to surmise thut forraal codifications of the rites
have ahvays been in existence since the house of Han.
As a matter of fact some of these codifications have been preserved in
the earlier Dynastie Histories under the title » Records of the Ritnal" 1,
but it is not possible now to decide whether in their entirety or in
an abridged shape. None of them equal in claboration that of the
K h a i y u e n period, to which we have had occasion to refer on
page 224. This complete compendium of the statutory rites enacted
by the Thang dynasty, or, as we may call it, fundamental code
embracing all the rescripts relating to the State Religion at that
time, is a regular synopsis of nearly all the ceremonial usages
mentioned in the ancient books, with a few additional elements
borrowed from the house of Han. It was drawn up by the statesman
Siao Sung2, assisted, as we may surmise, by a body of officials
and scholars. The extracts from it contained in the »General
Canon", Thunf) tien\', of Tu Yiu\' (9th. century), and in the
»Thorough Investigations of Memorials", Wen Men t/iung khao5,
of Ma Twan-lin8 (14th. century), are so nuinerous that there is
scarcely any room for doubt these coinprehcnsive thesauri supply
us with the codex in its entirety. Under different headings it is
also distributed throughout the Canon of Rituals7, which is one
of the sections of the giant collectanea Ku kin t/iu shu tsi/i clting
already referred to several times in this work.
The Khai yuen Codex, commonly known as K/iai yuen li\',
» Ritual of the Khai yuen period", is the medium through which
the most ancient ceremonial usages of China have ever since held
a place as the Standard institutions of the empire. In it the
manners and customs of the pre-Chiïstian period, for so far as
posterity possesses written evidence of the same, were collected
under a systematic arrangement and thus, we may say, orystal-
lized into a solid body of political, social and religious statutes
which have borne undisputed sway over the empire down to the
present day. The comprehensive compilations of the institutions of
the Ming dynasty and of the present house of Tscing, known respectively
a ai db m- ai & db                        2 liï ^ü;
\'Ha ai? 1la Ifc /^ •                           Ma WQ\'
°^^^- immm- 8ü^ü-
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CODIFICATIONS OF FUNERAL RITES.                            237
as Ta Ming hwui tien \', » Collective Stntutes of the Great House of
Ming", and Ta Ttfing hwui tien*, » Collective Statutes of the Great
House of Tscing", were, so far as the rites and ceremonies are
concerned, moulded on it. It is also the prototype of the Ta IVing
thung fi 3 or » General Rituals of the Great Tscing dynasty", which
is an extra codification of the rites proper tbr the use of the nation,
published in obedience to a rescript proraulgated in 1736 by the
emperor Kao Tsung 4.
As in the Khai yuen Codex, one section in this Ta TsSng
thutifj li is devoted to the so-called hiung li5 or tfuneral Rites.
This gives elaborate regulations tbr the disposal of the dead, from
the Son of Heaven and the members of the imperial faraily down
to the several classes of nobles and officials and even to the
coramon people. These rescripts, which we shall deal vvith in detail
when describing the religion of the State, are also widely made use
of as rules of conduct by notable families in which titulary dignities
have been purchased tbr money. Already on pages 50 and 164 we
had occasion to state that buying official titles is a tliing of every day
occurrence in the Empire of the Midst. Besides placing the family
beyond the reach of rapacious mandarins and inimical fellow-citizens,
an official title posesses the enviable advantage of securing to the
purchaser, his parents and wife a very honourable position in the
next world, being conferred by the Son of Heaven, the second
personage of the universe and, as such, the chief of gods and
spirits (comp. page 220). Their deceased persons ought accordingly
to be dispatched to those invisible abodes with all the honours due
to the high rank they are going to assume there, that is to say,
with observance of the ritual established for each dignity and
rank by the Sons of Heaven themselves and laid down in the
aforesaid General Rituals. Now, as these Rituals are a mere digest
of the ceremonial usages contained in the ancient works, we have
here an explication of the fact set forth at the outset of this
chapter, that so many practices now-a-days connected with the disposal
of the dead are directly traceable to antiquity.
There is still a second reason which accounts for this phenomenon.
Chu Hi8, the most eminent among the modern philosophers
and ethical authors of China, in the 12th. century compiled
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23S
FüNERAL. RITES.
a vvork entitled Kia li \\ » Rituals for Family Life", which, having
been elaborately coramented upon by scholars of repute, has
ever since circulated throughout the empire as a Standard authority.
It has even been deemed worthy of a place amongst the writings
from which the General Rituals of this dynasty have been built
up. A passionate partisan of the orthodox doctrine that social
institutions ought to be based on precedents established by
antiquity, a doctrine which has ever reigned suprème in the
empire, Chu Hi made his work a mere digest of rescripts laid
down in the Classics, especially in the / li and the Li ki. Tliough
eliminating many points which had evidently lallen into disuse in
his time, on the other hand he adopted much which is not spoken
of in the ancient works, thus sanctioning many a custom not purely
classical. Of these we may mention the strewing of ashes of
wood in the bottom of the cottin (p. 89) and the moving and
transporting the receptacle of the dead by means of ropes wound
around it. After the coftining, this author says, one should set up
a » bed for the soul" 3 on the east side of the coffin, with a mat,
a pillow for the head, clotlnng, coverlets, a standing screen, etc,
such as were used by the deceased during life. Though we have never
found this precept mentioned in the ancient books, nor have
we seen it put in practice by the Amoy people, yet, in consideration
of the important part which the Kia li plays in family life, we
can scarcely doubt that it is conformed to in many parts of the
empire, because it is evidently closcly connected with the sacred
custom mentioned on page 119 of providing the deceased every
morning with washing water, towels and other necessaries for his
toilet. Szë-ma Kwang 3, the famous statesman, historiographer and
author of the llth. century from whom many wise judgments are
incorporated with the Kia li, sanctions the non-classical custom ol
placing a painted portrait of the dead behind the provisory tablet
(comp. p. 113), but rebukes the custom of having such portraits
made for females, declaring it inconsistent with correct rites to
exposé the face of a deceased member of the weaker sex to the
profane view of a painter. The Kia li also prescribes the appoint-
ment of a » patron of the funeral rites" (page 112). In the Classics
we find no such persons mentioned, but we come across them in
the Books of the Early Han Dynasty, chapter 68 of which work
1 UIL*         2 S*K-         3 n >%%•
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239
BURIALS OF VVOMKN AND CHII-DREN.
relates on leaf 12, that half a dozen of them were appointed
by the emperor to officiate at the obsequies of the famous statesman
Hwoh Kvvang \', who died in 68 B. C. Moreover, we are told in
the Books of the Later Han Dynasty, that Chcen Tsun, a Provincial
Governor in the first century of our era, » acted in his own person
as patron of the obsequies of one of his friend\'s parents" 3. Besides
these two passages relative to the function, we have found
others in these histories. Finally, Chu Hi advocates the covering of
the coffin with lime^ and similar substances which in course of
time coagulate into a solid mass and thus protect the dead against
grave-robbers, ants and the roots of surrounding trees. He likewise
prescribes the placing in the tomb of the five cereals (p. 209),
without, however, saying they serve to ensure abundance offoodto
posterity.
On the other hand, the Kia li is perfectly silent on some usages
which, although they are not traceable to the books of antiquïty,
pass now-a-days for rites of most indisputable import. Not a word
does it say on the dotting of the tablet, but it teaches that a part
of the inscription should be written upon it at the grave: a pre-
cept which we may be sure is stil! foliowed by many an orthodox
family. Neither does the book make mention of a sacrifice presented
to the soul at the side of the grave. Buddhist ceremonies, of whatever
sort or tendency they may be, it stigmatizes without reservation as
heterodox and thercfore unbecoming any true son of China. A
lengthy note from the hand of Szé-ma Kwang is here subjoined,
showing how utterly false the doctrines are on which Buddhism
bases its rites of redemption, a note to which we shall have occasion
to refer more particularly in our Book on that Ghurch.
So far for the close relationship between the modern funeral
rites and those of antiquity. We must now pass to another point
worthy of notice, viz., that the ceremonies observed on the death
of a woman are conducted in the same manner and style as in
the case of her husband. In the first place this is owing to the
stringent rule, sanctioned also by Chinese legislators as one of the
principal laws of social life, that children owe their mother the like
amount of devotion, respect and submission (hiao, see p. 120) as they
do their father. Moreover, whenever a man is endowed with an official
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240
FIJNERAT. RITES.
degree or dignity, a corresponding rank and title is at the same
time conferred upon his consort, the Government having adopted
the principle of the Li ki (ch. 54, 1. 18) that » A woman generally
gets titles and rank along with her husband" l. Thus she naturally
acquires a right to be seen away to the next world with the ritual
established by the State for her husband\'s rank.
Considering that in China the disposal of the dead is almost
exclusively based upon the doctrine of implicit devotion to husband
and parents, it is quite natural that boys and girls, and in
general people who leave neither wife nor offspring behind, should
be buried with a minimum of ceremony and pomp. Such was
the prevailing rule already in the time of Confucius, as may be
inferred from the following episode related in the Li ki (ch. 13,
1. 37): »In the battle at Lang (B. C. 484) Kung-shuh-yü-jen
»advanced along with Wang I, a youth of his neighbour, and
» both were killed. The men of Lu, desirous of treating the lad
» as one who had died not under age, questioned Chung-ni (Con-
»fucius) on the matter, and the latter said: \'He has proved
» himself able to bear shield and spear in defence of the gods of
» Lind and Grain; why should not you then be allowed to do as
» you desire ?\' " 3. The same incident is recorded in the Tso elf wen,
under the heading: » llth. Year of the ruler Ngai".
Our description of funeral rites is in no case applicable to the
clergy of the Buddhist Church, nor to the numerous eclectical sects
based on Buddhist doctrines, which exist in many parts of the empire.
These people have mostly a set of funeral ceremonies of their own;
cremation is even practised amongst them on a very large scale.
Their principal observances at deaths we shall review in the chapters
specially devoted to the same in our Book on Buddhism.
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PART II.
THE IDEAS OP RESURRECTION.
The funeral rites described in the first part of this Book
sufficiently establish the fact that tlie Chinese regard death as a
separation of the vital spirit from the body, and that they cling
to the belief that the spirit keeps hovering about the body, even
after the latter has been deposited in its final resting place.
We need only remind the reader of the light placed at the side of
the corpse while it is stretched on the » water-bed" (p. 21 seq.); of
the frequent calling to the dead, for the pur pose of inducing the
wandering duplicate to re-enter the mortal reniains and bring these
to life again (p. 10 seq.); of the tablet placed near the corpse for
the occupancy of the soul (p. 71); of the offerings of edibles set
out on the spot (p. 29, 70 sqq.); of the tablet, pennons and
portrait harbouring the soul, which are carried along in the funeral
procession and for a part deposited vvith the coffin in the grave,
with the avowed object of there installing the soul with the body
(p. 212 seq.); of the numerous practices for surrounding the corpse
in the tornb with influences which may enable the soul to deal out
blessings to posterity; and so forth.
The Chinese are therefore far from regarding death as an
absolute reality. Life remains after the soul has left the body; the
survivors even entertain a lingering hope that the soul may re-enter
the clay and thus cause resurrection to take place. Taking for granted
that the accumulated experience of ages has done soinething to
establish among the people a notion of the reality of death, it is
not beyond the pale of logic to conclude that the belief that the
soul does not forsake the body, either before or after interment,
and that it may recall it to life, must have borne a more potent
sway over the Chinese mind in times gone-by than it does
at the present day. For the correctness of this conclusion we have
16
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242                                THE IDKAS OF RKSÜRRKCTION.
abundant and direct testimony in the written documents of the
empire. Numerous customs and practices having an important in-
rluence in the domain of religious and social lite liave been called
into existence by this belief. To review them in both their ancient
and modern aspect will be the chief object of this and the next
part of the present tiook.
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CHAPÏER I.
CALLING BACK THE SOUL. THE DEATH-HOWL.
1. Rocalling the Soul.
It is a well-established ethnographical fact that savage and semi-
civil\'zed man as a rule explains sleep, swoon and unconsciousness
as due to an absence of the sentient entity from the body.
The invisible duplicate thus wandering away may bc made
to return to the body by shouts and by calling out the name.
Sometimes, as in ordinary sleep, it comes back immediately. In
other instances, as when the body is in a state of lethargy or
trance, the return of the other-self is postponed for hours, at tinies
for several days. Yet, in most cases, re-aniination doesactually take
place.
Similar conceptions are entertained by the Chinese. At Amoy,
they say of one who is in a fainting fit that »his soul is not
united with his body": sin put lm t//é\'. And when a baby is
taken with convulsions, the affrighted tnother finding her Hist
atteinpts to coax her darling back to consciousness by repeatedly
calling out its name to be in vain, she hastens up to the roof of
her house and, waving about a bamboo pole to which is affixed a
ganncnt belonging to the little one, exclaiins several times in succession:
» My child So-and-so, come back, return home!" In the interim
another inmate of the house is loudly beating a gong, to arouse
the attention of the soul. After a while the vital spirits are expected
to recognize the garment and to slip into it; and so, along with
it, they are taken back to the sufferer and placed either upon or
at the side of his bed. If recovery does not follow in a few minutes,
it is a proof the soul lias not yet returned. The mother once more
repairs to the roof of the house to repeat the same ceremony,
and, if necessary, she does so over and over again, until her efforts
are crowned with success. Chinese people in genend believe that
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:2 t1
THE ÏDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
convulsions and fits are in most cases due to a certain class of
mischievous spectres, who are fond of draw ing the vital spirits out
of men. In the case of babies and children, these unseen
beings are, at Amoy, designated as the tsaó bé thien-kong l,
»celestial agencies bestriding galoping horses", and as the poa"
tld>1 siü-isai 2, »literary graduates residing halfway up in the sky".
Similar attempts to bring back the otlier-self are resorted
to in case a full-grown person suddenly sinks down in an inert
state and betrays a total loss of feeling and consciousness; also
when any one is taken ill or dying, sickness, especially if coupled
with unconsciousness of mind, being likewise regarded as a sign
of the absence of the soul. Under such circumstances, people
hurry to a priest of the class mentioned on page 107, that he niay,
as the) call it, » snatch the vital spirits away", c/tció*9 tsing-sin 3,
in other words, rescuc them by certain ceremonies from the claws
of the invisible being who has stolen them from the body. In
another 13ook these ceremonies will be described in detail.
Primitive man, having witnessed various duiations of insensibility
foliowed in many cases by re-animation, on beholding a body lying
in a state which we are accustomed to call death, would naturally
confound its condition witli ordinary syncope and infer that the
other-self might possibly return to it. He would still entertain this
hope even when the body grew cold, nor would he relinquish it
when decay set in. The persistence of the insensibility would prompt
him to make more strenuous efforts to bring the soul back, to
shout, call and speak to it louder and longer than he would do
in case of unconsciousness of a less grave nature \\ In China we tind
4 This lias been illustrated already on pago 11 by sonic instances taken from
tlio customs ofsavage tribes. Here are a few more exaraples: —
» When one died among the Romans, the nearest relatives embraced the body,
»closed the eyes and month, and when one was about to die, received the last
» words and sighs, and tlien loudly called tlie name of the dead, finally bidding
»an eternal adieu. This ceremony of calling tiie deceased by name was known as
» the conclamatiun, and was a custom anterior even to the foundation of Uouie.
»In Picardy, as late as 1741!, the relatives threw themselves on the corpse, and
» with loud cries called it hy name. — Among the Yo-kai-a Indians of California, a
» noother who has lost her babe goes every day for a year to some place where
» her little one played when alive, or to the spot where the body was burned,
»and rnilks her breasts into the air. This is accompanied by plaintive mourning
»and weeping, and piteous calling upon her little one to return. — The Caribfl
» lament loudly, their wailings being interspersed with comical remarks and questions
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245
CAM.1NG BACK THE SOUL OF THE DEAD.
the nearest relations behaving in this way even at the present day
(see p. 10), repeating their lanientations over and over again during
the funeral rites. Kao Khang\', who lived in the 12th. century,
records the following custom of the inhahitants of Ilwai-nan, i. e. the
central part of the provinces of Nganhwui and Kiangsu:— »No\\v-
» a-days, in Ilwai-nan, it is customary when any one atnong the
» people has died suddenly, to send a certain nuniber of men on
» to the roof of his dwelling and nlong the roads, to call for the
» deceased everywhere. Some have in this way heen resuscitated" \\
As we may naturally suppose, the custom of calling back the
dead was highly developed in China in oldcn tiraes. Confucius
cherished the conviction that it prevailed there already at the dawn
» to the dead, as to why lie preferred to leave this world, having everything to
» mako life comfortablo. And Roman, in liis Ilistory of Florida (1775, page 88)
» relates that, among the Choctaw.s of Carolina, as soon as the deceased is departed,
»a stage is erected and the corpse is laid on it; at this stage the relations come
» and weep, asking many questions of the corpse, such as why he lelt them? did
»not his wil\'e serve him well? was he not contented witli his children? had he
» not corn enongh? did not his land produce sufficiënt of everything? was he afraid
» of his enemies? etc" First annual Report of the Bureau of Kthnology to the
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, pp. 1CG, t94, 108.
»Camden\'s Britannia, dealing with ancient and modern manners of the liïsh,
«records: \'When a person is at the point of death, just before he expires, certain
» Women Mourners, standing in the Cross-ways, spread their hands, and call him
» with cries adapted to the purpose, and endeavour to stop the departing soul,
»reminding it of the advantages it enjoys in goods, wives, person, repntation,
»kindred, friends, and horses: asking why it will go, and where, and lastly,
» cotnplaining that the departing Spirit will be transformed into those forms which
» appear at night and in the dark: and, after it has quitted the Body, they bewail
» it witli howlings and clapping of hands. They follow the funeral with such a
«noise, that one would think there was an end hoth of living and dead. The
»most violent in these lanientations are the Nurses, Daughters, and Mistresses.
» They make as much lamentation for those slain in battle, as for those who die
» in their beds, though they esteem it the easiest Death to die fighting or robbing;
» hut they vent every reproach against their enemies, and cherish a lasting deadly
» hatred against all their kindred\'. Similarly in the Statistical Account of Scotland
»(1793) we read of the parish of Nigg in Kincardine: \'On the sudden Death of
» their Relations, or fear of it, by the Sea turning dangerous, the Fisher people,
» especially the Females, express their sorrow by Exclamation of Voice and Gesture
» of Body, like the Eastern Nations, and those in an early State ol\'Civilization\'." —
Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, Customs at Deaths.
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246
THE TDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
of civilization, for, according to the 30th. chapter of the Li ki (1.
20) he said: »When ceremonial usages were coming into existence,
»people, in case of death, went up to the housetop and exclaimed:
»\'Ho. o. o. So-and-so, come back!\'"1. The Li ki gives also very
valuable particulars connected witli the custoin as it was practised
in the pre-Christian era. In its 57th. chapter (1. 5 sqg.) it has:»In
»calling back the dead, if there are forests and thickets in the
»territory, the foresters arrange the steps, but if there are no
»woodlands, the serfs do so. The calling back is done bv an
» otticer of low rank, who uses the court dress of the defunct... In
»all cases he ascends by the corner on the east, advances to the
» middle of the roof where it is dangerous to stand, and, turning
» his face to the north, there shouts to the dead three times. Then
» rolling up the dress, hc casts it down in front, where the Otticer
»in charge ot the Official Dresses receives it, after which he
»descends by the corner on the north west.
»In case the deceased is a visitor from another country, his
»soul is called back in the mansion of the head of the State,
» not in a private house. If he dies in the open country, they call
» his soul hack standing on the left wheel of his carriage.
» The garnients which have been used in calling the dead back,
» are not used for dressing the corpse, neither for the second nor
»the third dressing. In calling back the soul of a woraan her
» wedding garnients are not used. Whenever a soul is called back,
»a man is called by his personal name, a woraan by her title.
»Nothing but hou ling precedes the calling back. The calling
» h\'nished, they perform what is required in cases of death *.
»In calling back the soul of the Son of Heaven, they exclaim:
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CALLING BACK THE SOUL OF THE OEAD.                     247
»\'Come back, O Son of Heaven!\' (chapter 6, 1. 50)\'. In calling
» back a feudal prince, they say: \'Return, Sir So-and-so\' (ch. 7,
» 1. 32) \\ In calling the soul back and in writing tlie soul banner -1
» the saine ternis are used for all, trom the Son of Heaven down
»to onlinary officials. A man is called by his personal name"
(ch. 4G, 1. 6)\\
It will be seen from the above extract that a suit of the
deceased was made to play au important part in the ceremony.
It must be his court dress, the principal costume he possessed
and which therefore was dearest to him; chapter 53 of the Li kt
(1. 25 sqq.) moreover says: »In the case of a feudal lord, in
»calling back the soul they use the dress of his investiture,
>> also that worn with his crown and with his official cap or his
»cap of leather. In the case of his wife, they employ the black
»robe and that embroidered with pheasants, both lined with
» plain white silk. In calling back the consort of a grandee, they
» take her aster-coloured robe and the robe of her investiture, lined
» with plain white silk; in recalling the wife of a Great officer of
» lower rank, they make use of an unornamentcd dress. For all
» other women the same garments are used as in the case of the
» consort of an ordinary officer" \\
Though our knowledge of the garments anciently worn by official
persons is very meagre, yet there is scarcely any doubt that the
dresses mentioned in this extract were special uniform attires
connected with the dignity and rank of the persons to be recalled.
It is, indeed, quite natural that the use of such dresses should
have been preferred in alluring the soul, since it would feel
particularly inclined to slip into such of its garments as it had
been proud to wear during life. Kia Kung-yen °, a renowned
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3 See page 174 sqq.
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248
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
commentator on the ancient books who lived in the 7th. century,
says: »They used the clothes he was wont to wear during his
»lifetime, supposing that the vital spirits, on recognizing them,
»would re-enter tliem and seek refuge therein" \'. In the end
they were placed upon the body, just as is done at the present
day in the case of a sick person or one who lias fainted (page 243).
Tliis we may learn from the / li, whose account of the way in
which the calling back was performed at the death of ordinary
otticers, their parents and wives, runs as follows:
» A person charged with calling back the soul takes the dress
» which was worn by the defunct with his official cap or his cap
» of leather, and fastcning the petticoat to the coat, he hangs both over
» his left shoulder, putting the collar into his girdle. Ascending by
»the eastern corner of the gable-front of the building, he
» ad vances to the middle of the roof, turns his face to the north
» and holding the clothes, he calls the soul, exclaiming: \'Ho. o. o. So-
» and-so, come back!\' 2. He holds the collar of the court dress in
» his left hand and the waist in his right, and, whilst calling, moves
» his hands to the left side \'. Ilaving ejaculated his exclamations three
»times, he Iets the clothes down by the frontside of the building;
» they are received in a basket and taken up the eastern steps, to
»be placed upon the dead body. The man who called the soul
» then descends at the back of the house, by the western corner" *.
» The garments", the Khienlung editors add, » were received in a
»basket because the soul had taken shelter in them, therefore
»people of low rank were not permitted to receive them in
» their hands; this was a mark of care, of respect" 6.
As the above extract shows, the men who performed the calling back
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Ch. 20, 1. 5 and 9.
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CAI.MNG BACK THE SOUT, OF THE DEAD.                       249
ascended the roof by the eastern corner of the gable-front and
descended at the back of the dweiling, on the west side;
in other words, as ancient buildings usually faced the South
(see page 5), they went up at the south-eastern corner and came
down by the north-western. No doubt this manner of proceeding
was prescribed by the knowledge that the East and South,
or the regions where the sun rises and reaches its highest
power, were specially asaimilated with the Yang part of the
Universe, the great source of all life in Nature, while the
West and North, where the sun sets or never appears, were
associated with the Yin part, i. e. with darkness, cold and deatli
(conip. page 22). The Iearned Khung Ying-tah says- »Calling back
» the soul imniediately after deatli was an attempt at tindiug back
» the life of the deceased; hence the man who had to do the calling
» ascended by the eastern wing. But, after having tried in vain to
»find the soul, he feit averse frora going back without having
»gained his object; hence he proceeded in the direction of the
» dark Yin and then went down from the house" \'.
The assiinilation of the North with Yin and death also explains
why the dead was called from this region, as both the Li ki and
the I li have told us. »Calling back the soul", says the Li ki
(ch. 12, 1. 21), »is the way to manifest one\'s love and affection
» in all their fulness; it partakes of the character of a prayer. To
»look for their return from the region of darkness is the right
» way when seeking for disembodied spirits in general; hence the
» custom of turning one\'s face to the North in calüng back a soul
» signifies that it is sought for in those dark regions" 2. The West
being likewise a part of the great domain of the Yin, the man who
called the soul held the clothes up in that direction, as is stated on
the preceding page in our quotation from ch. 31 of the / li; moreover,
»it was on the west side of the others that the principal caller
» stood when calling back the soul" \\ This statement, which occurs
in ch. 53 of the FA ki (1. 28), is doubly important, as it also
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250                                THE IDEAS OP RESUIIRECTION.
intiraates that in some instances more than one person was
employee! to perform the ceremony.
The great importance anciently attached to calling back the
dead is manifest from the numerous passages in wliich the
three Books of Rites vefer to it, as well as from the fact that these
passages contain very minute descriptions as to the way in which
this ceremony was to be observed in peculiar and exceptional cases. So
e. (j., they teach us that, if the envoy of a state died on hismission,
his soul must be recalled in a palace of the ruler in whose territory
he found himself, and that it was strictly forbidden there to recall it
in the mansions of nobles of the highest ranks. »If an envoy of a
» ruler dies", says ch. 54 of the Li kt (1. 22), » his soul is called
» back in the mansion of the head of the State, not in any private
» mansion. By a mansion of the head of the State is ineant his
»palace, or some other building erected by him; a private
»mansion is the dwelling of a nobleman, a Great ofticer or a
» person below these in rank" \'. According to ch. 27 of the Li ki
(1. 39) this rescript was on a certain occasion the subject of a
discussion between Confucius and his principal disciple: »If\', asked
» Tseng-tszë, \'on a commission upon which he has gone for his
» ruler, some one dies in the building in which he is lodged, the
»rites require that he shall be called back in a mansion of the
» head of the State, and not in a private mansion. But to whatever
» reaira a commissioner may be sent, the building assigned to him
» by the otticers is a mansion belonging to the ruler; why then is
»it explicitlv declared that the calling back must not be performed
»in a private mansion?\' To which Confucius replied: \'You have asked
» well, indeed. The dwellings of noblemen, Great otticers and ordinary
» otHcers are called private mansions, but the hotel of the head of
»the state and the buildings erected by him are styled mansions
» of the head of the state. In this you have the explanation of the precept
» that the soul is recalled in the mansion of the chief of the state\' " 2.
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CAM,ING BACK THE SOU1, OF THE DEAD.                    251
There also existcd rules prescribing how to act with feudal
lords, noblemen and otficers who breathed tlieir last outside their
residences, or on the road. It is said in ch. 53 of the Li li
(1. 1 and 4): » If a feudal lord, being on the inarch, dies in a
»inansion, his soul is recalled in the way in which this is accustomed
»to be done in his kingdom. If he expires on the road, sonie one
»climbs on the left wheel uf his driving car and calls the soul
» back, waving the defunct\'s yak\'s tails fastened on the top of a
» staff. If a Great otticer or an ordinary otticer dies on the road,
»his soul is likewise recalled by sonie one standing on the left
»wheel of the deceased nian\'s car and waving his yak\'s tails;
»and if he dies in a mansion, he is called in the sanie
»nianner as if he had departed this life in his own house"\'.
The following passage occurring in ch. 11 of the Li ki (1. 38)
may be quoted as being of particular interest because it points to the
prevailing conviction that, the longer revival absented itself, the
further the soul was away, so that, in calling it back, the circle
of activity must be gradually widened. » In the case of the ruler
» of a stilte, the soul is called back in the smaller back chamber,
»in the larger back chamber, in the smaller ancestral temple, in
»the greater ancestral temple, at the gates of the arsenals and
»treasuiies, in the tour suburbs of the capita!" s. »The Hia-
»tscai", adds the Chcu li, »when officiating at Great funerals,
»takes the robe which is worn with the crown and calls back the
» soul in the great ancestral temple; then, on the driving car on
» which the yak\'s tails of the defunct are erected, he calls back the
»soul in the four suburbs of the city 3. The Servants attending
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252
THE IDE AS OF RESURRECTION.
»at the Sacrificea, at Great funerals call back the soul in the
»small ancestral teniple *, and the Assistant Servants on such
»occasions recall it in the smaller back chamber and in the
»larger one" 2.
In those ancient tiines it seems to have been custoinary
after battles to call back the souls of the brethern slain in arms.
In ohapter 9 of the Li ki it is related on 1. 42, that »in Chu-lü
»they used arrows for recalling the dead, a practice which had
»taken its rise from the battle at Shing-king"s. This bloody
conflict between the armies of Chu and Lu, which took place in
the year 037 or 638 13. C., is recorded in the Tso c/rwen, under the
heading: » IVenty-second year of the ruler Hi"; those of Chu carried
the day. » Notwithstanding their artny then remained in possession ot
» the field", says Cliing Khang-chcing, »the number of their slain
» and wounded was very great, and they had no clothes wherewith
» to call back their souls" 4. » The men of Chu", adds Khung Ying-
tah, »having set their minds upon carrying the day, they had
»taken their arrows closely to heart. Hence the victors, in calling
» back the souls, availed themselves of these arrows on which the
»slain had been so bent, in hopes the souls might be brought
» back by the same" 5.
The various extracts reproduced in the preceding pages acquaint
us with a practice which, having arisen undoubtedly in savage
times, had gradually «assumed the shape of a rite of generally
acknowledged import, of a rite which, during the Cheu dynasty,
was to be performed for everybody without exception, from
the Son of ïleaven down to the slain on the field of battle.
It was then regulated by ininute rescripts, nay, even commended
»as the way in which one\'s love and affection for the dead might
be manifested in all their fulness" (see. p. 249). Such great importance
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CAM.ING BACK THE SOUI, OF THE DEAD.                       253
being attached to it nlready in early ages, we certainly need
not be surprised that calling back the dead lias not yet died
out in a reahn, where absolute devotion to parents has always been
proclaimed as the duty standing above all others, and where
the written remains of antiquity have ever been regarded as
authentic codes of morals. The literature of the empire affords
abundant evidence that the practicc in question hasobtained throughout
all ages both amongst the ruling classes and the common peopleas a
sacred custorn. It would carry us too far trom our subject to pass in
review the nuinerous extracts lying before us in which reference is made
to this rite. We must confine ourselves to a few short notes.
Yen Chi-thui, the ethical writer of the sixth century whose
work has been quoted on page 42, ordered his children » not to
take the trouble to call back his soul" \'. The Codex of the Khai-
yu(;n period formally sanctioned the ceremony as part of the
funeral rites of the official classes, prescribing that it should be
performed by three men, successively in the back chamber and
on the roof of the building, with observance of the rules iaid down
in the / li and the Li ki. But in the case of officials under the
fourth degree and other people, the calling back was to be done by
two persons only. During the reign of the house of Sung, the
recalling of the dead obtained as a custom in Hwai-nan country,
as we have seen from Kao Khang\'s statement reproduced on page
245. In the official obsequies of that period the temporary soul
tablet described on page 70 was used in lieu of the clothes of the
deceascd tor calling back the soul, as may be inferred from the
following extract from Ma Twan-lin\'s Wen Men thung khao: »In
»the 31st. year of the Shao hing period (A. 1). 1161), Kin
» Ngan-tsieh, Vice-President of the Board of Rites, with some others
»memorialized as follows. \'Scrutinizing the Coilective Statutes of
»the empire, we have made earnest inquiries into the rules
» relative to the temporary soul tablet; and we have ariïved at the
» conclusion that, although no direct references to it are to be found
»in the Classics, yet this tablet can be traced back to ancient
»times, it being based upon the ideas connected with the custom
» of calling back the dead. Indeed, the Li y un (ch. 30 and 31 of the
» Li ki) informs us that, when a case of death occurred, people
» went upon the roof of the house and there exclaimed: \'Ho. o. o.
1 ^ ^ ^ $L • Yen-shi kia hiun i sect- 20-
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254
THE 1DEAS OF RESUKRECTION.
»So-and-so, come back!\' (see p. 246). Upon tliis practice is based
»the ancient custom of recalling the dead with his clothes, as
»well as the present custom of doing it vvith the temporary
»tablet\' " \'.
The reader will probably reinember tliat tlie calling of the
other-self into a temporary soul tablet inscribed with the name
etc. is still performed now-a-days through the intervention of a
Buddhist priest (see page 71 sqq.). The ancient method of
climbing upon the house top has fallen into disuse at Amoy, in
spite of Chu Hi, who formally prescribes it in his Rituals for
Family Life. It appears that it had already become obsolete in the
llth. century, as Szé-ma Kwang then wrote: »At present people
» fear to alarm the community if they ascend the house and shout
» there. Hence they merely repair for such purpose to the south
» side of the back chamber and of the court-yard" 2. *
2. The Death-howl.
»Calling the soul back", it is said in chapter 12 of the Li ki,
x bears the character of a prayer" (see p. 249). This statement
implies that, during the Cheu dynasty, the departed spirits of the
dead were wailingly addressed in coaxing terms to induce them
to revive the corpse, as is still the case at the present day (comp.
p. 10). It also suggests to us that a connection exists between the
recalling of the dead and the methodic lamenting to which the
modern Chinese give themselves up at some important moments of
the funeral rites, a lamenting which has, through all ages, obtained
in Chinese life as a sacred rite regulated by minute rescripts
and well dctined customary rules. We do not hesitate to say, that
at one time bot/i rites were probably nne and the same thing.
m&^= M-ttzm%Mii,4mm%®ï&.%M
gs ^J ~f" iH^. Ku \';,n "m "l\'u tsihch\'ing, gect. jjja "^ , ch. r>9.
editions of the Kiu li.
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255
THE DEATH-HOWI..
Tliis is decidedly confirmed by the statement of the Li ki reproduced
on page 246, that »nothing but howling preceded the recalling
of the soul".
Bearing in mind the fact sufficiently established in the foregoing
pages of this chapter, that recalling the dead anciently held a place
in China as a ceremony of the greatest import and as a sacred
rite which nobody might presurae to neglect, our theory then fully
explains why in those same ancient times a place of no lcss importance
was assisned to the death-howl. Though in process of time
the original signification of the howling has been lost sight of, and
it now merely survives as a formality betokening grief and woe,
yet the fact remains that it has never lost its position as a rite
of as nmch significance at least as the recalling of the dead; and
this fact, we venture to say, cannot be accounted for except by
concluding that the two practices are intimately connected, and
identical in origin.
It is now incumbent upon us to prove by documentary evidence
that the recalling of the soul and the death-howl were rites
of equal weight in ancient China, and at the same time to
bring forvvard such points as indicate that these two ceremonies
are virtually linked together by ties of the closest relationship. With
the help of the invaluable Li ki it will not be ditticult to accomplish
this task. This Classic shows that, like the recalling of the soul,
so the death-howl was observed for everybody, from the emperor
downwards; princes even wailed for members of their family who
had expiated crimes under the executioner\'s hands. Chapter 9 has
on leaf 28: » Tseng-tszë said: \'The sorrow displayed by the wailing
»and weeping, the feelings expressed by the deep mourning
» garments, and the food of congee and rice, extend from the Son
»of Heaven to all\' " 1. And ch. 29 relates on 1. 26: » When a
»kinsman of the Ruler\'s had committed a crime, the Ruler did
» not offer condolence, wore no mourning and wailed for him in
» a temple of people of another surname, because he kept the man
» who had disgraced his ancestors aloof from the latter" *. This passage
showing that the ancestral temple was selected as a place for
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THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
performing the death-howl, confirms the supposition that this
was intended to cau.se the soul to return, for indeed, one must have
naturally wished the dead man to take up his abode with the spirits of
his ancestors in the place of worship specially dedicated to them
all. The formal reealling, as we have seen from authentic passages
quoted on page 251 , took place in the ancestral temples in point
of fact. Chapter 10 of the Li ki moreover lias (1. 12): »Poh-kao
» having died in Wei, news of the event was sent to Confucius.
» He said: \'Where shall I wail for him? For a brother I wail in
» the ancestral temple, for my father\'s friend outside the temple
»gate, for a teacher in the back chamber, for a friend outside the
»tscin gate, for an acquaintance in the held. If I now wail in
» the open tield, I behave as if there existed only a remote relationship
» between us; if I do so in the back chamber, I make too much
»ado about him\' " *. We see from this that the death-howl was
performed in exactly the saine places as the formal calling back
of the soul (comp. p. 251). The close relation between the two
rites is further manifest by the fact that people were accustomed
to wail also on the tombs, that is to say, on the vcry place where
the body lay which it was desired to resuscitate. According to ch. 13
of the Li ki (1. 39), Yen Yuen, a disciple of Confucius, said to
Tsze\'-lu, his father, who was also a disciple of the sage: »\'I have
» been taught that, on leaving the country, one wails at the grave
» before starting, and that, on returning, one goes to look at the
» graves without wailing and then enters the city\' " *. Finally it is
deserving of attention that, in ancient tiines, those who wailed for
a person who had recently died repeatedly placed their hands on the
corpse, pulled at its clothes and leaned over it, the greatest ainount of
enthusiasm being displayed by those whose relationship was closest.
This practice — on which we expatiated on pages 37 sqq. by
quoting extracts from the Li ki and the I //" — must undoubtedly
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257
THE DEATH-HOWL.
be regarded as a very ancient survival of barbarous attempts to
resuscitate the dead by shaking them while speaking to and shouting
at them.
The fact set forth by the extracts we have quoted, that fixed spots
were assigned with great niinuteness for perforniing tlie death-howl
sufficiently demonstrates the high iinportance in those tiraes attached
to this rite. Also the various moments at which it was to
be set up and to be stopped during the funeral ceremonies were
objects of the strictest attention and were regulated by most minute
rules. Of this the reader may convince hiniself by consulting various
extracts from the / li already quoted and still to be quoted in
this volume, and also by perusing Professor Legge\'s translation of the
Li ki, especially the 70th. chapter, which contains elaborate
precepts to be observed when pcrfonning the mourning rites for a
near relative who has died at a distance. There are even precepts
fixing the length of the periocl during which the howling was to
be kept up: » For the Son of Heaven", says ch. 70 of the Li ki
(1. 23), they wail nine days, for a feudal prince seven, for a
»nobleman and a Great officer five, for an ordinary ofticer three
» days"\'. And ch. 9 (1. 18) adds: »Tseng-tszë declared that, when
» on the tonib of a friend there are shrubs of one year old, one
» should wail for him no more" 2. Finally the same chapter (1. 54)
has: »When the mother of Poh-yü (Confucius\' son) died, he still
» wailed for her after the year had elapsed. The sage, hearing him,
»asked: \'Who is it that is thus wailing?\' \'It is Li\', answered the
»disciples. The Master hereupon said: \'Oh, he exaggerates the
» matter!\' When Poh-yü heard this, he forthwith gave up wailing" 3.
The importance attached, in ancient China, to the death-howl is,
however, illustrated by nothing so well as by the fact that we have
instances in the Li ki of persons exaggerating it in a way actually
bordering on fanaticism. Chapter 10 (1. 18) relates that Kao Tszë-
kao, a disciple of Confucius, »when engaged in the mourning
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258                                THE 1DEAS OF RESURRECTION.
» rites for his parents, wept tears of blood for three years without
v ever showing his teeth (t. e. without ever laughing), and that
»excellent people held this to he very ditHcult........ And
» (1. 15) Tszè-hia having lost his son, destroycd his eye-sight. When
»Tseng-tszë came to condole with him, he said: \'O Heaven, and
»I have no guilt!\' Upon this Tseng-tszg got angry and exclaimed:
»\'How, Shang, you have committed no mistakes?... At the
» death of your son you destroy your eye-sight, this is your third
» offence. How can you say that you have no guilt?\'" \'
Since the principal disciple of Confucius\' school thus sharply
rebukes a fellow disciple for such exaggeration of the howling, we
may infer that their Master was disposed in favour of nioderation
on the point. As a matter of fact he preaches the golden mean.
»In Pien", says chapter 10 of the Li ki (1. 53 seq.), »there were
»people who, at the death of their mother, wept like children.
»Confucius said: \'Such grief is grief indeed, but it would be
» ditHcult to persist in it. The rites are institutions which require to
» be handed down and to be observed with persistency; hence there
» should be moderation in howling and in stamping the feet\' " 2. On
the other hand the sage showed himself fully impressed with the
importance of the howling as a rite, manifesting an anxiety lest
it should fall into disuse; at least, the sanie chapter of the • Li ki
(1. 37) reports that his disciple »Tsze-lu said: \'I have heard the
» sage declare that, in the rites of ïnourning, insufficiënt grief with
» a superahundance of ceremonial is not so good as an insufficiënt
» ceremonial with an excess of grief\' " 3.
The death-howl being in those ancient times thus minutely
regulated by precepts with regard to time, place and duration, it
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259
THE DEATH-HOWL.
follovvs that it had then already become a studied rite and was
no more than an artificial expression of grief, mere affectation,
genuine Irish weeping. Apart from nearly all the extracts quoted
in the above pages, we have incontrovertible evidence of this in the
following passage, occurring in ch. 71 of the Li ki (1. 3): »The
»howling of one who wears the deepest mourning is as if
» breath were constantly emitted without returning (in other words, it
»is without the slightest intermission). That of one wearing the
» mourning of the second degree is as if breath were alternately
»exhaled and inhaled. In the third degree one sobs after every
»three dirges, and in the fourth or the fifth degree it is
»allowed to lament. In this manner grief is manifested by the
» modulations of the voice" 1. In the C/ieu li we read amongst the
instructions of the Master of Collocation mentioned on page 20,
that »at Great funerals he orders the titled ladies whether or not
belonging to the royal house, to set up the death-howl in turns"\';
besides this one, there are many more precepts in the same codex
which show that much howling was done by command, but it is
superfiuous to quote them here.
In succeeding centuries people have even gone so far as to employ
bowlers who did not stand in any degree of relationship whatever
to the dead, as the following extract from the History of the
Southern Part of the Realm shows. » Wang Siu-chi dicd in the first
» year of the period Lung chcang (A. D. 494). His post-mortem
»dispositions ran as follovvs: \'You must not place me in the cottin
» with red gariuents. Sacrifice spirits and dried meat to me, but
» nothing else. People of the present age employ slaves and concubines
»to assist in howling right in front of the soul, but this howling
»should go out from the principal mourner, and it can be no
» generosity on your part to desire that many human voices should
»mingle together in a disorderly concert. If my soul possesses
» sentient entity, I shall laugh at such behaviour\' " 3.
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2G0
THE IDEAS OF RESUKRECTION.
The custom thus rebuked and ridiculed so many ages ago by
a statesraan of high standing still flourishes in Southern Fuhkien.
There the servants and slave-girls of the house, as well as
the male and feniale friends who reniain there temporarily to lend
a lielping hand in preparing the corpse for the grave, occasionally
wail along with the family at moments of importance, believing
that assisting the mourners in fulfulling their duties towards the
dead includes assisting them in howling too. We, however, have
never come across instances, either in books or in actual life, of
people being hired to wail for the dead.
That the death-howl now-a-days is far from having lost its high
significance as a rite is sufficiently manifest from the description
of the funeral ceremonies, which constitutes the first part of this
Book. Where the calling back of the soul has been proof against
the ravages of time, it is not to be expected that the death-
howl, which has from the very beginning stood in the closest
relationship with it, should have died out. Of course its tenacity of
existence is also due to the Li ki and the 1 ü, which books have
always been authoritative codes ot morals for the empire, chiefly
influencing the nation through the intermediary of the official codes
of rites promulgated by successive dynasties, and by Chu Hi\'s
Rituals for Family Life.
As many extracts reproduced in this volume show, the howling
of the nearest relatives of the deceased is in the ancient books of
rites very often mentioned in the same breath with a stamping of the feet
($j|), in some instances also with beating the breast (JjjJ^). About
these manners of expressing grief we have but little to say;
probably they may be also considered as remnants of savage life,
when the bereaved worked themselves into a wild and ecstatic
frenzy not only by screaming and howling, but also by leaping,
dancing, tearing their hair and clothes. Perhaps the beating of the
breast represents in a milder form the more ancient lacerating of the
flesh. This supposition derives confirmation from the circumstance
that, as native commentators unanimously declare, this manner of
displaying grief was a special act of the women; and it is well
known that, among savages, the weaker sex are particulary vehement
and frantic in their grief, losing all self-control in the expression
Chapter 24, I. 4.
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261
THE DEATH-HOWL.
hereof. Be this as it may, the howling to revive the dead having
been changed by the ancient Chinese into a formal rite, it is a
matter of course that the leaping and the beating of the breast,
which were inseparably connected with it, have been dealt with in
exactly the sarae manner. Cliapter 12 of the Li ki (1. 27) says:
» Beating the breast and stamping the feet are the highest expressions
»of grief. They are restricted by fixed numbers, and there exist
»written precepts regulating them" \'. The reader will remember
that the I li frequently speaks of a rite which it calls »a full
stamping of the feet" and which, according to the commentators,
consisted of three stamps thrice repeated (see page 37). Down to
this day women-mourners may be frequently seen striking their
breasts and waddling and tottering while wailing; but it seems that
such acts are not regarded by them as formal ceremonies.
As Sir John Lubbock remarks, »savages almost always regard
»spirits as evil beings. And we can easily understand why this
»should be. Amongst the very lowest races every other man,
» amongst those slightly more advanced, every man of a different
»tribe, is regarded as naturally, and almost necessarily hostile. A
»stranger is synonymous with an eneniy, and a spirit is but a
» member of an invisible tribe" 2. We have had already sufficiënt
evidence in the present volume that this statement holds good of the
Chinese too. On page 36 it is set forth that, in ancient China,
princes, on paying visits of condolence, had themselves escorted
by exorcists to shield them against the spirit of the dead.
Pages 32 and 108 show that even now-a-days people entertain a
belief that dangerous influences stick to every one who has called at
a mortuary house. Finally, on pages 12S, 155, 206 and others, facts
have been adduced clearly intimating that men, and even gods, areaverse
from coming in contact wilu Ihe dead. Consequently it cannot but be
recognized as logical on the part of the Chinese to consider it dangerous
to attend at other people\'s death-howl, as this naturally suggests the
presence of the soul which is called back by it. Now it is also clear
why, as the Li ki (ch. 11, 1. 53) says, »Confucius detested
those who howled for their dead in the open field" 3, and why this
Classic, in giving rules how to behave when hurrying to the funeral
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3!L?J&£ï^£.sect. fa.u
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262
THE TDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
rites of relations who have died at a distance, prescribes (ch. 70,
1. 2) that, » while howling, one shall avoid the markets and the
Court" *. Formal prohibitions against howling in public seem to
have been in existence during the Cheu dynasty, as the code
of political institutions of this house contains a clause running
thus: »The Officer of Mouth-gags forbids screatning and crying,
»lamenting and uttering wailings of woe inside the capital, and
» prevents people from singing and pouring forth death-howls on
»the ways in the capital"2. And ch. 9 of the Li kt (1. 6) relates:
» Ki Wu-tszë" — a conteniporary of Confucius and, like him, a grandee
of the state of Lu — »had built a dwelling, at the foot of
»the Avestern steps of which there was a grave of the Tu faniily.
» This family having asked his permission to bury a second person
»in that grave, he granted them leave to do so. When they
» entered the premises (with the coffin), they did not daretowail,
» whereupon Wu-tszè said: \'Burying two persons in the same grave
»is not a custom which dates from high antiquity; nevertheless,
v sincc the time of the Ruler of Cheu (the founder of the Cheu
» dynasty) nob>>dy has abolished it. I have allowed them to do the
» principal thing, why should I not grant the smaller portion of it
»as well ?\' And he ordered them to set up their death-howl" 3.
As we had occasion to state on page 24, the ancient conception
revealed by the above episode that it was impropcr to howl on
other people\'s premises is still in full sway at the present day.
Nobody, however, troubles liimsclf in the least with the question
of vohy wailing portends ill-luck to strangers. This is a simple
axiom which stands in no need of explanation.
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CHAPÏBR IT.
ON POSTPONING THE DRESSING OF THE DEAD, COFFINING AND BÜRIAI,.
The belief that tleath is only a suspended animation and that
the soul may return and recall the corpse to life, having so strongly
taken possession of the minds of the ancient Chinese as deinonstrated
in the foregoing chapter, it is but natural that they should
have systeinatically delayed the dressing of the corpse, put off the
coffining till the dead body had reached an advanced state of
decomposition, and finally deferred the burial for months, nay för
years.
Chapter 70 of the Li ki says on 1. 31 and 34: »The deceased
» is dressed on the third day. . . . When some one asks: \'Why is
»the dressing not performed till three days after the breath has
»expired ?\', the answer is: At the death of a parent, the filial
»sons are sad and sorrowful, and their minds are full of grief.
» Hence they crawl over the floor, pour forth their death-hovvls as
»if they would bring back life into the body in this way; how
»then can they allow the corpse to be vvrested frotn them to be
» dressed for the tomb? Therefore, when we say that the body is
» not dressed until the third day, this means that we wait so long
» for its revival. Jf re-animation does not follow in three days, it
» will not corae at all, and the heart of the filial son is still more
» broken down. Meanwhile, the plans of the faraily with regard
» to the line of conduct they are to follow are brought to maturity,
»and preparatory nieasures as to the grave garments are taken;
»moreover, the relations who live at a distance have time to
»arrive. These are the reasons why the sages have given a
» decision on the matter, making three days the rule" l.
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264                                THE 1DEAS OF RESURRECTION.
It appears to us that this extract fairly explains why, during the
Cheu dynasty, the dressing of ofHcial persons was divided into three
distinct stages separated from one another by an interval of
time, the last clothes not being put on the corpse until the
moment before it was deposited in the cotfin. By this usage, Avhich
has already been mentioned on page 36 and which will be described
in detail in the first part of the tifth chapter, the relatives clearly
expressed the reluctance they feit to preparing a body for the
grave, the resurrection of which they might at any moment expcct.
Chapters 17 and 34 of the Li li say, respectively on leaf 1 and
13: »The Son of Heaven is encoffined on the sevcnth day and
»interred in the seventh month. Feudal princes are encoffined on
»the fifth day and interred in the tifth month. Great ofKcers,
» ordinary officials and the people are encoffined on the third day
» and interred in the third month" \'. Chapter 56 (1. 15 seq.) continus a
part of this statement by saying: » An ordinary official is buried after
»three months, a Great officer likewise, but a feudal prince is
» buried in the tifth month"2. And in the Tso c//cwen we have:
» The Son of Heaven is buried in the seventh month, and all the
»feudal princes then arrive without exception. Feudal princes are
»buried in the tifth month, and all those with whom they have
»covenanted attend the ceremony. A Great officer is buried in
»the third month in presence of all those who hold the same
»rank. An ordinary official is interred when a full month has
» elapsed, the ceremonies being then attended by his relations by
» marriage" \\
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DEJ.AYING THE DKESS1NG AND COFFINING OF THE DEAD. 265
It is hard to believe that the disgusting customs vvith which
the above extracts acquaint us, should have been maintained during
the advanced state of culture of the Cheu period, nay, even then
have obtained the force of established rites, unless there existed
some imperative motive prompting the people to maintain theni, a
motive which set aside all regard for the noses and eyes of the living.
The respite both in the case of the coffining and the burial was
lengthened in regular proportion to the rank of the person concerned;
and no wonder indeed, for, the revival of an emperor or a feudal
lord being naturally considered of greater importance than that
of an ordinary official, the door for re-aniniation was left open
all the longer for them. It is also interesting to see that attempts were
made to prevent decay, in order that the soul, on returning,
might find the body in a fit state to be re-occupied. » For a ruler",
says ch. 57 of the Li ki (1. 33), »they put down a large basin
»with ice, for a Great-officer a corpse-basin with ice, for an
» ordinary officer only an earthenware vessel without any ice in it" \';
but, says the I li, »if, for an ordinary officer, ice is used, a
corpse-basin may serve for it" *. Already in those ancient tiines
the governing classes had regular store houses in which they laid
up ice for use during the suinmer months. In ch. 25 (1. 50) and
in ch. 21 (1. 18) of the Li ki we read: »In the last month of
»winter ice is abundant, in waters and ineres it is then thick
»and strong; orders are issued to collect it, and it is carried
»to the stores\'. . . In the middleniost month of spring the Son
»of Ileaven opens the ice stores with a sacrifice of a lamb, first
»offering some ice in the back chambers and in the ancestral
»temple" 4. And the Cheu li says: »The Ice Officers are charged
» with taking care of the ice. In the twelfth month of the correct
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260
THE IDEAS OF RESURRKCTION.
» year\' they give orders to cut it. At Great funerals they provide
»the ice required for the corpse-basins" \\
The rescripts regulating the lapse of time after which the
dressing, coffining and burial were to take place, do not seem to
have borne the character of imperative laws dnring the Cheu
dynasty. The Li ki itself declares in its 57th. chapter (1. 32) that
»at the death of an ordinary officer his body was encoffined
»on the second day" \', which in China rneans the day following
the decease; but this may be a printer\'s error. The Clfun
tiiu contains instances of princes who were buried after a lapse
of time entirely different from that prescribed in the IA ki,
even considerably exceeding it in length; e. g. it relates that, »in
» the tenth year of Ituler Suen\'s reign (B. C. 598), in the fifth
» month, Hia Cheing-shu of Ch\'en killed his ruler Pcing-kwoh (the
» feudal prince Ling) . . . and in the twelfth year, in spring, they
» buried this prince" *. Which niakes a postponement of the burial
for at least twenty months. Similar uncertainty prevails with regard
to the emperors of the Han dynasty. The Old Ritual of the House
of Han5 records indeed that the founder of the dynasty was
dressed on the third and encoffined on the seventh day after his
death, so that the rules laid down in the Li ki were observed in
his case. It is also probable that ice was used for him, as among
the Records of the ritual of the said house we find that
»basins were filled with ice in obedience to the established
rites"u. But as to the burials of that family of sovereigns, there
never was any question of a fixed time for them, the dates, as
they are given in the official books of history of that epoch, varying
between the month in which the death took place, and the
i That is of the year according to the chronology of the Hia dynasty. The twelfth
month then corresponded to the second month according to the chronology of
the Cheu period, which is still in vogue in the empire.
*jgf fcjt. Ch. 5, 1. 30 seq.
3 ± Z U — 0 rrn Jf- ** 31 ^ IE. L
5 J^| ^ -^, ap. Books of the Later Han Dynasty, ch. XVI, 1. 7.
6 ^ W- $P ^- Books °\'t,ie Later Han Dynast>\'\' c,,- XVI\' \'•1
-ocr page 307-
267
POSTPONKMEXT OF BURIALS.
three following months. In those ages, however, the opinion strongly
prevailed that it was improper and indicative of a great lack of
devotion to the deceased to confi.de their bodies hastily to the earth.
This is sufficiently evinced by the S/rifi mirtg \', a small vocabulary pro-
fessedly coniposed during the Han dynasty, wliich has: » When the
» burial takes place ere the usual number of days and months have
» elapsed, it is spoken of as a rash burial, which expression means
»that people for want of devotion are anxious to perform the
»interment without delay. But if the corpse is not interred when
»the said periods have elapsed, one calls it a retarded burial,
»that is to say a burial which proves that people, slow and
»indolent, do not care to set the soul at rest at an early date" 9.
Succeeding dynasties have never revived the old rescript that
the Son of Heaven should be buried in the seventh month, including
that in which he lias breathed his last. The Dynastie Histories
teach us that, previous to the reign of the family of Thang, such
burials used to take place in the month follow ing the decease, and
that, during this dynasty, the period of postponement varied between
the fourth and the twelfth month. This information gives us a
right to conclude, that in the case of official persons and the
coinmon people the time of burial was not bound by strict
customary rules. We can easily understand why this should be the
case. The I li prescribes that a lucky period must be selected for
a burial. and this precept having been faithfully conformed to
by the whole succession of dynasties, including that which is
now seated on the throne, it has pushed the ancient rule
into the back ground, as being inconsistent therewith. Consequently,
as a matter of course neither the K h a i y u e n Rituals, nor the
Thung li of the present dynasty prescribe any fixed period for the
burial of any one.
In the first part of this Rook it has been shown that people
now-a-days no longer delay the dressing and coffining of their dead
for a fixed period of time. But as to the interment, we have seen
that they often defer it, though for reasons entirely different from those
which regulated the conduct of their prc-Christian ancestors on the
point, to wit, because they wish to obtain graves which in all respects
$f m ^ m h tl »üf§ # t> ± #• %m &- <*•* iv-§27-
-ocr page 308-
268
THE IDEAS OF RESUURECTION.
fall in with the demands of the fung shui doctrines (pp. 102,
105, 132). Yet traces of the original motive for such delays are
still discernible. We have seen that calling back the soul was
anciently considered a proof of filial devotion. Consequently, delaying
the burial, which likewise had for its object to further the revival
of the dead, must also have been from the very beginning a proof
of filial devotion; and now we see indeed that a hiong tsbng or
» hasty burial" (see p. 102), such as is performed on the first or
second day, is generally deciied as evidence of the lack of filial love.
Though the bulk of the people are in the habit of burying their dead
so soon as that, yet such intermcnts are considered quite unworthy
of a family of distinction and are only excusable in the very poor, who
know no better. At Amoy, everybody understands the term hiong tsbng
as meaning a burial portending evil or which will never bring good
luck to the offspring; on the other hand, a burial after the
dead has been stored away for a pretty long time is there called
a Met tsbngl or burial which will prove prolific of blessings to
the descendants, because the soul will gratefully reward them for it.
Anyhow, fashionable people in southern Fuhkien deern it a sin
against filial devotion to bury a father or mother ere seven days have
elapsed, especially so, if the deceased has reached a considerable age.
The prevalence of similar ideas in Fuhchow was noticed by
Mr. Doolittle. »The very poor" — he writes — »are often obliged,
»in order to save expense, or for other reasons, to bury their dead
» in the course of a few days after death. It is considered disreputable
» and a mark of the very lowest poverty, or that the dead is destitute
»of friends and relatives who take an interest in the honour of
» the family. If the body is buried in the course of a few days
» after death, it is called » blood-burial", or a burial of blood. The
» corpse is believed to have blood in it or the blood has not yet
»dried ups. » Blood burial" is used as a term of reproach, and
»> refers to hasty burials, preceded by few mournin» solemnities" 3.
In chapter I of the next volume we shall have to review the
practice of keeping encoffined corpses at home in yet another light.
2   This must be understood, of course, as meaning that life is not yet extinct.
As we had occasion to show on page 217, the blood of a living being is identifled
by the Chinese with liis vital energy; and this is very natura!, as a body dies when
it is deprived of blood.
3  The Sorial Life of the Chinese, ch. VII.
-ocr page 309-
CHAPTER III.
ON PLACING PRECIOÜS OBJECTS IN THE MOÜTH OF THE DEAD.
The idea that death is merely a long protracted sleep and that
corpses may coine to life again, has, besides recalling the soul,
howling and postponing of burials, given rise in China to sorae
other practices which it becomes our duty to pass in review. In the
first place, it has prompted the people since times immeniorial
to stuff the mouth of the dead with things that are supposed to
be imbued with vital energy derived from the great element Yang,
and therefore deemed able to facilitate revival and at the sa me
time to retard decomposition, so that the soul, onreturning, might
at any time find its flesh and blood in a state rit for re-oecupation.
Among these articles, a certain class of minerals called y u h \',
embracing probably sundry sorts of jade or Jasper, nephrite and
agate, have always obtained a Ürst place. The Clieu li informs us
that, vat funerals of the highest order, the Manager of the Signets
» of Jade provided (bruised) jade, to be mixed up with the rice
» for the mouth, as also (pieces of) jade to be put into the mouth" *.
A similar duty at those times was incumbent upon a certain
official styled Manager of the Stores for Jade \\ The Li ki contains
many references to the custom with which the above passage acquainte
us, which proves that it held a very important place among the
funeral rites at that time. This is still more evident from the fact
that princes and sovereigns were in the habit of sending to one
another, by special messengers, the jade required for stuffing the
mouth. We read indeed in ch. 14 of the Li ki (1. 19) that »at
»the mourning rites for Khao, the ruler of the state of Chu-leu,
»the ruler of Sü despatched Yung-ki to offer condolcnce and to
» present articles for the mouth of the deceased. \'My Ruler\', said this
» man, \'has sent me, Yung-ki, to cower down and offer articles
1 ï-           2 m^^^it|^^^3Ê.C.,20,1.46.
3 3Eifif- ch. e, i. ia
-ocr page 310-
270
THE 1DEAS OK RESURREOTION.
» for the mouth of the dead. He also sends the jade pertaining to
» a feudal lord and has ordered me, Yung-ki, to present it as an
» article to be plaeed in the mouth of the deceased\' " \'. Of the way
in which such jade for the mouth was presented by such a
messenger, ch. 54 of the Li ki (1. 29) gives the following description.
»The man with the articles for the mouth, holding a flat piece
»of jade in his hands, delivers his message, saying: \'My Ruler
» has sent me, So-and-so, to offer the articles to be plaeed in the
» mouth of the deceased\'. The person in attendance then enters the
» gate to report the message and, going out of the gate again, he
»says-. \'The orphan son So-and-so is waiting for you\'. Upon this,
»the bearer of the things for the mouth enters the gate, ascends
»the steps of the hall and delivers his message, after which the
»son bows to him, with his forehead to the ground. Now the
» other squats down, depositing the jade on the south-east of the
»place where the coffin is stored away and where a Phragniites
»mat is spread for the purpose; but if the burial has already
»taken place, he lays it down on a Calamus mat. This done,
» he descends the steps and returns to his place. The major-domo,
» in his court robes, but with mourning shoes on, now ascends
»the western steps, turns his face to the west, squats down, takes
»up the jade, descends by the western steps and goes to the
» east (of the court-yard)" 2. We sec from this passage that jade
for the mouth was still offered even though the messenger came
too late for the family to make use of it, which is a proof of the
great importance attached to the custom in question.
It is by no means diflicult to tracé the reasons why jade stone,
the most precious mineral the ancient Chinese were acquainted
with, was preferred by them above all things for stufling the
mouth of their dead. Already in those ancient times it was
identifled by philosophy with the heavens, whereas the Yih kiny (ch. 17)
-ocr page 311-
JADE AND GOI.D ARE IMBUED WITH VITAUTY.                 271
says: »Heavcn is jade, is gold" \'. Now, the empyrean region being, as the
reader witl remember from page 22, the depository of all life in
Nature, of the vital energy which Nature deals out over the
world, its symbols must likewise be bearers of these good things.
Moreover, the celestial sphere is unchangeable, indestructible,
beyond the influences of decay, and the same qualities attach
to its symbols. Hence jade and gold naturally endow with vitality
all persons who swallow them, in other words, they intensify their
souls or s h e n, which are, like the heavens, composed of Ya n g matter
(see p. 110); and they hold at a distance from the dead corruption
and decay, thus furthering their return to life.
That such ideas were prcvalent in ancient China may be inferred
from time-honoured works and from opinions expressed by
native authors on the point. In the C/ieu li we read that,
» when the Sovereign fasts, the jade which he swallows is procured
»by the Manager of the Jade Stores"3. The reasons for his
swallowing this mineral can have been no other than to intensify
the energy of his Yang soul, in order to enable him to bringabout
an intercourse between this soul and such disembodied shen of
others as passed for beings of a higher order, such an inter-
course being indeed the object of fasting in timesof old. Commenting
upon the passage just quoted, Ching Khang-ch\'ing says that »jade was
»eaten to subdue the influence of watery vapours, whereas this
» mineral is the purest part of the essence of the Yang element" \\
But Wang Chao Yü *, a scholar of the Sung dynasty, writes:
» When the energy of the soul has reached its highest stage, then
»it is able to have intercourse with the spirits composed of Yang
»matter (shen); and jade being the purest part of the essence
»of the Yang, it may, when swallowed, assist the soul to gain
»that end" s.
The conception that jade reinforces the vital spirits naturally
entailed the belief that, when swallowed, it prevents the body
3 *mmzm, ^zmm^m-
5 mwz&m%mvi:£ww.*wmzm,&
z*tvxwmw-
-ocr page 312-
272
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
from deteriorating and thus enables men to live to a great age.
The most ancient native work on medicinal botany, known as the
»Botanical Canon of Shen-nung" *, — probably extant already
in the pre-Christian era, but since the revival of literature during
the Han dynasty known exclusively by quotations in later
works of the saine kind — declared that »the spiritual and
»immortal beings, when they were on the point of departing
» with this life, swallowed five pounds of solution of jade, with
»this effect that for three succeeding years their colour did not
» undergo any alteration" \\ The prevalence of sirailar conceptions
in the second century before our era is manifest from the following
passage in the Books of the Earlier Han Dynasty: »In the lCth.
»year of his reign (B. C. ] 64) the emperor Wen acquired a
» drinking-cup of jade, on which was carved this inscription : \'Master
» of mankind, may Thy life be prolonged to the great deliglit of
»this world!"\' \\ We may further quote here the testimony of the
ȟescription of the Ten Islands" Strik c/teu ki\', an account of
fabulous countries which were believed to exist in several regions
beyond the oceans; however spurious this work may be, it is
nevertheless useful as acquainting us with ideas prevalent in
the earlier part of the Christian era, when it was probably
written. It says: »In Yung-cheu, which is situated in the Eastern
»Ocean, rocks of jade exist, over one thousand fathoms high.
»From these rocks there issues a brook like sweet wine; it is
» called the Brook of Jade Must. If, after drinking some pint»
» out of it, one suddenly feels intoxicated, it w ill prolong life" s.
Finally quoting Koh Hung, an alchemistic author of the fourth
century, mentioned already on page 50: — »Grease of jade",
says he, »is formed inside the mountains which contain jade. It
»is always to be found in steep and dangerous spots. The jade-
1 W&#MfÊ\'
2ï^, MHiIiAfê5E*j£Jr, = #&*#•See
the Pen-ts\'ao kang mi-h, ch. 8.
A M Ch. 4, 1. 45.
4 m ib-
-ocr page 313-
MFB-PROf-ONGlNO 1ACULT1ES OF JADE AND GO[,D.              273
»juice after issuing from those mountains, coagulates into
»such grease after more than ton thousand years. This grease
»is fresh and limpid like crystal. If you find it, pulverize
»it and mix it with the juice of herbs that have no pith,
»it iramediately liquifies; drink one pint of it then, and you
»will live a thousand years... He who swallows gold will exist
»as long as gold; he who swallows jade will exist as long as
»jade. Those who swallow the real essence of the dark sphere
»(heavens) will enjoy an everlasting existence; the real essence
» of the dark sphere is another name for jade. . . Bits of jade
»when swallowed or taken with water, can in both these cases
» render man immortal. . ." \'.
It is certainly superfluous to prove by more extracts from native
works that the ancient Chinese were fully imbued with the belief
that jade and gold could prolong life by strengthening the vital
energy and thus protecting the body against decay. Both minerals
have indeed for a long series of ages held a prominent place in
alchemy, or the great art of preparing the elixir of life and the
philosopher\'s stone. In our Book on Taoisin we shall have to speak
at length upon this art and then we must revert to the two
minerals again. It now becomcs incumbent upon us to show, that the
notions illustrated by the above extracts in reality lie at the bottom
of the custom of placing jade and gold in the mouth of the dead.
We will acquit ourselves of this duty by giving a few extracts
from the works of native authors who have expressed themselves
explicitly on the subject.
Koh Hung says: » If there be gold and jade in its nine openings,
the result is that the corpse does not putrefy" \'. Thao Hung-
1  ïf&^^^as^Uj.ft-JglK^iA.ï»*
tijn^q±mmm&m. Jtmw*«. #^
*£ tfc..,»& % mixa &, $ 3Ê* #*n3&ifc,H£
Z. UfcnZ.föiï \\^ft.<.p™ Poh «. ch- 2- §«.
ff £!•
2   &3S£fö % gfcHij M Afè Z %*5- PnoP\'°»**>chi-
18
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274                                THE IDEAS OP KESURRKCTION.
king\', who lived in the fifth century, wrote: » When a grave of
»ancient date is dug up and the corpse is found to look as if it
» were alive, then there is everywhere botli uponand inside it a great
»quantity of gold and jade. It was an established rule vvith the
»house of Han to bury every prince or feudal lord with clothes
» adorned with pearls and with boxes of jade, in order to prevent
» putrefaction" *. In the latter part of the fit\'th century there lived
a certain statesman Li Yü i, of whom the following is related in
the Books of the Wei Dynasty 4 and in the History of the North
of the Empire 5. He applied hiinself ardently to the ancient methods
of eating jade. Ouce upon a certain day, with his own hands he dug out
of a field over a hundred pieces of jade and powdered them, giving
part of them away to others and swallowing the rest himself in
the course of a year. Thereupon he died in consequence of debauchery.
His body was not coffined until the fourth day, and although it
was in the seventh month, the hottest of the year, his colour did
not change in the least. His wife asking hini to open his mouth,
that she might place two pearls of jade in it, he at once obeyed
her, and no smell at all issued from his throat. — Finally quoting
the author of the Pen-tscao kant/ muh: »Jade", says he, » cannot
» positively prevent the living from dying, but it can prevent the
» dead from decaying away" 8.
We do not find one word in the native literature prior to the
Christian era about the use of gold for filling the mouth of the
dead. But the part this metal has played in philosophy and alchemy
according to the numerous extracts quoted, leaves scarcely any room
for doubt that it was widely made use of for the said purpose in
subsequent ages. One question still requires elucidation, to wit,
why jade and gold were, in China, so especially identified with
heaven. No satisfactory answer to this is supplied by any of the
ancient books; so we can only guess at the reasons. Semi-civilized,
* # * » # ja ^ *n £ #, %%mftzm^-k
•fjl . Ming i pieh luh r^J &jï Ü|J $%, ap. Pen-ls\'ao kaag muh, ch. 8.
4 Ch. 33, 1. 18 seq.             5 Ch. 27, 1. 7 seq.
Chapter 8.
-ocr page 315-
PLACING (\'0WR1ES IN THE MOUTH OF THE DEAD. 275
simple-minded man naturally cherishes puerile ideas about the
Cosmos, the constitution of which he does not at all understand.
So it is not surprising to find the ancient Chinese identifying
the source of precious rains, warmth and light with the most
precious things they possessed on earth and, in a reverse
sense, simply regarding such things as enianations from the
supremum bonum. The beautiful azure colour by which many sorts
of jade are distinguished from other minerals, may likewise have
had some share in establishin<j; this identification.
If the above hypothesis be correct, it is as natural as natural
can be that the ancient Chinese used also other precious articles
for preserving their dead. To this end they availed themselves in the
first place of cowry shells obtained from rivers, lakes and seas, which
were so valuable in ancient times that they were generally used
for currency. This fact, well known to Sinologists, is especially
manifest from the circumstance that the character J|, which is
the ancient hieroglyph denoting a cowry, enters into the composition
of most characters which signify things of value and acts connected
with trade and barter. As instances niay be given: |^, precious,
objects of value; Hj" and Jjj£, wealth, property; ^, strings of
currency; j|\\ tribute; ^, goods, merchandise; jjj£, to trade or
barter; J| and JlJ|, to buy; J|, to sell; |^, to trade, also
the price of a thing; ^, to ransora; jl|, dear; ^, cheap; ^,
to lend; j|, to borrow; 1$ < |ff and Jïjf, to bestow presents;
etc. etc.
»The mouth of the Son of Heaven", says ch. 56 of the Li ki
(1. 14), »is stuffed with nine cowries, that of a feudal lord with
» seven, that of a Great officer with five, and that of an ordinary
»official with three" \'. The way in which they were introduced
into the mouth in the case of an ordinary official, is described by
the / li in the following words:
» Three cowry-shells, in a basket, are set out under the western
» wall *. (The washing of the corpse finished), the principal moumer
»leaves the door and, turning his face to the south, bares his left
»arm and shoulder, inserting his clothes between his girdle on
1   ^^lRA^^^-fc^^3L,±H.Sect. gigB,
11,2.
2   ÜH. W\'f^, ^^p® ^ f:. Ch. 26, 1.50 and 52.
-ocr page 316-
276
THE IDEAS OF RE3DRRECTION.
»the frontside of his body, on the right. He then cleanses his
»hands over a basin, washes the cowries, and holding (the basket
» which contains) thern in his hands, he enters the back charaber.
»The steward washes a spoon, places it in the uncooked rice
»(likcwise destined for the mouth), and with (the dish containing)
»this rice he follows the principal mourner.
»The Invoker after the manner of the Shang dynasty, holding
»the cloth (which is to be spread over the face of the dead) in
»his hands, follows behind them. Entering the back chamber
»he takes his station against the wall, with his face northward,
»then removes the pillow from underneath the head of the corpse,
»spreads out the cloth over its face and removes the plug
» from the mouth \'. Then taking the cowries out of the principal
»mourner\'s hands, he places them on the west side of the
» corpse.
»Hereupon the principal mourner passes by the feet of the
» dead to the west side, and there, with his face eastward, hesits
» down on the couch on which the corpse is stretched. The Invoker
»now taking also the rice from the steward, places it on the
»north of the cowries. With his left hand the principal mourner
»takes some of this rice upon the spoon and pours it in the right
»cheek, repeating this three times and placing a cowry there.
»Then he does the same in the left side of the mouth, and
»subsequently in the middle, finally putting rice in the mouth till
•» it is tuil *. When the cowries are placed in the mouth, they are
» made to support the last molar tooth on the left and the right
»side 3. The principal mourner now puts on his dress and returns
1 1\'eople in tliose times were in tlie liabit of plugging the teetli open imrnediately
alter deatli by means of a kind of spoon of hom, lest the mouth should shut and
ronder tlie «tuffing thereof difficult.
mm, miaA. ^mmm^ *. &##.
3 \'MM&Ëti&±ti$-ch-**>*•"•
-ocr page 317-
PI.ACING PEARLS IN THE MOÜTH OF THE DEAD.                277
»to his place \', while the Invoker after the manner of the Hia
» dynasty removes the remainder of the rice" \'.
During the Han dynasty pearls also occupied a place among
the objects which vvere introduced into the mouth of the
dead. At least it is stated in the funeral ritual for the Sovereigns
of this house that, »their mouths were filled with rice, and pearls
»and jade stone were put therein, in accordance with the
»established ceremonial usages" \\ And the Po// hu thung i \\ a
well-knovvn work professedly written in the first century, says: »On
»stufting the mouth of the Son of Heaven with rice, they put
»jade therein; in the case of a feudal lord they introducé pearls,
»in that of a Great officer and so downwards, as also in that of
» ordinary officials, cowries are used to this end"5.
The same reasons why gold and jade were used for stuffing the
mouth of the dead hold good for the use of pearls in this
connection; indeed, the latter are also very frequently alluded to
in Chinese literature as depositories of Yang matter, and as such
ranked amongst the bearers of vitality. Medical works declare on
this ground, that they can further and facilitate the procreation of
children; moreover, as we had occasion to show on page 217, these
same books say that pearls can be useful for recalling to life those
who have expired or are at the point of dying. The native
literature abounds with tales about pearls so full of Yang matter
that they emitted rays of light; it has much to relate of »effulgent
pearls" 8, »pearls shining during the niglit" \', »pearls lighting
like the moon"8, »flaming or fiery pearls"", etc. etc. Similar
legends have always been current in the empire about jade stone,
and these are all based, of course, on similar conceptions.
The »Record of Forgotten Matters", a little book mentioned
on page 56, says that at the time of the Emperor Shen-nung
1  ±AH^fë-Ch-\'27\'l-u-
2  H ü # ü WL- Ch- 31- \'• u\'
3  tK. $Ê ^ 3Ê ^fB la • Books ot the Later Han Dynasty> c,i- i(i< \'• \'•
Ch. 4, last §.
-ocr page 318-
278
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
(28th. cent. B. C), » there existed jade which was obtained from agate
» rocks under the name of \'Light, shining at night\'. If cast into the
» water in the dark, it floated on the surface, without its light being
» extinguished" \'. And the Tu yun<) tsah pien 2, a work written in the
ninth century by Su Ngoh 3, relatcs: » During the reign of the emperor
» YVu-tsung, in the tirst year of the period Hwui chcang (A. ü.
»841), the country of Fu-yü brought as tributc three rneasures
»of fire-jade. This jade, which was red, consisted of pieces half
» an inch in length, pointed at one end and round at the other;
» their light shone to a distance of several tens of paces. By piling
» thein up they could be made to do service in boiling the pot"4.
Such legends about lighting pearls and jade being current in the
native literature in considerable numbers, it is easy to understand
why people of the present time, as we had occasion to remark on
page 92, give as one of the reasons for their placing precious
stones in the mouth of the dead, a desire to procure light to
the soul, that it may be safely conducted along its paths in the
dark Tartarus. Bat they have not forgotten that the piïncipal
object of this practice is, to save the body from a speedy decay.
It finally remains to be noted, that the principal codes of rites
all prescribe the placing of\' the precious articles, which have been
dealt with in this chapter, in the mouth of the dead, so that
we seem warranted in saying that these things have in all ages played
their part in the disposal of the dead. Silver has obtained a place
am<>ngst thein, as also coins, probably because these have replaced
the ancient cowries as currency. In the Khai yuen Codex it is
ordained that grandees and officials of the first, second and third
rank »shall receive in their mouth circular pieces of jade, tliose
»of the fourth and tifth rank blue jade, those of the sixth and
» lower ranks cowries"5. Chu Ili\'s Rituals for Family Life prescribe
one coin in the left side of the mouth, one in the right side and
Ch. 1.
]^X \'J$$ $t. See Ku kin thu shu tsili ch\'ing, sect. J^ të , ch. 326.
5 i- m m m ^b i & m m,* & w t m •
-ocr page 319-
279
STUFFING THE MOUTH IN MODERN TIMES.
one in the middle, while the Ta \'IVing tkung li says: »In tlie
» case of an official of the first, second or third degree, five sinall
» pearls and pieces of jade shall be used for stuffing the niouth;
»in that of one of the fourth, Hfth, sixth or seventh rank, five
» sraall pieces of gold and of jade. The gentry shall use three bits
»of broken gold or silver; among ordinary people the niouth
» shall be stuffed with three pieces of silver" \'. It inay be finally
noted that, in the province of Fuhkien, people in easy circumstances
nearly always put an armlet of jade on one wrist or on each wrist
of the dead 2.
Ch. 52, l. i, 18 and 23.
2 The customs dealt with in this chapter we heg especially to recommend to
the attention ot Ethnologists, as they may be of service in placing in another
light analogical practices widely prevalent in other parts of the globe, and hitherto
mostly explained as serving to provide the dead witli the ineans of defraying certain
expenses bevond the grave. It is well known that tlie placing of articles of value
in the mouth of the dead obtained among the Greeks, the Romans, the Hindus
and the ancient Mexican emperors. In the is huid of Bali, where cremation exists,
it is customary for the priests to put a golil ring inlaid witli a precious ruby on
the tongue of a body which is to be burnt; this ring is, however, replaced by a
flower before the funeral pile is kindled (Van Eek, Het Tijdschrift van Nederlandsen
Indie, VIII, p. 114). Collin de Plancy writes in his Dictionnaire Infernal (art.
Mort): «Dans Ie royaume do Tonquin, il est d\'usage, parmi les personnes riches,
» de remplir la bouche du mort de pieces d\'or et d\'argent, pour ses besoins dans
» 1\'autre monde". This explanation is perhaps as incorrect as the suggestion that
the cake of flour, honey etc., with which the ancient Romans provided the
mouth of the corpse, was designed to conciliate the iury of Cerberus and thus to
procure a safe and quiet entrance into the infernal regions. It is more likely to
have represented a continued feeding of the dead, a practice which, as we shall show
in Ch. VII, also prevailed on an extensivo scale in both ancient and modern China.
-ocr page 320-
CHAPTER IV.
ON COFFINS AND GRAVE VAULTS.
The ideas of the resurrection of the body, so clearly illustrated
by the customs dealt with in the three last chapters, have naturally
prevented the Chinese from ever adopting any system of disposition
of the dead which entails a quick destruction of the body, such
as cremation, water burial, exposition in the open air, etc. From
the earliest tiraes we find theui clinging to the system of burying
their dead in the ground, in cotfins of great solidity, sometimes in
several coffins inclosed one within another, in receptacles calculated
to w;ird off putrefaction for a long time. Coffins are, moreover,
made of certain sorts of wood which, as philosophy teaches,
are pervaded with Yang matter and thus in a condition to
further a speedy revival of the body. So, the Chinese are strict
adherents to the doctrines of Democritus, who preached against
the burning of the dead, saying they must be buried in expectation
of a resurrection which he predicted for every one \'.
There is no evidence that the art of embalming the dead, carried
to such perfection by the ancient Egyptians, was ever known to
the Chinese. Neither in their literature, nor in actual life do we
find any tracé of it. So far as we know, there is only one
instance on record of a faint attempt at preserving a body from
decay in an artificial way; it occurs in ch. 242 of the History of
the Sung Dynasty (1. 12). Li Chcen z, a concubine of the emperor
Chen Tsung *, had bom him a son, who in A. D. IU23 ascended
the throne under the name of Jen TsungV When Li Chcen breathed
her last, the emperor, her son, was still totally ignorant of the
fact that she was his mother; some high dignitaries, acquainted
with this circumstance, but not at liberty to reveal it, nevertheless
i Pliny, Xaturalis Historiaj, lib. VII, cap. 55.
*4%-          *m%          \'tm
-ocr page 321-
COFFINS AND GRAVE VAÜI.TS IN REMOTE ANTIQUITY.           281
dressed her carefully in the attire of an empress and had
mercury put into her coffin. After a time being npprized of
the truth, Jen Tsung had the corpse transferred to a new
coffin, and on this occasion it was found that »she looked like
»jade stone and as if she were alive; her attire was that of an
»Empress-Dowager, and corruption had not done its work, the
» mercury having preserved her body" \'.
Thus embalming having never played a part of any importance
amongst them, the Chinese were naturally thrown back upon
the coffins as a means of preven ting the decomposition of the
dead. The ways in which they have concentrated their attention
and sharpened their inventive genius upon coffins, form an
interesting page in the book of their rcligion of the body and the
soul, a page which we must not neglect to lay open before our
readers.
Coffins in ancient times.
All the Chinese records, either authentic or apocryphal, show
that, from the highest antiquity, burial in the ground lias been
the usual method of disposing of the dead in the Kingdom of the
Midst, and that coffins have always been inseparably connected
therewith. Only one classic, the Yikking, pionounces another opinion.
»In times of antiquity", it says (ch. 15), »those who buried their
»dead covercd them thicidy with tirevvood and committed them
»to the earth in the open field; they did not raise a tumulus
»over the grave, neither did they plant trees on the spot. The
» length of the period of mourning was not regulated by numbers.
»The holy men of subsequent ages modified this state of things
» by introducing coffins and vaults" 2.
Though frequently quoted as authoritative by writers who
stood forward as the advocates of simplicity in the disposal of
the dead, this statement stands alone in Chinese literature,
which therefore gives us sufficiënt grounds for believing that it
rests on no historical basis. It looks rather like a product of
*-&zm%miïZMwmz*m.-*M^m.
-ocr page 322-
282
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
fancy or the private opinion of sorae individual who simply imagined
matters must have been so in the dark night of tiraes of which
we know nothing, in the year one. Even supposing the extract
refers to ages on which the most ancient Chinese records throw
a glimpse of historical light, still it is in flagrant contradiction
with an ancient tradition preserved in the Li ki (ch. 9, 1. 23 scq.),
which runs as follows: »In the time of Yiu-yü (i. e. the Emperor
» Shun, wlio is said to have lived in the 23rd. century B. C.) they
» used cottins of earthenware; under the sovereigns of Hia (22nd.—18th.
» cent. B. C.) they built brick enclosures over the same. The people
» of the Yin dynasty (18th.— L2th. cent. B. C.) used coffins and grave
» vaults of wood, and those of the House of Cheu (12th.—3rd. cent. B.
» C.) put in the grave the side curtains of the catafalque, and the s/mh \'.
» The people during the Cheu dynasty buried those who died between
» sixteen and nineteen in the wooden cottins and vaults of the people
» of Yin; those who died between twelve and sixteen and between
» eight and twelve they interred under the brick enclosureB of the
» sovereigns of Hia, and those who died in infancy, for whom no
» niourning is worn, in the earthenware cottins of Yiu-yu\'s time" 2.
In the first chapter of the next volume, in attempting to tracé
the most ancient forms of burial in China, we shall have again
to refer to the above traditions, and to show that the statement
about the use of cottins and vaults of burnt clay before wooden
cottins came into vogue, deserves more credit than would super-
ficially appear. It is interesting to note that during the Cheu dynasty
the improved method of burial was only for the benefit of
up-grown people, and that the less effective and older methods,
uplield by that tenacity of existence which characterizes so many
funeral customs in different parts of the globe, continued to be
practised for the young, whose dead bodies were the objects of
little interest. In the next volume it will be shown, that even at the
present day earthenware pots for burying very young children are
still widely made use of, and vaults of masonry are constructed
over the coffin in gravcs of the wealthy.
1 See pupe 185 sqq.
Sect. ^ ^ , I, 1.
-ocr page 323-
•283
C0FF1NS OF SOIJD STONE.
Chinese literature contains also hazy references which point to
the use, during the Cheu dynasty, of cottins of solid stone, by
which term may be understood marble, dolomite or granite. The
SAi ki relates:
» Fei-lien begot Wu-lai. Wu-lai was a man endowed with athletic
»strength, and Fei-lien was a good racer. Both father and son
»served Cheu of the Yin dynasty by their talents and strength.
» When king Wu of the House of Cheu had slain Cheu *, killing
» at the saine time Wu-lai, Fei-lien made a coftin of solid stone
» for Cheu and buried him in the north of the capital. Finding
» on his return that nobody did anything for Cheu to requite the
» favours conferred by him, he erected an altar on mount Hwoh-
» thai (near Cheu\'s grave), to perform there himself what others had
» neglected to do, and he found on the spot a stone coffin bearing
»this inscription: \'The Emperor of Heaven has decided that
» Chcu-fu (this was Fei-lien\'s title) shall not be implicated for having
» played a part in the disorder created by the house of Yin; he
» presents him with a coffin of stone, to shed glory on his kindred\'.
» After his death he too was buried on mount Hwoh-thai"\'.
However legendary this episode may be, it is not without interest,
as showing that the father of Chinese historiography who recorded
it, as well as the unknoun author from whom he probably borrovved
his information, were partisans of the doctrine that hurying a human
being, even though he were, like Cheu, a prince reproached for
being the greatest monster of wanton cruelty that ever lived,
constitutes an act of charity worthy to be rewarded by the highest
divinity in existence. It further shows that in those ancient times
it was considered a great privilege to be interred in a cotfin of
solid stone, and that it was a mark of honour for a family to
have one of its members committed to the earth in such a receptacle.
1 In the battle of the country of Muh >jfi Igfr, 1122 B. C, king Wu, the
renowned tournier of the Cheu dynasty, completely overthrew king Cheu, the last
tyrant of the house of Yin, thus accomplishing his conquest of the empire.
Compare the foot-note on page 116.
2 n m £ b * o m * ^ % m m » *. # f- ^ «
-ocr page 324-
284
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
At all events we may conclude from this that they were used only
in very exceptional cases.
They who agree in opinion with those who believe that fables
always contain a grain of historical trutli, may find in the domain
of Chinese mythology a hint that stone coffins were still used at
the beginning of our era, or, at least, that they were at that time
not yet effaced from the memory of the people. The Books of the
Later Han Dynasty relate the following about a certain Wang Khiao *,
a governor of the country of Yeh 2 during the reign of the Emperor
Hiao-ming (A. D. 58—76): »Afterwards Heaven sent down a
» cottin of jade stone at the front fioor of his hall. His underlings
»tried to take it away, but they could not move it, upon which
» Khiao said: \'Can this mean that the Emperor of Heaven calls
» me towards him?\' He bathed himself, put on his official attire
» witli its ornaments, and lay down in the coffin, the lid being
»immediately closed over him. When the night had passed,
»they buried him on the east side of the city, and the earth
» heaped itself up over him in the shape of a tumulus. All the cows
»in the district on that evening were wet with perspiration and got
»out of breath, and nobody knevv whence this came. The people
» thereupon erected a temple for him" 3. — The Records of Khing-
cheu \', which were written in the tifth century, relate that, »at
» Lin-siang there is in the water a couch of stone, upon which stand
»two coffins of solid stone, green like copper mirrors. There is
» nobody who can give any information about them" \'. Lin-siang was
situated in the north eastem part of the present province of Hunan.
We must now direct our attention to the coffins of wood, which,
according to the Li ki (see p. 282), came into vogue during the
Yin dynasty and have continued to be generally used down to
1 3E^-                      2 M-
#f viï z. m a m #i ^ 0 w m k % ± ffi • ch- m- ^ieaf 7-
it. M ü ^ ifc •See the cyclt-pa>dia y«e"kien te han. ffll ^ M Üï\'
ch. 48, and ihe l\'ei wen yun fu, ch. 14, I. 177.
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FOURFOLD, THREEFOLD , DOUBT,E AND SINGLE COFFINS.         285
the present daj. The word by which they are denoted throughout
the native literature, reads kwan; and as the written form of
this word (^) is composed of -fo, »wood" and kwan \'jff,
»otticial", there is ground for supposing that wooden coffins were
at the outset used for the ruling classes only; but we have
nowhere iiny direct evidence for this in the books.
» For a Son of Heaven", says ch. 11 of the Li ki (1. 46), »the
» coffin is fourfold. One of buffalo and rhinoceros leather covers the
» body; it is three inches thick. Then coraes a cotfin of the I tree,
»then two of Rottlera wood. The four are all complete inclosures.
» Of the coffin bands two pass lengthwise around the cotfin, and
»three crosswise. For each band there is one jen"1. And ch. 58
(1. 84) adds: »The biggest cotfin of a feudal ruler is eight inches
»thick, the next six inches, and the innermost four. The large
»cotfin for a Great officer of the highest rank is eight inches
»thick, and the next six inches; for a Great officer of lower
» rank the dimensions are six and four inches, while for an ordinary
»officer the coffin is six inches" 2. So, an emperor was buried in
four coffins, a feudal lord in three, a Great officer in a doublé
one, and an ordinary servant of the state in a single cotfin, the
number thus regularly decreasing with the rank of the dead. No
doubt this rule was founded on the idea that the body of a pre-
eminent person ought to be better preserved for the resurrection
than that of a less important individual, an idea which, as we
have seen in chapter TI, also prompted the ancient Chinese to
defer the dressing, coffining and burial of eminent personages
longer than in the case of less distinguished people.
The jen, raentioned in the above extract, were evidently
instruments for closing the coffins, as we are explicitly told they
stood in immediate connection with the ropes wound around the
same. Neither the \'Li ki, nor any of the ancient books describe
them; so we are compelled to apply to the commentators of the
----. Sect. IA 5 , I, X
Sect- M * IE. »•
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280                                 THK IOKAS OF RKSUllftECTION.
Li kt for informntion on this point. Taking into consideration that
the character jfe, by which the said Classic denotes thern, occurs
in the ancient books generally in the sense of a flap or lapel of
a coat, or in that of the seam where a coat opens and fastens,
those commentators do not hesitate to assert that the jen were a
kind of pegs used to clamp the case and lid together. Cliing
Khang-chcing says, »the jen are the \'small waists\' which were in
» vogue in his time" l, instrunients » broad at both ends and thin
»in the middle" 2; very likely they were on account of this shape
denoted by the name of waistlets. Three centuries after Ching,
Kluing Ying-tah wrote: »ln ancient times coffins were not nailed;
» hence leather straps were used to join the different parts together.
»The straps laid lengthwise were wound around them twice, and
»those laid crosswise three times, and to each strap there was
» one jen. The coffins were not nailed, but people chiselled them
» out at the sides, thereupon they made excavations at both ends
»over the seam where the two parts joined, and secured these
» parts together by nieans of waistlets, which made them fit tightly" 3.
Finally to give the opinion of Chen Hao, an author already quoted
on page 188: »The place", says he, »where the seam of a coat
»closes, was called jen. Therefore the waistlets used to secure a
» coftin and lid together, were likewise denoted by this name" \'.
Although these extracts are not particularly clear in all respects,
yet they sufticiently show that the jen were very nearly the same
kind of thing as the doublé dove-tailed pegs of wood, which the
modern Chinese still use to close their coftins. These pegs have been
spoken of on page 95, and the way in which they are fastened may be
learned from page \'3\'2i. At any rate it is certain that the use of
these instruments dates back as far as the time of Ching Khang-
chcing, that is to say, the beginning of our era. Khung Ying-tah\'s
1    5j£ A> A\\ 3£. Khienlung edition of the Li ki, ch. XI, 1. 47.
2  /J> 4g i£ ^ ffi bM B ^ & \'b • °p- et loc- ciL
m\\% % = n m % % - m c tt * m ® & m fê a.
# m m & m £ ft & & > # * & a z * m ><»• <«*•
cit., I. 48.
*&zm&&Bu,i>X\'bmm&fëm^zm
#C Jf 4* ^i • °P- et loc- ciL
-ocr page 327-
IRON NOT USED FOR COFFINS IN ANCIENT TIMES.               287
assertion that no nails were used for coffins in ancient tiraes — an
assertion whioh is confirmed by the fact that nails are nowliere
mentioned in this connection in the old writings — is of peculiar
interest because it explains why, as has been said on page 95, cotfin
nails are still so sparingly used in modern tinies, even for the
huge coffins of the rich only two being allowed for the lid. The
same strong spirit óf conservatisni which bears sway all the world
over where sacred custonis are concerned, will account for this.
It is curious to sec that even in such an ad vaneed stage of civilization
as that represunted by the age of Cheu, when iron was generally
used, the custoni still obtained of joining the different parts of
coffins together by ropes or straps and wooden pegs, instead of
using nails for the purpose. We do not hesitate to conclude that
we are here face to face with a survival of centuries still more
retnote, in which iron was unknown. It is a fact well established
by arehaïological science that, in spite of the general introduction
of iron, traces of previous ages of lower culture hardly ever
disappear; such traces have even been discovered in that part of the
world inhabited by ourselves. Other survivals of this kind are
revealed to us by ch. 58 of the Li ki (1. 35). There we read:
»For a Ruler the coffin is lined with red stuff, fastened with
» nails of sundry metals; for a Great officer it is lined with dark
» coloured material fastened with nails of ox-bone; for an ordinary
»officer it is not nailed"\'. We feel strongly inclined to believe
that those nails of bone and of various metals — probably copper
and bronze — were instruments which, as late as the age of Cheu,
had survived the general introduction of iron.
The custoni of varnishing the receptacles of the dead, which,
as stated on page 106, is generally prevalent now-a-days, is
proved by the Li ki to be of very old standing. »In case of
» the Ruler of a state", says this book in its 58th. chapter (1. 36),
»the lid is varnished and has three jen with three straps. For a
»Great officer it is likewise varnished and has two jen with a
» like number of straps. In the case of a common officer the lid
»is not varnished but it has likewise two jen with two straps"1.
± £ * fll & — &r*%. Sect. H * |B, II.
-ocr page 328-
288
THE IUEAS OF RE8ÜRRECTION.
Considering that the object of coffins was to protect their
contents from decaying influences, it is not improbable that such
varnishing also included a previous caulking; but for this there
exists no written evidence.
To prevent decomposition of the corpse being the main object
of the cofhns of antiquity, it is perfectly natural they should be
made of very thick, substantial wood. Ciphers on this head
are given by the Li ki in the passage quotcd on page 285. But
these are controverted by Mencius, who, according to the classical
writings which bear his name, said on a certain occasion : »Anciently
»coffins and funeral vaults were not of fixed dimensions. But in
»iniddle antiquity the coffins were seven inches thick, and the
» vaults also, from the emperor down to the common people" \'. It
should, however, be taken into considcration that Mencius is chief
iimongst all the oracles of ancient China for making sweeping
statements about matters of which he had little or no knowledge,
thus rendering his evidence untrustworthy.
Grnve Vaults.
We have now to devote our attention to the grave vaults, which
have been referred to in some of the extracts quoted in the
foregoing pages. In the books of both the pre-Christian and the
post-Christian era they are so often mentioned in the same breath
with the cofhns, that there can sc.ircely be any doubt the people
regaided both with the same amount of interest; and this induces
us to conclude that they served, like the coffins, to preserve the
corpse from speedy decay.
In all books, ancient as well as modern, they are represcnted by
the character ||fi, now pronounced k w o h; by way of abbreviation this
is often written IfÊf. The fact that the prefix ^ , »wood", enters into
the composition of the character already in such early times, gives
us a right to suppose that wood was the common material out of
which grave vaults were constructed from the first. Nevertheless
there are instances on record of vaults having been built of solid
stone during the Cheu dynasty; these instances are, however, so
scanty, that we cannot but conclude that such vaults were only
constructed in exceptional cases. Chapter 11 of the Li ki (1. 4) relates
-ocr page 329-
FUNKRAL VAULTS OP SOLID STONE AND COPPER.               289
Tszë-yin, a disciple of Confucius, said on a certain occasion:
» Forraerly, our Master, while staying in Sung, saw that Hwan,
»the Minister of War there, was having a funeral vault of solid
» stone made for himself, which was not finished in three years" *.
In the works of Chwang-tszë * we are told that, whilst digging a
grave for Ling 3, the feudal ruler of the state of Wei 4, they struck
upon a grave vault of solid stone, which bore an inscription
ordering them to use it to bury the prince in. Though this tale
bears the character of a fable or an allegory, it may serve to prove
that stone funeral vaults were not unknown in Chwang-tsze\'s time.
Other slight testimony for this conclusion we have in the Si-king
tsah kir>, or Miscellanies about the Western Metropolis, a little
book of doubtful authority, which is said to have been composed
in the sixth century by Wu Kiun 6. Reliiting how, during the Han
dynasty, a certain Khü-tsih 7, king of Kwang-chcwen 3, had several
ancient tombs broken up, it says: »In the tomb of king Siang of
»the state of Wei (334—319 B. C.) the vault was entirely
» constructed of veined stone and over eight feet high. There was
»room enough in it to hold forty people. To the hand it feit
» smooth and chilly, as if it were new. lnsidc it there was a couch
»of stone and a screen of the sanie material, elegantly finished
» on all sides, but there was no tracé of a coffin, nor of implements
» for the use of the soul" 9.
Of a character more doubtful still are a couple of passages
referring to grave vaults of copper. The Yuefi tsueh shit \'• or
Book on the Extinction of the Kingdom of Yueh, which was
jflj ^ $ Sect. ^f t$, 1,3.
2 Nan hwa clwn king fë |È j|| $g, cl.. 8, § 3, ||J (^ .
3 M•                4IS •
5 jj§ Cl fflfc gfl. That metropolis was Ch\'ang-ngan -J& *tjr, .in the present
Shensi province, the seat of the Iroperial court during the Early Han dynasty.
G^J3-         7*^-          8 ff JU ï.
19
-ocr page 330-
290                                 THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
written probably during the latter part of the Han dynasty, records
of Hoh Lu \', a monarch who in the period between 514 and 496 B. C.
bore sway over the kingdom of Wu 2, that » his copper grave vault
was composed of three layers" \'. And ch. 6 of the Shi ki (1. 29)
relates that Shi Hwang4, the renowned monarch of the house of
Ts\'in who united the whole empire under his sceptre in the third
century before our era, had a grave vault of copper made for
himself. Seeing that these passages stand quite by themselves in
literature, we consider them as not vvorthy of much credit. Perhaps
we ought to read, instead of |jjtj, »copper", ffl, »wood of the
Thung tree", this, as we shall see further on in thischapter, having
always been a select kind of timber for the making of coffins.
As to the construction of wooden vaults, this may be easily
understood from particulars given in the ancient books. The / li
preseribes that, »when the (wood for the) grave vault has been
» piled up in the shape of the character ^, the principal mourner
» shall turn his face to the west and make bows to the workmen;
» then he shall walk around the vault, keeping it on his left hand
» side, and so he shall return to his place and wail, but without
»stamping his feet. The women shall in the meanwhile wail in
»the hall"5. This piling up of the wood, which had for its object
to enable the mourners to convince themselves that the material for
the vault was in perfect order, took place prior to the burial, on
the premises of the house of mourning. The way in which, at this
inspection, the pieces were arranged, suggests the idea that the
vault was constructed of beams piled up inside the pit, on the four
sides. Already before the burial they were put in their places, and
when the coffin had been lowered, and the food, iraplements etc.
for the use of the dead had been arranged around it, » a wooden
»frame was placed over everything, the obverse down. Then
» foliowed a mat to keep off dust from the coffin, the obverse up,
» and finally came pieces of wood to support the earth" \\
»In the case of an emperor", says chapter 11 of the Li ki (1. 47),
3 MW-HS-ChaPter2-           tj^l.
6 to #t , $$ Z s Jm fó /&, 1Z. lm tic *• \'«,<* 3o,i.4i.
-ocr page 331-
291
FUNERAL VAÜLTS IN ANCIENT TIMES.
»the funeral vault is made of cypress wood, cut froni the foot of the
»trunk in pieces six feet long" l. Chapter 58 (1. 47 seq.) adds:
»Rulers have a vault of pine, Great officers of cypress wood,
»ordinary officers of sunlry sorts of wood. The space between the
»coffin and the vault can, in case of a Ruler, contain a music-
»stopper; in that of a Great officer it can hold a water jar, in
» that of an ordinary officer a liquor jar. In the case of a Ruler
»they line the vault, in that of a Great officer they do not do
» so" *. Thus the width of the vaults cannot have been very large,
a music-stopper being, according to commentators, a square tub
which, at musical performances, was beaten from time to time
with a clapper, as a sign to the musicians to begin or to stop.
In the age of Confucius grave vaults were by no nieans considered
indispensable for the burial of the dead. Chapter 13 of the Li ki
(1. 28) reports that the sage said on a certain occasion: »If
»you wrap the body round from head to foot and quickly bury
»it without using a vault, this being suitable to your means,
»you may be said to act in obedience to the establislied rites" 3.
And in the Lun yü we read: »When Yen Yuen died, (his father)
»Yen Lu begged for the Master\'s carriage to make a vault out
»of it; but Confucius said: \'Every one calls his son his son,
»whether he has talents or not. My son Li has also died, and
» he has got a coffin, but no vault; I did not walk afoot at the
»time to make him one. I belong to the retinue of Great officers,
» and therefore I may not go on foot" *.
The particulars contained in the above pages teach us that the
ancient Chinese used doublé, triple and quadruple cottins of different
kinds of wood and hides, with vaults of wood or solid stone.
1 3c?fóWMiCm*Rs°«- W.ïl^<s-
*a, * * # ^, ± mm* &MW-.*ji^MW~sect
lil ^t §e i il
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*mmftMföm?z&Mfèzw.?B.*^
-ocr page 332-
292                                 THE IDEAS OF RESÜRRECTION.
Knowing trom the preceding chapters how firmly they believed in
the possibility of resuscitation, there is no reason for believing that
the numerous and substantial enclosures tbr their dead served any
other object than that of preserving the corpses from decay, that
they raight at any time be fit to harbour the soul once more.
Th is conclusion is confirmed by the following interesting passage
in ch. 11 of the Li ki (1. 4), which reproduces a discussion between
some of the disciples of Confucius. » Tseng-tszë said: \'I have heard
»from the Master that one should desire to decay away quickly
»after death\'. \'The superior man\', replied Yiu-tszë, \'did not say
»so\'. \'I repeat that I have heard the Master say so\', returned
» Tseng-tszë. \'Formerly\', said Tszë-yiu, \'when Confucius was staying
»in Sung, he saw that Hwan, the Minister of War, had been
» engaged three years in having a grave vault of solid stone made
» for himself, which was not yet finished, and he said: \'Acting
»like this is extravagance indeed; nothing can be better after
»death than to decay away quickly\'. That one should wish to
» putrify soon after death was said by him with reference to Hwan,
» the Minister of War\'. — Tseng-tszë reported this statement of
»Tszë-yiu to Yiu-tszë, who said: \'And yet I persist in saying
» that those were not the words of our Master. For, in Chung-tu \'
» he issued an official order that coffins were to be four inches
»thick and grave vaults Hve inches, and from this I teel convinced
» that he did not wish the dead to decay away quickly\' " *.
In the Books of the Early Han üynasty we came across
an episode in the life of the emperor Wen, (B. C. 179—156),
which proves that the idea underlying the use of substantial
4 A town in the state ol\' Lu SB , in which Confucius held for a time the dignity
of Governor.
m .* * b .% m £ m & m ^ #n m ft z m m m
tt^T^j-B.m^mBftjïTzw&o*?
wT^um zmiL^zw.yimft^mmïï
fa. Sect. ff Ël, 1,3.
-ocr page 333-
293
THE T1MBER USED FOR COFFINS AND VAÜLTS.
coffins and vaults was at that time much the sarae as in the
Confucian age. » Ordering lady Shen to strike the lute, His Majesty
»himself accompanied the music with a song, hut upon this his
»inind becanie gloomy and dejected, and he was filled with
»melancholy thoughts. Looking around him, he said to his
» ministers: \'Oh, how would it be possible to injure a vault made
»of solid stone from the northern mountains and caulked with
» hemp and silk, mixed with varnish!\' All those around declared
»that he was right, but Shih-chi stepped to the front, saying:
»\'Suppose in such a vault there are things worth coveting, there
» will always be cracks enough in it, even though it were as close
»as the southeru mountains. But if there is nothing of the kind
»in it, what then is there lor Your Majesty to be anxious about,
»even if they do not bury Her in a stone vault at all?\'"1.
Here we see an emperor, in the midst of his enjoyments at the
side of a favourite concubine suddenly remembering that death
would come to put an end to all his earthly pleasures, and
pondering at the same time on the means to keep his body in
an undecayed state, in order that a life of happiness might dawn
for him hereafter.
The different sorts of Wood used for Coffins and Grnve Vaults.
To further the resurrection of the dead being the most important
point in the use of coffins and vaults, it is quite natural that
these were anciently made of special sorts of timber of great
durability, and by preference of such kinds as were believed to
be imbued with vital energy, that is to say with shen, orafflatus
produced by the great Yang element (comp. page 110). As different
extracts reproduced in the above pages have shown, the ancient
books mention as such : 1 ^Jj, Rottlera ^, Fine ^ , and Cypress
;jfj. The I, identified with the white aspen (£| $J or >^) is a
big and lofty tree, of which an author of the eighth century
says: »It is extremely abundant in northern countries and planted
mt;fiW%fó]$,M-c"50\'\'•2"*•
-ocr page 334-
294
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
there in burial places" \'. » The fiber of the wood", adds the Pen-
(scao kang muh, »is fine and white, the wood solid and straight,
» and accordingly it is much used for beams and posts, which never
»get distorted, nor bent"2. According to the Khanghi Dictionary 3
it is, moreover, proof against moisture. The Rottlera possesses
qualities no less excellent. The P*i i/a says of it: »The Rottlera
»is the king of trees, because among all the sorts of timber there
»is none better than that prodviced by the Rottlera" *. » lt is",
adds the Pen-ts\'ao karig muh, »on this account that, at the Imperial
court, coffins are styled structures or buildings of Rottlera" \\
Elsewhere we read: » People make coffins of it, which are of still
better quality than even those of Pine and Cypress wood"".
Throughout the Chinese literature, even in recent works sucli as the Ta
Tscing hioui tien and the Ta Tscing thung li, the expression »structure
or building of Rottlera" occurs as a special name for the imperial
coffins, which fact shows that the wood of this tree played a
prominent part in their construction.
A place no less important is occupicd by the Pine and the
Cypress. In mediaeval and modern ages we even see them entirely
supplanting all other trees. Besides their solid, resinous wood
distinguishing itself by its durability, even when buried in
the ground, people have no doubt been prompted to use it
extensively for coffins from the fact that both trees are possessed
of great vitality, so that the wood, when placed around the dead,
might facilitate their return to life. Thus we have here again a
puerile notion of the same kind as those reviewed in the last
chapter, where we have shown that the Chinese place in the
moutli and on the body of their dead all sorts of things which
they believe to be imbued with vitality on account of a supposed
1 Ê^^±#^>AMIK\' Pen-ts\'ao shih i, mentioned
on pafre 201; Pen-In\'no kang muli, ch. 35, II.
Chapter 35, II
3 Verb. j$£.
6 J# % tif ¥f. W t§ # ^•Ku ldn thu shu te\'7\'chin^ wct M
fc, ch. 240.
-ocr page 335-
THE PINE ANJ) CYPRESS AS STORES OF VITAL1TY.              295
connection with the celestial sphere, the chief representation of the
Yang element.
But why have the Pine and Cypress always been considered in
China as special stores of vitality ? The ancient Chinese, as well
as Pliny, must have observed that \'Pinus et Cupressus adversus
cariem tineasque firmissimae\'\'. These trees being in fact more
proof against the ravages of air, weather and insects than
perhaps any other growing on the soil of the empire, it is
natural enough that the inhabitants thereof ascribed their strong
constitution to the large amount of vital power in their vvood.
Neither the scorching summers, nor the Siberian winters of northern
China can divest them of their foliage; proudly raising their lofty
heads into the sky, these giants of the mountains stand intact,
while everything around has died off in an ocean of\' snow and ice.
Indeed, Chwang-tsze was right in exclaiming: » Pines and Cypresses
» alone on this earth are endowed with life; in the midst of winter
» as well as in summer they are ever green" *. Nor is their capacity
to live long equalled by any other tree: we need only remind our
readers of their Californian congener, the Sequoia Gigantea. Several
Chinese authors dilate upon Cypresses and Pines of an astounding
size and age. Liu Ngan, a philosopher of the second century
before our era whom we have mentioned on page 57, speaks, in
the 16th. chapter of his Explanations of the Great Liglit, of Pines
of one thousand years old, and Koh Hung says: » Tn Pines of one
»thousand years old there is something resembling either a blue
» ox, a blue dog or a blue human being; in all these cases the
» tree is a thousand years old\'. Cypresses of one thousand years
»have deep roots, shaped like men in a sitting posture, seven
» inches in length; when they are cut, they lose blood. And branches
» of Pines which are three thousand years old have underneath the
» bark accumulations of resin in the shape of dragons, which, if
» pounded and consumed in a quantity of full ten pounds, will
» enable a man to live flve hundred years" \'.
1 llist\'iriii\' Naturalis, lib. XVI.
sim tsih ch\'ing, sect. B[ ~Jk , ch. 202.
-ocr page 336-
296                                 THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
The S/iu// i ki\\ a work probably of the earlier part of the sixth
century, says: »In the Fragrant Island, which is a part of the
»Chu-yai department, there are Pines of a thousand years, the
» fragrant smell of which extends over a distance of ten miles \'.
» And in the district of Ln-shi (in the far west of Honan province),
»there is an old burial ground of the Lords of Lu, flankcd by
»two Cypress trees which extend their foliage over two hundred
»and more paces" \'. Coming down to more modern times, we
read in the Records of the Country of Wu 4, written probably about
the end of the ninth century: » On the banks of the great river
»in the south of the district of Sung-yang (in Chcehkiang province)
»there is a Pine which has a circumference of eighty-one spans
»and, in a hollow space inside the trunk, room enough for thirty
»people to sit down"8. The Memoirs of Honan\', the author of
which, we believe, lived in the 14th. or the 15th. century, say:
»On mount Sung, at the Thien-fung monastery, there are three
»old Cypresses, which the Empress VVu of the Thang dynasty
»(A. D. 684—705) had invested with the dignity of Great officers
» of the fifth rank; their foliage covers a hundred and odd paces
» of ground"7. To make a final citation from a large quantity of
extracts lying before us — the Wu tsah tsü 8, a work of the Ming
dynasty, pretends that » on mount Sung, at the Sung-yang temple,
»there stands an old Cypress, so thick that no less than five
^C$£$Ë /f#3LW^&- The same W°\'k\'ch 2\'§1i\'l|\'
2 #m«*img^*®m^n E.** »•
* #» m m m * m m # m. * a - b . * &
^iï" 2?jÊ ^^ -J-" A 4fc . See the Kuh chi hing yuen, ch. 64.
6 STUT*.
it\\ m? i=f m* ^ •Kohchiking
yuen, ch. 04.
-ocr page 337-
THE PINE AND CYPRESS PRODUCE ELIXIRS OF LIFE.            297
» persons holding eaoh other\'s hands are required to embrace it" 1.
As already set forth on page 271 sqq., the use of jade and gold
to preserve dead bodies from decay was intimately oonnected with
the place these precious minerals held in alchemy as producers of
elixirs of life. A like phenomenon presents itself with regard to the
Pine and Cypress, the two other possessors of vital energy which
are universally used in this capacity of protectors of the dead from
putrefaction.
The Kan Wa-tï nei ch\'wen, the book quoted on page 56 which
relates the adventures of the Emperor Wu (B.C. 140—86) with
a fabulous Queen of immortal beings residing in the far West of
the empire, says that »these immortals use as a first-rate drug
»the resin of Pines and Cypresses, because this can prolong life,
»when consumed"9. Liu Hiang wrote in his Lieh sien clitoen
(see page 56) with reference to the Pine trees: »Those who ate or
»drunk of them have all attained to an age of three hundred
»years"3. During the Han dynasty the ruling classes believed so
firmly in the life-endowing properties of the Cypress that, »on
»New Year\'s day they wished a long life to the emperor with
» wine prepared from Cypress leaves" *.
Erom an extract quoted on page 295 we see that Koh Hung,
the great alchemist, declared that the resin of Pines of three
thousand years old enables men to live five hundred years. In
the same chapter of his work he dishes up the following tale,
which, though betraying his extravagant credulity, is nevertheless
useful, as shedding light upon the ideas and conceptions about the
Pine, which occupied the Chinese brain in his time. »Moreover", says
he, »I have heard that in Shang-tang tliere lived a certain Ch\'ao Khü,
» who was since several years so thickly covered with lcprosy that
» he proved incurable, though every one had tried his medical abilities
» upon him. When he was on the point of breathing his last, some
» one said that the best thing to be done was to cast him into a
"hg -^ . Koh ehi king yuen, ch. 64.
shu tsih ch\'ing, sect. E3 t|^ , ch. 202.
3 f£jjJÜ^|"-|^f3|;E£liJ,ܧ. Yuen kien lei *°M> ch- 412-
4jEMJÖ>ü^^i±#-The sarae work- ch- 413-
-ocr page 338-
298
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
»running stream of water; but his sons and grandsons, after
»having repeatedly taken counsel with the family, deposited
» him with some provisions in a mountain-cave. There he lay for
» more tlian a month, his heart filled with bitterness at his hard
»fate, sighing and weeping sadly day and night, till a hermit
» passed by the cavern, looked at him and, moved by eompassion,
»inquired what was the matter. Sensible that he had to do with
»an extraordinary person, Kliü bowed his head to the ground,
»related what had liappened and implored his pity, whereupon
» the hermit gave him a bag of drugs, informing him at the same
»time of the way in which he must take them. For more than a
»hunderd days Khü swallowed these medicines, the result being
» that all his ulcers disappeared, his healthy and eheerful complexion
»returned, and his flesh and skin became smooth and glossy as
»jade. When the hermit passed by again and looked at him,
» Khü thanked him for having endowed him with new life, and
»requested him to give him the recipe; whereupon the hermit
» said: \'It is juice of Pine trees. In these mountains there is still
» more of it. If you refine and consume it, you may prolong your
» life and escape death\'. Having returned home, Khü took juice
» of Pine trees for a long time. His body became light, his breath
» a hundred times as strong as it had ever been before, and he
»reached his 17üth. year without his teeth dropping out or his
» hair turn ing grey" \'.
Succeeding centuries have evidently not brought about any
modification in these and similar conceptions of the Chinese regarding
m> 7$%Mmzmw.\\hK*. M&K*ê®x
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;& w^>^ w ~b n * t ># * ó- ch a-§"- m m-
-ocr page 339-
THE PINK AND CYPRESS PRODUCE ELIXIRS OF LIFE.            299
the Pine and the Cypress, for authors of more modern date still lose
themselves in vague speculations about the properties of these trees
as the seats of vital power. The Description of the Sung Mountains l,
written during the Thang dynasty, says: » On the high peaks of
»the Sung mountains there are big Pines, some a hundred, others
» a thousand years old. Whosoever gathers and eats their seed vvill
»live to a great age" 2. And the Description of the Lu-shan 3, a
work of the eleventh century treating of the picturesque monntain
range west of lake Po-yang in Kiangsi province, tells us that
»the Pines on the western ranges there have the appearance of
»horses\' raanes and that, if one consuine such of the leaves as
»contain five grains, he shall enjoy a long life" \\ In the Khuh-
wei kiu wen s, written in the twelfth century by the statesman Chu
Pien 8, it is related that Su Tung-pco7, a celebrated statesman and
poet who lived from 1036—1101, » vvhile abiding in the country
» beyond the sea (Hainan), in the spring of 1099 took a scroll of
» paper and wrote: \'The blessings bestowed upon mankind by the
»Pine are very numerous. lts flowers, its juice and the fungus
» which grows at its roots, if consumed, all prolong life\'"8.
In conclusion let us see what the Pen-tscao hang muh, the
Standard work on medical botany, zoology and mineralogy which
has already been quoted so often in these pages, has to say
on the subject. Par from proclaiming any new doctrines or
derogating from what had already been preached by the authorities
of bygone ages, it merely says: »The juice of the Pine, when
» consumed for a long time, renders the body light, prevents man
» from growing old and lengthens his life. Its leaves preserve the
1 ^OjIB
"f*! -Jj^ /£p . Koh chi king yuen, ch. 04; and Yuen kien lei tian, ch. 412.
3 filü IE-
king yuen, ch. 64.
&z%mt*tikmwm.&&m&:$mzwM
A. Chapt. V.
-ocr page 340-
300
THE 1DEAS OF RESURRECTION.
»interior of the body; they cause a man never to feel hunger, and
»increase the years of his life. And Cypress seeds, if consumed for
» a long period, render a man hale and healthy. They endow him
» with a good colour, sharpen his ears and eyes, cause him never
»to experience the feeling of hunger, nor to grow old; further,
»they cause his body to lose its weight, and prolong his life" \\
No other trees can, according to the same work, be converted into so
many medicaments as Pines and Cypresses. Drugs which cure
almost every disease imaginable, are prepared from their sprigs,
leaves, seed, roots, resin and so on. All this healing power is
supposed to exist simply because of the general conviction that
Pines and Cypresses are stores of vitality par excellence, and that
this vitality is imbibed by the sick man vvhose vital powers, on
the wane, require reinforcement.
After all, the natural conclusion at which we arrive on a
careful analysis of what native literature tells us about coffins,
is that they were intended to preserve human bodies from
putrefaction and to facilitate their resurrection, by enveloping them
air-tight in a material which, as being possessed of vital energy,
was considered capable of transmitting life once more into the clay.
This fact renders it perfectly intelligible to us why, as the Li kt
states, the imperial grave vaults of cypress wood were constructed
of timber cut out of the lowest parts of the tree in pieces of six
feet long (page 291): — indeed, the foot, as being older than any
other part of the trunk, was deemed to contain more vitality
than the higher and younger parts. Here then we have also
a thorough explanation of a custom prevailing during the Han
dynasty, and probably also in times still more ancicnl.: that of
piling up, in case of persons of rank, an extra number of pieces
of cypress wood round the coftin in the grave. This evidently served
no other purpose than to increase the vital power already emitted
by the coffin and the vault. In chapter 6S of the Books of the
Early Han Dynasty (1. 12) we find this practice mentioned in
connection with the burial of Hwoh Kwang, father in law to the
Son of Heaven and generalissimo of the army in the first century
*=*ó ff % m & a m m M & > 3* e m w .# m Jfi
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OTHER KINDS OF T1MBKR ÜSED FOR COFFINS.                  301
before our era (see p. 239); it is there spoken of as » a piling up
of the thick ends of yellow intestines" \'. Su Lin 2, a learned author
living in the first and second centuries, explains this expression as
follows: »The yellow wood of the heart of cypress trees was
» accumulated outside the coffin; hence the text speaks of yellow
»intestines. The thick ends of the pieces (f. e. those which, when
»on the trunk, are nearest the root), were all turned towards
»the centre of the cave, and therefore the text speaks of an
» accumulation of the thick ends" \\
In describing the funeral rites of the modern Chinese, we have
shown that people believe the corpses of their anoestors emit
uch influences frorn the grave as may enable the offspring to live
to a great age, and that this conception is particularly illustrated by
their dressing their dead in robes stitched all over with characters
representing long life (p. 63) and by their having the coffins
nailed down by old men (p. 97). Now the conclusion is natural
that this belief is intimately connected with the ancient practices of
stuffing the mouths ot the dead with life-emanating products of Nature
and of surrounding their bodies with this same sort of things, nay,
we may even suppose that it virtually originated in these practices.
A few words remain to be said on the other kinds of timber
which, according to Chinese books, were used for coffins in former
ages. Apart 1\'rom a few sorts too rarely mentioned to deserve any
special notice, are the following:
1. The Chang4. This is the famous camphor tree, which grows
all over southern China and is still so abundant in the south-western
provinces as to supply most of the timber required for the water-
craft on the Yang-tszë river. That its strong-smelling, hard wood
is superior to almost any other kind of timber in resisting insects
and fungi, is a fact generally known; moreover, this tree is an
evergreen, and it is accordingly ranked by the people on a level
with the pine and the cypress as a depository and dispenser of
vital power.
< #mmm-
2 Spjfc /jyk. A. short biographical notice of this man is\' to be found in the
Meraoirs of the Three Kingdoms, ch. 21, I. 21.
-ocr page 342-
302
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
2.  The Kia \'. This is described by the \'Bh yaü — a vocabulary
dating probably from pre-Christian tiraes — as a T sc i u 3 with
small leaves; and as the Shwoh wen*, a dictionary composed in
the first century of our era, identifies the Ts\'iu tree with the
Rottlera, it is not improbable that the Kia is simply a variety of
the latter, the excellent qualities of which have been explained on
page 294.
3.  The Pcien\\ This tree is found in the provinces south of the
Yang-tszë. It furnishes excellent tiniber which, according to Wells
Williams, is much used for cabinet ware \\
4.   The Tcung7, more commonly called Wu-tcung\'. This is
probably the Sterculia Platanifolea9, a stately, large-leaved tree
growing in the central and southern provinces of the empire, at
least down to the latitude of Amoy. It produces an excellent light
timber, much used for fine carpentry of all kinds, for musical instruments
and the like. »The \'Bh ya calls it Chcen, because it is suitable
for the manufacture of cofh\'ns" ln; in point of fact we find in the
oldest Chinese documents the word chcen very frequently used to
denote an inner coflin. »This word denotes the coffin nearest the
» body, and the wood got the name chcen (^g) from the fact that
»it was placed next to (^§,) the body" ".
By the way we must place before our readers a curious extract
from the Li ki (ch. 14, 1. 22), referring to the manner in which
in pre-Christian ages wood was procured in the empire for imperial
coffins. »When a Son of Heaven dies, the foresters repair to the
»trees growing on the spot assigned for sundry sacrifices, and
» have those fit for coffins and a vault cut down. If there be not
» wood there in sufficiënt quantity, the sacrifices are abolished, and
» the men connected with the place have their throats cut" \'\\
1 jf also witten >g.                 2 fgfë.                  3 f#.
4i££-             5 !$•
6  Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language.
7 fê|-        8 fêü-
9 Journal of the Norlh China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 15, p. 28.
10 !f Ti il Z Ü @ £ ïï{ ^ tt • Pen-,sno ka»o muh\'ch 35-L
Khanghi Dictionary.
z .^ m # m ^ m m % k sect- m ^. «• 3-
-ocr page 343-
GREAT ATTENTION PAID TO COFFINS AND VAULTS.              303
Coffins, objects of great solicitude.
Coffins and vaults being intended in olden times for the important
object of preserving the dead from decay and furthering their
resuscitation, they must, as a natural consequence, have been
objects of great solicitude. The ancient writings prove that such
was the case in point of fact. It is recorded in chapter 11 of the
Li ki (1. 16) that a scion of the house of the Rulers of Lu, » Heu Muh
» by name, said: \'I have heard Hien-tszë (a disciple of Confucius)
» say in reference to the rites of mourning, that mourners are not
»allowed to neglect thinking profoundly and long of the dead,
»and that, in purchasing coffins, they must pay minute attention
»to the same, outside and inside. When I die, let it be so with
» mine" l. When Confucius was Governor of the town of Chung-tu
(see page 292), he even went so far as to consider himself in duty
bound to assume a patemal care over all the coffins within the
pale of his government. His » Domestic Discourses" s relate on this
head: »When he had just entered upon his functions as chief
» magistrate of Chung-tu, he enacted rules for feeding the living
» and burying the dead. The old people and the young were made
»to eat different kinds of food, the strong and the weak to
»follow different professions. Males and females kept apart from
»each other in the streets, and on the roads lost things were not
»picked up by others. Vessels were not fraudulently carved; the
»coffins were made of timber of four inches, the vaults of wood
»of five inches. The hillocks being used for graves, no tumuli
» were raised over the latter, neither were trees planted upon them.
» When these regulations had been in operation during one season,
» all the feudal princes of the West imitated his example" 3. Where
the Master preceded, the disciples naturally foliowed, and encoffined
the sage with a strict observance of the rules he had himself laid
down. »After the death of Confucius, Kung Si Chcih took upon
M& ,« fê» ft ê & ft M #ÜR.Sect m 3> J- 3-
2 Khung-tszë kia yü, "2^ -5- |ë? gjE. ( probably written in the third century.
s n*%ï tt a «f as^«s#&a je21». g
This episode is also partly recorded in the /./ ki: see the quotation on page 292.
-ocr page 344-
304                                THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
» himself the direction of the coffining and the burial. The coffin
»of Sterculia wood was four inches thick, and the cypress vault
» five inches" \'.
The Chinese records in general contain numerous passages which
point unmistakably to the prevalence, throughout the realm and in
all ages, of a conception that it is among the most sacred duties
of children to bestow great care upon the coffins of their parents.
It would be but a waste of time and space to insert here a selec-
tion of such passages. When speaking in the latter part of this
chapter of the coffins of modern times, we shall show that the
said conception has culminated in the custorn, still generally pre-
valent now-a-days, of presenting coffins to parents while there is
not as yet the least prospect of their being wanted by them , and that
such an act is considered one of the greatest marks of affection
sons can show to the authors of their being (page 325).
The expectation of a bodily resurrection, which prompted the
ancient Chinese to pay so much attention to coffins and grave
vaults, also led them to make provisions with regard to the coffins
and vaults to be used for themselves after death. Two instances of
vaults prepared during life the reader will already have noted,
the one relating to a Minister of War in the kingdom of
Sung (p. 289), the other to the Emperor Shi llwang (p. 290). The
Li ki moreover says (ch. 11, 1. 36): » When the ruler of a state
»ascends the throne, he has his innermost coffin made; it is
»varnished once every year and then stored away" *. And in
ch. 27 (1. 19) we read: »Tseng-tsze asked: \'When the ruler of a
»state crosses the boundaries of his territory, his necessaries for
»three years and his innermost coffin are carried in the rear. If
» he dies abroad, what are then the proceedings when he is brought
» back into his own state ?\' " 3. The emperors of succeeding dynasties
seeni to have held these rescripts in esteem during a long series
of ages, for they were still complied with as late as the eighth
3Ê ~*\\* • D°mestic Discourses, ch. 9, § jfó gg jffi .
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EMPERORS KEEPING THEIR COFFINS IN READINESS.             305
century, wlien Huen Tsung of the Thang dynasty abolished thera.
The New Informations on the Great Thang Dynasty \' state on this
head: »Huen Tsung was on a tour of inspection in the north.
»Near a pass on the road along the slopes of the Thai-hing
» mountains he came across a cart loaded with a coffin. He asked
»the bystanders vvhat there was in that cart, and was told:
»\'A coffin. The Books of Rites prescribe that, when a Son of
»Heaven ascends the throne, he shall have his inner coffin
» made and have it varnished once a year, to show that, though
» he is alive, he does not forget his death. lts being carried in his
» rear on a cart when he goes abroad, is also an institution of the
»ancient sovereigns\'. But Huen Tsung said: \'Wliy should we
» maintain this custom!\' and he ordered the coffin to be burnt. Since
»that time the emperors have gone abroad without a coffin in
» their rear" \'.
Notwithstanding this strong and general partiality to being buried
in the most substantial boxes procurable, there have existed among
the ancient Chinese eccentric spirits, whose claims with regard to
the treatment of their mortal remains were diametrically opposed
to the hobbies of the masses. Foremost among these stands
Chwang-tszë, a philosopher who is believed to have lived tour
centuries before our era and whose writings we have had occasion
to quote on page 28!). » When he was at the point of deatli, his
»disciples resolved to give him a rich burial, but Chwang-tszë
»said: \'I consider heaven and eartli to be my coffin and vault,
» the sun and moon to be a doublé piece of jade, the stars and
» planets to be pearls, and all the products of nature a supply of
»presents bestowed upon me; are not then the articles required
»for my burial ready at hand? Why will you add anything to
»these?\' \'We fear\', replied the disciples, \'that ravens and kites
» will devour our Master\', but Chwang-tszë returned: \'Above the
» ground man is eaten by ravens and kites, and under the ground
itfc iif$ ifc•See tlie Ku kin t,iu shu tsi,t c,iin9>sect 3è mich 252.
20
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306
THE 1DEAS OF RESURRECNON.
»by mole-crickets and ants; will you snatch me away frora the
» former, to deliver me over to the latter? To what good end
» could such a deed in favour of the one party tend ?\' " 1.
This extract strongly confirms the conclusions, arrived at in the
preceding and the present chapter, as to the chief object of the
custom of stuffing the mouth of the dead with jade, pearls and so forth,
and of interring their bodies in coffins. It shows indeed that
Chwang-tszë was perfectly aware that all these things were intended
to surround the dead witli the beneficial influences of the universe,
inclusive of those of the sun, moon and stars, which heiivenly
luminaries bestow life on earth; but he pleaded the utter uselessness
of those things, because even in their absence the good influences
of Nature were concentrated around the body. Of quite a different
sort were the conceptions which, two or three centuries later,
induced a certain Yang Wang-sun to refuse to be buried in a coffin.
These were evidently very remarkable in the eyes of contemporary
historians, who deemed them worth recording in the Standard
annals of the empire. Wang-sun owes his admission amongst the
immortals of history solely to his excentricity on this point, for
there is nothing else noteworthy on record about him.
» Yang Wang-sun", says ch. 07 of the Books of the Earlv Han
üynasty, »lived in the time of the Emperor Hiao Wu (B. C.
» 140—S6). He applied himself\' to the arts and doctrines ot
» Hwang-ti and Lao-tszë. His possessions amounted to a tliousand
» pieces of gold, so that he could richly provide for his sustenance
» and during his life aflbrd himself everything. When he had fallen
»so sick that his death became imminent, he gave the following
»instructions to his sons: — \'I desire to be interred quite naked,
»in order that I may return to the original matter out of which
» I was created; this my will you may certainly not depart from.
» When I shall have breathed my last, then make a linen bag,
!@ ^ &, # $ ^ llt fa ^ li ik . Nan hwa c,ien ***• ch-40\' § 32<
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THE TESTAMENTAKT D1SP0SITIONS OF YANG WANG-SUN.          307
» put my body inside of it, and depose it in the earth at a depth
»of seven f eet; after that, pull off the bag over my feet, so that
» my body may corne into iniraediate contact with the earth\' 1.
»The sons wanted to keep silent about these instructions
»and not execute thera; yet they were conscious that it is a
» matter of no small importance to disobey the dispositions of a
»father. Hence they resolved to carry out his will, but again .
» feit a great aversion to doing so. Finally they went to see Khi Heu,
»Wang-sun\'s friend, who gave them a letter for him of the
» following purport:
»\'You are dangerously ill, but I have no opportunity to call
won you, as I must go up to the temple of my ancestors. I
» hope you will keep up your vital spirits and watch vvell over your
» mental facultics, also that you will have recourse to physicians
»and medicines, and take good care of yourself. I have heard
» about your instructions to be interred naked. If taking for granted
»that the dead have no knowledge, 1 have not hing to object against
»this plan; but suppose they have consciousness, then you intend
»destroying your own body under the earth! In your stead I
»would not take it upon myself to appear naked before my
»ancestors. Moreover, the Classic of Filial Devotion * says: \'Make
» for them a coffin and a vault, clothes and shrouds\'. This also is
»a rescript left behind by the Holy Ones; why, therefore, are
»you so narrow-minded as to stick exclusively to what you have
»learned to be right ? 1 hope you will weigh well these my
» arguments\'».
±
2 Hiao king, Jgk. $K. A spurious production, said to have originated with
Confucius, but it is evidently a later compilation.
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308                                THE 1DEAS OF RESURRECTION.
»Wang-sun\'s reply was of the foliowing tenor. \'I know very
» well that the ancient sovereigns have made laws and rites, in
» order to check the indifference of huraan nature with regard to
»parents. But the present generation goes much further than
»they went; hence I wish to lead the world into the right
»track by having myself buried naked. A luxurious burial is of
»no essential advantage to the dead, and yet people emulously
»try to excel each other in squandering money and wealth, placing
»this under the ground, there to rot away, in consequence ot which
»the dead are sometimes interred to-day and exhumed to-morrow
»(by robbers); — in what respect does this really differ froni
» exposing their bones to the sun in the open field?\'
» But furthermore, death is a dissolution when life is finished,
»the returning of a being to its origin. If this returning have free
» scope and no obstacles be placed in the way of such dissolution,
»then the said being is absorbed into the original matter from
»whence it sprung, there to be reduced to an indistinct,
» shadowy condition, in which there is neither sound nor form; it
»is then absorbed into the bosoin of Tao. But if you adorn it on
»the outside to niake a show of it before the public, and isolate
»it from the matter out of which it was produced by interring it
» in an opulent way, you prevent both its returning to the earth
» and its dissolution, so causing it to miss its destination. Moreover,
» I have been taught that the vital spirits are the property of the heavens,
» and the body and skeleton that of the earth , that those vital spirits,
»on leaving the body, return to the original matter from which
»they have sprung, and that they are therefore called k w e i,
»this word meaning » to return". The corpse then alone remains
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THE TESTAMENTARY DISPOSITIONS OP TANG WANG-SUN.         309
» behind on the spot like a clod of earth; how could it possibly
» have knowledge ? Dress it in silk, isolate it by means of coffins
»and a vault, tie the limbs and trunk together, put jade in
»the mouth, to prevent dissolution — it is all the same — you
»will have worried yourself about a mass of rotten fiesh, which
» after a thousand years, when the coffin has decayed, shall return
»to the earth notwithstanding, in this way answering to its
» natural destination. To submit one\'s self to the natural order of
»things as here described, is better than to dweil for a long time
»like a stranger in a grave. In ancient times, when the Eniperor
»Yao was buried, they used a hollow tree for a coffin and
»Dolichos creepers for coffin-bands; in digging the pit they did
» not disturb the springs of ground-water, but they took care that
» the sinell of death should not escape to the surface. Acting in
»this manner, the Holy Sovereigns found it easy to combine
»the interests of the living with a decent burial of the dead;
»indeed, they did not waste human labour upon such useless
» matters, neither did they destroy wealth for things in favour of
»which no man can allege any good. The present fashion of
»squandering away one\'s possessions by burying the dead in a
» grand style and thus j)lacing obstacles in the way of their return
» to the earth, has for its object to effect something of which the
» dead are not conscious and to attain that which lies beyond the power
» of the living; I call it a doublé self-deception, and Oh! I will not
»do like the others\'. — Khi Heu confessed that Wang-sun was
»right, and thereupon the latter was buried naked" \'.
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310
THE 1DEAS OF RESURRECTION.
The above theories on the nature of death pronounced by Yang
Wang-sun by no ineans represent his private opinion alone, but
are those generally set forth in the Chinese writings of the pre-
Christian era. In our Second Book they will be carefully reviewed
in their f uil extent. The school of Hwang-ti and Lao-tszë, of
which, as the extract says, Yang Wang-sun was a partisan, is
better known in Europe as Taoism. It taught that perfection
in this life and the highest bliss in the next, humortality itself,
might be obtained by perfectly assimilating one\'s self with Nature
and the Universe. Hence it was most natural for the philosopher
to long for a speedy dissolution of his body in the earth and for
a quick assiniilation of his vital spirits with the heavenly spheres,
in short, for what he calls an absorption into the bosom of Tao.
More light will be thrown on this subject in our Third Book,
which is to be exclusively devoted to Taoism.
Another instance of a man who refused to be buried in a coffin
or grave vault, lias been deemed worthy of a place in the annals
of the Han dynasty. When Lu Chili \', a high official, in A. D.
192 » was on the point of breathing his last, he ordered his
» sons to bury hiin in a poor style in a pit in the ground, without
»either coffin or vault, and with nothing on his body except a
» single piece of cloth" 2. Other instances of a similar description
are on record. But it would be a waste of time and space to
reproduce thein here, the philosophical reasonings which prompted
them, being in each case obviously much the same as in the
instance of Yang Wang-sun.
Among the men of letters of the Han dynasty there are some
who severely rebuked their contemporaries for making the coffins
of the dead objects of extravagant solicitude. Pre-eminent among
them stands a certain Wang Hu 3. In the first half of the second
century this man composed a book entitled Ttfien fu lun *, » Disquisi-
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311
THE PROTESTS OF WANG Hü.
tions by a Man living in Seclusion", in which he censured, often
vvith unsparing sarcasm, many practices and doctrines of his age,
thus bequeathing to posterity a rich mine of information concerning
usages and notions prevailing at the time. »Tlie sage"1, he wrote,
»informs us that, anciently, those who buried their dead covered
»them up thickly with firewood and interred them in the open
»fields, with no tumuli, nor trees on the grave; further he tells
» us that the time of mourning was not of a fixed length and that
»the holy men of later generations have altered this state of things
» by introducing coffins and vaults. The coffins they made of the
» wood of the Tc u n g tree and the cords wound around them
»of Uolichos creepers; they were careful not to inhume them so
» deep as to reach the ground water, or so near the surface that the
» sruell might escape. Succeeding generations made them of the timber
» of the Tsciu (see p. 302), the Rottlera, the Hwai, the Cypress,
»the Tok and the C he u, each taking for the purpose the
»trees growing in his district. Glue and varnish were applied,
»the nails were planed away and the pegs levelled off, so that
»the seams became invisible; their solidity might be sufficiently
»relied on, and they were just good enough for use. All such
»things are allowable; but afterwards the notable families in the
» capital became obstinately bent upon the use of Pine and Rottlera
» timber froni the Kiang-nan region, and upon Pc i e n and N a n timber
» froni Yü-chang (Kiang-si); yea, even in the country, till beyond the
» frontiers, people vie with each other in imitating these extravagances \'.
» Now, as to the said Pine and Rottlera timber — Yü-chang,
»whence it is exported, is extremely far off. It grows there in
»deserted valleys, deep in the mountains, on peaks ten thousand
»feet high, in glens hundreds of fathoms deep, which can
i Confucius, to whom the appendixes ot the Yih hing, in which this passage
occurs (see page 281), are generally ascribed.
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312                                 THE IDEAS OK RESURRECT10N.
»only be reached by crossing steep niountain ranges. The trees
»must be sought for many days in succession along untrodden
»paths, steep and rough, open to all kinds of dangers and obstructed
» by rocks and stones. When they are at lengtli discovered, many
» months are required for feiling theni; and when this work is
»finished, multitudes of people must be assembled ere they can
» be removed from the spot, and files of oxen have to be employed to
»carry them to the water-side. Then they are floated down
»the Yang-tszë, entering the vast lakes, whence they have to be
»brought up the Hwai and the Hwang-ho, against the stream,
» over thousands of miles. At last they arrive at Loh-yang capital.
» Here labourers set to work to cut and plane them during several
» days and months, and we may reckon that upon the fabrication
»of one coffin thousands, nay, tens of thousands of men are
»employed before it is finally fit for use. As it weighs over ten
»thousand pounds, it cannot be lifted up unless a great multitude
» of people are at hand, nor can it bc moved from the spot
» without big carts. Throughout the region which extends over ten
» thousand miles between Loh-lang (on the borders of Corea) in
» the east, and Tun-hwang (in Kansuh province) in the west, the
»people outvie each other in the use of such coffins. The waste
»of labour entailed by this abuse and the damage it causes to
» agriculture makes the heart bleed" \\
This extract is likewise interesting as showing, that already in
those early times the soil of the empire over large areas had been
stripped of\' its forest-grounds to such an extent, that it could no
longer produce sufficiënt coftin-timber for the needs of the population.
In the course of centuries this state of niatters has not in the least
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313
DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS.
improved. lt is a well-known fact that the northern provinces of
China, in so far as they have conie under the observation
of foreigners, produce no large trees worth mentioning; the
virgin forests of Kiangsi, of whicli Wang Hu speaks, no longer
exist; in Kwangtung and Kwangsi forests are conspicuous by
their absence. Fuhkien too is denuded; there is some timber
on the banks of the Min river, but these forests are being
reeklessly destroyed to supply the inarket of Fuhchow, whence
mucli wood is exported to the sea-ports of the Empire. Virtunlly
the remotest corners of China liave to be ransacked tbr durable,
good cotfin timber, and importation froni foreign countries is
necessary to makc up the deticiency. Tf it be true that destruction
of forests changes the climate, it is certain that the partiality
manifested by the Chinese since times of old tbr preserving their
dead against decay by using coftins and vaults of the best sorts
of wood procurable, lias been one of the great causes of the
terrible droughts and floods, which regularly visit large tracts of the
country at intervals. For a long series of ages the people in their
ignorance have suffered themselves to be decimated by such
catastrophes as a sacrihee to the bodies of their dead. No Chinese
government has ever created a forest-department to restore what
the people so reeklessly destroy; we may even suppose that each
dynasty, instead of extending its paternal care thus far, has
feit gratified by the denudation of the soil, as forests afford
good shelters to rebels and render their extinction the more
difficult.
The scarcity of timber entailed by the wanton destruction of
forests readily accounts for the fact that, from the Han dynasty
downwards, doublé, triple and quadruple cotfins are scarcely ever
mentioned in Chinese books, and that grave vaults gradually feil into
disuse at the same time. In the eleventh century vaults had become
so obsolete that Szë-ina Kwang wrote: »Although vaults were
»instituted by the holy ancients and have been in vogue since times
» of old, it is better not to use them, for the wood of the boards
»decays in the long run, which causes the pit to become too
»spacious, so that it no longer thightly encloses the dead.
» Moreover, when Confucius buried Li, he had a coffin only, and
»no vault, and the sage approved of the poor burying their
»dead without a vault (p. 291). If people at the present time
»do not use vaults because of their poverty, they abstain from
»using them because they desire to secure the repose of their
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314                                THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
» dead" \'. As tbr the Chinese of to-day, there is every ground for be-
lieving that the use of grave vaults has entirely disappeared from their
funeral customs. Tt is possible tliey are still in vogue in some parts
of the Empire, and for persons of imperia! blood or dignitaries of
the highest ranks, but we have no information on this liead.
In perusing the voluininous Dynastie Histories of China, one
conies across several instances of persons who, when giving
instructions about their own obsequies, ordered that economy
sliould be observed with regard to tlie sanie and that the
coffin sliould be of the plainest description. This suggests not
only that good tiniber was scarce and dear, but also that people
in general were so slavishly addicted to wasting their money
upon the receptacles for their dead, that men of higher intelleetual
standing feit obliged to raise their voices against such extravagance.
Coffins being thus deemed of the highest importance for the
dead, we can well understand why, in ancient China, it was
considered a calamity to be interred without a vault, and
how it is that some grandees have gone so far in their animosity
against. enemies as to forcibly deprive thein of a burial in a
cottin. As to the first point, we read in the C\'/ieu li-. »Those
»aniong the people who do not rear cattle, have no victims for
»their sacrifices; those who do not plough have no full vessels
» wlien offering; and those who do not plant trees have no grave
» vaults"8. As illustrative of the second point we borrow the following
episode from the Books of the Early Han Dynasty (ch. 93). During
the reign of\' the Emperor Ngai (ü B. C. — A. D. 1), Tung Uien\', a
generalissiino of the Empire, feil into disgrace with the Sovereign
in eonsequence of the intiïgues of Wang Mang *, a grandee who
at that time occupied the most inHuential position in the Empire
and soon afterwards dethroned the emperor, proclaiming himself
See tlie Kin li.
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BURIAI, WITHOUT A COFFIN OONSIDRRKD A CALAMITY.          315
the Son of Heaven. Being deprived of all his dignities, TungHien
comiiiitted suïcide on the saaie day, together vvith his vvife. The
fainily in consternation buried both corpses under the cover of
night. But Wang Mang, wishing to convince hiniself that the
suïcide had been committed in fact, caused his victini to be
disinterred, and having exaniined the coipse in a prison, he had
it buried again, but without a coffin. At his instigations a certain
official then presented a memorial to the Throne, in which he
accused Tung Hien\'s father of having carried his arrogance so far
as to bury his son in a red coffin which was not only adorned
with paintings and the colours of the four seasons, but also with
a blue dragon on the left side, a white tiger on the right, and
a sun of gold with a silver nioon on the top. Further he insinuated
that the old man had encoffined the corpse with ornainents of
jade, with pearls and badges of rank, as one was wont to do
in the case of an Emperor, declaring that for all these reasons he
feit obliged to propose the banishment of the fatlier and the
confiscation of his property. Meanwhile another official, an intimate
friend of Tung Hien, had unearthed the desecrated body, dressed,
encoffined and reburied it. This aroused Wang Mang\'s indignation
to such a pitch that he had the man fiogged to death.
This tragic episode is also important as showing that, duriug
the Han dynasty, only grandees were entitled to a burial in a red
coffin, and that they jealously watched against encroacliments on this
prerogative by officials who had tallen into disgrace and consequently
no longer belonged to their order. We read also in ch. 64 of the
Books of the Later Han Dynasty that Lxang Shang \', father-in-la\\v
to the Emperor Shun, who reigned between A. D. 126—145,
was buried in a vermilion cotfin procured by the official department
specially intrusted with the care of providing coffins for the court.
That the use of red coffins by the official classes continues to the
present day we shall have occasion to state on page 322.
The ancient Chinese showing themselves so strongly opposed
to interinent without a coffin, their miers naturally feil into
the habit of bestowing coffins upon deceased men of state as a
mark of favour. Such gifts being a recognition of services rendered
the Government, inucli value was set on them; hence we find them
frequently recorded in the Dynastie Histories as inatters of high
1 *ffi-
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316
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
significance. Tn most cases they were connected witli a donation of
money and valuables for equiping the deceased, carts, horses and
other requisites suitable for the burial.
Coffins representing the Heavens.
Many a time we have had occasion to state, that in China it
is considered a matter of extreme importance to place the dead in
graves which are situated under the beneficial influences of the
Cosmos, that they may feel happy and comfortable there in every
respect and thus be found willing and able to bestow frotn thence
blessings upon their offspring. That this conception is already very
old, will be proved from the native literature in ch. XII of the next
part of this Book. We have also seen that the ancient Chinese,
wishing to facilitate the resurrection of their dead, surrounded
them with jade, gold, pearls, timber and other things imbued
with influences emitted by the heavens, or, in other words, with
such objects as are pervaded with vital energy derived from the
Yang matter of which the heavens are the principal depository.
Now combining these conceptions and practices, the reader will
have no difficulty in understanding why they used to paint their
coffins in such a way as to make thcm represent the Universe in
miniature. To this custom we must now call the reader\'s attention
for a few moments.
The narrative of Tung Hicn\'s tragic end, reproduced above, has
shown that it was an established custom with the ruling classes during
the Han dynasty to decorate their cottins with »the colours of the four
seasons". No doubt these colours were blue, red, white, and black, these
having always been identified by Chinese philosophy respectively with
the Spring or the East, the Summer or the South, the Autumn or
the West, and the Winter or the North (comp. p. 122). The same
narrative further informs us, that the coffins of grandees in those
times displayed »a blue dragon on the left side, a white tiger
on the right, a golden sun and a silver moon on the top";
moreover, the Books of the Later Han Dynasty state that the
imperial coffins » used to be decorated and painted with a sun, a
moon, a bird, a tortoise, a dragon and a tiger"\'. These four
animals denoted in ancient China the four quarters of the celestial
sphere, the eastern quarter being called the Azure Dragon 3, the
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317
THE BOARD OF THE SEVEN STARS.
southern the Red or Vermilion Bird *, the western the White
Tiger9, and the northern the Black Tortoise \\ Eor the sake of
convenience we may draw up all the above cosniogonal elements
in a table as follows:
East. . . . Spring. . . . Blue. . . . Dragon
South. . . Summer. . . Red. . . . Bird
West . . . Aututnn. . . White. . . Tiger
North. . . Winter. . . . Black . . . Tortoise
Likewise during the Thang dynasty the imperial coftins »displayed
» a sun, a moon, stars and asterisms, a dragon, a tortoise, and their
» appendages, painted on the lid" 4. And on page 181 we have seen
that the modern Chinese still embroider dragons and a tiger on the
drapery of their catafalques, on the top and the two opposite sides.
This partiality for surroundiug the dead in their subterranean
dwelling with the Universe in miniature explains the custom
mentioned on page 91, of stretching them in their coftins on a board
with seven holes or circles arranged in the sanie order as the stars of
the Great Bear. Tn China, this asterism — called the Northern Bushei5
on account of its shape — anciently held a prominent place among the
ruling powers of Nature. The S/ti ki says: » The seven stars of the
» Bushei, which are styled the Revolving Pearls or the Balance of
» Jasper, are arrayed so as to form a body of seven rulers. The Bushei
»is the chariot of the Emperor (i. e. of lleaven). Revolving around the
»pole, it descends to rule the four quarters of the sphere and to
» separate the Yin and the Yang; by so doing it fixes the four
» seasons, upholds the equilibrium between the five elements, moves
» forward the subdivisions of the sphere, and establishes all order in
»the Universe. AU these functious have devolved upon the
»Bushel" 8. It is clear that this passage means this tnuch: — the
Great Bear turning around the pole of the heavens once a year,
it stands, at the same hour of the night, in each of the four
seasons in a different quarter of the sphere, and thus marks out
ch\'ing, sect. jjg ^ , cl.. 56.                        5 ft i\\- .
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318
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECT10N.
on this the seasons, just as the hand on a clock indicates the hours;
nay, it even coinpels the whole sphere to move round with it,
thus producing the fonr seasons, the rotation of vvhich is
actually the course of Nature. Novv then, it is quite natural that
a people which was in the habit of depioting tlie heavens and the
seasons on their coftins, sliould add tliereto a representation of the
power whicli, as tliey believed, brought nbout their rotation and
was thus the real ereator of all life and all the blessings of Nature.
So far as we are aware, the pre-Christian literature of China
does not contain any clear reference to the boards of the seven stars.
In the \'Iso c/fwen it is stated that Yuen, a feudal lord of the state
of Sung, in 515 U.C. said to his ministers: » If by your energetic
>> help 1 save my head and neck till I die a natural death, 1 pray
»you, do not then let the flat piece of wood, which will serve to
»support my body, equal that used for the tbr nier riders" *.
Tliough this passage unmistakably shows that this piece of wood
was an object of great solicitude, yet there are no means of
ascertaining whether it was a seven stars\' board or not. For the
first time we meet with the name in Yen Chi-thui\'s Domestic
Instructions, written in the sixth century (see page 42). In his
post-mortem dispositions recorded in this book, the author
prescribed as follows: »I must have a coffin of pine wood, two
»inches thick, and on the spot where my body is to lie, nothing
» may be placed but a seven stars\' board" \'. Among the rescripts
concerning the obsequies of Tai Tsung \', an emperor of the Thang
dynasty who died in the year 779, we read: »A seven stars\' board
» was placed inside the Rottlera structure (i. e. the eoftin), and the
»things which were to be arranged collectively underneath were
»all placed below it first"4. The Kia li also prescribes the use
of this board, and so does the \'ia TsHng thung li, in its precepts
regulating the funeral rites of the sundry classes of otticers and of
the common people.
#^r^t||#^irfÜ^^C fJ\\Twenty-fifth Year of the Ituler Ch\'ao.
2#^#lt^l^.^±Pim\'bM^- «eet. 20.
y* . Ku kin tltu shu Isilt ch\'ing, sect. ÖH 4Mk , ch. 50.
-ocr page 359-
319
COFFINS OF THE PRESENT TIME.
Coffins of the present time.
The great interest attached to coffins in tiines of old lias abated
but little in the course of ages. Even at the present day they are
considered indispensable for the repose of the dead; the poorest
man is provided vvith one, though it may be of the cheapest wood
and of the worst construction.
As a rule they are made as strong and well as the means of
the family permit. Hence, as in bygone ages, they are mostly
of very thick boards. The two planks on the right and left,
as also the lid, are rounded on the outside surface , being in most cases
cut out of the tree in tliis shape; this gives the coffin a very
substantial appearance and at firat sight reminds us of the trunk
of a tree (see Fig. 22). The bottom is flat, and very thick. Like
the lid , it projects
a few inches over
Fig 22.
the two sides, and
these, as well as
the bottom and
the lid, project
beyond the small
square planks
which form the
ends of the cottin.
In a great many
cases, the round
surface of the lid
slopes gently up
Cloaed C\'oflin of Superior Quality.
at both ends, but.
more considerably
at the head of the coffin than at the foot.
In order that the lid may fit well upon the case, the edge of the
latter forms a raised rira (Kig. 23) which fits into a córresponding
furrow in the four sides of the bottom of the lid. When the
lid is about to be fixed on the case, a mixture of linie and oil
prepared from the fruits of the Thung tree is laid upon the rim
all around, to make the seam close hermetically (comp. page 95);
in addition, the seam is caulked on the outside with putty of a
similar kind. In constructing the coffin, the carpenters fill all the
seams in the six boards in like manner, this being calculated
to prevent water and moisture from penetrating to the corpse
when in the grave. Besides the putty mentioned, there are other
-ocr page 360-
320                                THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
sucli like preparations used for the purpose. Into the composition
0|,en Coflin of Inforior Quality.
of some of these enters the so-called »dripping hlue" l, which is
resin, pitch or gum ohtained froin pine trees; other sorts are
prepared from bee\'s wax and similar matter.
Of many coffins of good quality the seams on the outside,
after the caulking, are pasted over with strips of linen or of thin,
tough »eotton paper", mi (soa 8, and are then varnished. The
whole inside surface being often dealt with in this way, all the
pores of the wood are perfectly closed. In many cases also, the
coffin is entirely pasted over on the outside, and then covcred with
a coating of varnish or lacquer, especially when the corpse has been
placed therein and the burial has to be postponed for a considerable
time (coinp. p. 106). In such instances the varnishing is repeated
from time to time, if the family think it necessary. Some people
prefer a yellowish coating to a black one, because it is said white
ants do not so easily gratify their voracity upon yellow objects.
A coffin of good, substantial wood, carefully caulked and
made in the way above described, may serve to preserve a
corpse unburied for years without emitting any smell. We have
ourselves visited many buildings enclosed on all sides, where
encotfined bodies were stored up by scores without any offence to
the nasal organs. But coffins of inferior quality, destined for the
*Eit-            *>tö*t
-ocr page 361-
321
COFFINS OF THE PRESENT TIME.
poor, are scarcely ever caulked, nor have they even a raised edge
to fit into the lid. As a matter of course, such receptacles are
only made with a view to immediate burial, before decay sets in.
On page 95 we have had occasion to state that the lid is
fastened to the case by means of dove-tailed wooden pegs, each of
which is forced tightly into an excavation of a corresponding shape,
made over the seam. These pegs, of which there are two on each
side, are in Amoy called gun tia"9 1) » silver ingots", or gun tiri"9
sun 8, »joints like silver ingots", on account of their shape; from
Fig. 23 it may be seen how they are used. In most cases,
especially if the interment has to be deferred and the coffin must
be varnished, they are, after being inserted in their places, planed
or chiseled away on the outside and caulked all around, so that,
after the varnishing, the eye can scarcely discover them. That
the use of such pegs dates from antiquity has been shown on
page 2^5 seq.; they are also an instance of the tenacity with which
people cling to usages connected with the sacred observances of thedead.
The interesting fact that custom does not allow of more than two
nails for fastening down the coffin lid, has likewise been noted
before 3. Only in the case of coffins of the poorest quality, which
have no pegs, are four nails used, one near each corner. In
Peking, it is said, the lid is usually nailed at the sides in three
places, two nails on the right hand side for a male, and two on
the left for a female \\
It must still be noted that families in easy circumstances cling
to the ancient custom mentioned by the Li ki (see page 287) of
lining the receptacles of the dead. Coarse red linen or cotton stuff
is used for this purpose. No lining is affixed to the lid, but
instead of this, a wooden frame over which the same material has
been nailed or pasted, is fitted into the coffin over the dead
before the lid is put on.
3   See p. 95. It is, at Amoy, a favouiïte saying in allusion to a noisy individual,
intruding and importunate, that » he will not be quiet until Ibur nails have been driven
into his cofïin": ting «i ki ting tsiü üan9-tióh ^J JJCJ jfcjr Qf |^ ^jj? ^ 1 in other
words, that his death and subsequent coffining with the customary two nails will
not suflice to impose silence on hitn, but that doublé the nurnber of nails will be
required for this purpose.
4   Catalogue of the Chinese Collection of Exhibits for the International Health-
Exhibition in London, 1884, p. 01.
21
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322
THE 1DEAS OF RESURRECT10N.
As we have sliown on page 315, it was during the Han dynasty
a prerogative of official persons to be interred in red coffins. This
is still so at the present day. The Ta Tsing thung li prescrihes
that, »in case of persons on whom the first of the nine degrees
»of nobility has been conferred, the ornamented coffin shall be
»varnished or lacquered red, and decorated with gilt flowers,
» while red coffins must be used for grandees of the second and
»the third rank of nobility, as also for the officials of the highest
» degree downwards" l.
The ancient custom of raaking a microcosraos of coffins by
ornamenting them with the principal subdivisions of the Universe
(p. 316 sqq.) still shows faint signs of life among the people of
Anioy. They seldom call the lid by its vulgar name of koa *,
» cover", mostly preferring the word thien 3, » heaven"; the bottom
they call tóe\', »the earth", the sides respectively jit5, »the
sun", and goal *, » raoon". The upper end they often style khoe thdo7,
»the head of the Great Bear", and the lower end khoe bé*, »the
tail of the Great Bear", which expressions owe their existence to the
board of the seven stars which is still inuch in vogue, though not
among the very poor. This board is not sold with the coffin as a
natural appendage. Tt has always to be ordered apart from the
coffin, and the price charged for it is exorbitant. This circurastance
alone compels the poor to do without it.
Like most articles of common life, coffins are made and sold by
the same individual in China. In other words, the workshops
where they are manufactured, are also the sale rooms. Coffin-making
is quite a separate business, by no means a work to be done by
ordinary carpenters. Somc few people add to this business a so-called
tiai péh tibn 9 or » shop for decorative silks", where they sell all
sorts of things required for the equipraent of the dead in their
coffins, sucli as linie, paper, pith, etc; they also supply sackcloth,
soul tablets, and sucli like articles. These shops, which are in
many instances kept by people who are not coffin-makers, should
be carefully distinguished from the undertaker\'s-shops mentioned on
page 13 and referred to in other places of the first part of this Book.
Ifê. Ch. 52, leaf \\.
-ocr page 363-
323
COFFINS OF THE PRESENT TIME.
In many a tovvn there is one or more streets in which most or
nearly all the houses are devoted to the mak ing and sale of coffins.
Amoy possesses a street of this kind, called the koan-lscd hang \' or
»coffin lane". In the same town the coffin shops go by the name
of pan tièm *, » board shops", becanse in the local dialect recept-
acles for the dead are generally called pan *, » boards". This again
must be ascribed to the disposition, generally manifested by the
people and referred to already on page 95, to avoid calling
matters of a disagreeable nature, like death and burial, and things
reminding one of the same, by their true names; they like to
replace these by terras which call to mind matters and things
harmless in themselves or good and beneficial to every one.
This characteristic of the nation further explains the general use
of the expressions » longevity wood" 4 and »longevity boards" 5 in
various parts of China. We need scarcely say that these expressions
undoubtedly stand in close relation with the fact that coffins have,
since the remotest ages, served the purpose of surrounding the
dead with vitality, thus enabling them to bestow on their
offspring the capacity of living to a great age. Already in the
Books of the Later Han Dynasty the term »longevity receptacles" 8
is used as a synonym for coffins.
Coffins vary considerably in both quality and price. Those of the very
poorest description are made of thin, flat boards, or even of laths
fastened together lengthwise and showing plenty of seams and
breaks; these cost only two dollars a piece at Amoy, or even less.
Fashionable people pay from two to three score dollars, for which
slim they obtain a good coffin of rounded boards, cach board
consisting of one single piece of sound, substantial timber. The
poor, who cannot afford such an outlay, content themselves with
coffins of similar appearance, the boards of which, on close
examination, are found to consist of pieccs of timber fitted together
lengthwise, having their seams filled up with putty. The wealthy,
in their anxiety to secure wood of firet-rate quality and durability,
often pay many hundreds of dollars for a single coffin. Such au
expensive article is often over one nieter high and extremely
heavy and cumbersome, the boards being exceedingly thick.
In the south-eastern provinces of the empire nearly all good
5 ü IR >in Am°ysf" ?dn-                         ö H %k •
-ocr page 364-
324
THE IDEAS OF RESÜRRECTION.
cofflns are made of the wood of the San1 tree (Cunninghamia
lanceolata). This stately congener of the pine, fir and cedar is
one of the finest trees of China, remarkable for the straightness of
its trunk and for the deep green colour of its stiff acicular leaves.
The wanton destruction of forests, vvhich has been going on for
ages also in the south, has there rendered big San trees extremely
scarce, and this fully accounts for the high price of coffins made of
substantial boards, because the size of the tree augments the value of
the timber obtained froin it. Trees of the pine and fir sorts having
from the remotest tiines been in deinand for making coffins
on account of the reasons set forth on page 294 sqq., it is quite
natural that the San tree, which produces wood of almost unequalled
excellence, has alvvays been specially used for the same purpose in
the provinces where it grows. At any rate such was the case in
the fourth century, as appears from the commentary written by
Kwoh Pcoh \' at that time on the \'Rh ya: » The S a n", he says
» resembles the pine. It is suitable for shipbuilding, as well as for
» coffins and pillars. It does not rot vvhen buried in the ground" s.
The author of the Pen-tszao kang mu/i said: »The San is peculiarly
»valuable for making coffins, because its wood does not fall a
» prey to white ants" *.
Coffins procured during life.
On page 60 sqq. we have shown that, in China, it is customary
for people who can afford it, to procurc grave clothes during their
life, and that these are often bestowed by children on the authors
of their days as a highly esteemed present. Knowing this, it is not
surprising to find that the same thing is often done in regard to coffins.
Persons of upwards of fifty or sixty years of age, whose means
permit them, are supposed to have their coffins ready for immediate
use. Many people prefer to buy the loose boards only, which
occupy less room, as Chinese houses are mostly rather small. Some
families store such boards away in the fowl-cot, it being a prevalent
opinion that the excrement of these domestic birds renders the
timber strong and better proof against decay in the earth. Often
also, coffins procured during life are left for safe keeping in the
1 j$ .                    2 |JJ JÜ. A. D. 276—324.
-ocr page 365-
COFFINS PROCURED DÜR1NG LIFE.                              325
shop where they have been purchased, or stored away in Buddhist
temples, against a renumerative payment to the inrnates. This has
also the advantage of securing the owner against the risk of such
evils as superstitious people assert may be caused by the presence
of objects so closely connected vvith death as coffins are.
There are many instances of devoted sons saving frora their
earnings for a long time, in order to purchase a coffin or coffin-
boards of excellent quality for their father or mother. The old man
or woman is, of course, much gratified to receive such a gift;
yet the presentation is, as a rule, not made a matter of such
formality and ceremony as in the case of grave clothes (see page
62). By the way we may note that it is also customary for well-
to-do fathers, at the marriage of a daughter, to add to the
outfit wherewith she is sent to the house of the partner of her
future joys and sorrows, a coftin of gilded silver, a few inches in
size. This is to signify the old man\'s willingness to provide his child
not only with all the requisites of life in the form of a trousseau,
but also with those of death, amongst which none is so important
as the coffin.
Superstitions connected with Coffins.
That spoken words possess power and influence, is a belief of
general prevalence in the Chinese empire. Already on page 95 we
had occasion to draw attention to this fact. It prompts the people
of Amoy to avoid calling a coffin by the riglit word for it, viz.
koan tid !, and to style it »boards", or »longevity boards", or
»longevity wood" — all innocent and even good omened terms
as mentioned on page 323. The same people also use the expressions
pan pze *, »embryo of boards", and toa tscu *, » great house", the
latter alniost exclusively in combinations, such as j/p toa tscü\'
and khia toa tscü 5, »to enter and to dweil in the great house",
which means, in plain English, to be coffined.
As has been cursorily noted, coffins, even when empty, may
bring ill luck upon the living. Some very superstitious people,
especially of the female scx, are therefore accustoined to turn their
faces the other way whenever they meet with a coffin, nay, to
!*!#•         **«•         *-kM-
-ocr page 366-
326
THE IDEAS OF RESÜRRECTION.
take to their heels and beat a retreat; others pertinently refuse to
enter a coffin shop, or even to pass through a street where the
coffin makers dweil. In order to counteract or neutralize the bad
influences emanating froin coffins, people are in the habit of pasting
upon the board of the upper and the lower end a sheet of paper
of a red, evil-destroying colour, inscribed with the character fjg,
»felicity", or f^, »longevity". Such charms are considered
sufficiently effective, written characters being, as we have often shown
in many customs described in this Volume, not nierely dead figures,
but things essentially cndowed with the faculty of producing the
reality they represent.
It would be a mistake to conclude from the above that dreaming
about coffins portends ill luck. On the contrary, such dreams are
generally believed to foretoken a high amount of bliss: they will
raise the dreamer, his children or other descendants to official
dignities, whieh, as the reader knows, are more coveted by a
Chinaman than anything else The reason of this is simply,
that a coffin and a mandarin are both denominated by the
same word k w a n, while , moreover, the written character for
coffin ()(!||) is coniposed of the elements ^ , » wood", and ^, » a
mandarin". In the Books of the Tsin Dynasty we read that Yin
Hao \', a learned official living in the fourth century, who was famous
for the smart replies he had in store for every occasion,
— »on being asked how it came to pass that a man dreamt
»of coffins when he was to be raised to an official dignity,
» and of filth when he should acquire wealth, gave the following
»answer: \'The mandarinate is essentially rotten and a prey to
»corruption; hence a man dreams of a corpse when he shall
»become a mandarin. And money is in truth merely filth and
» mud; consequently, when wealth shall fall to the lot of a man,
» he dreams of dirt\' " 3.
Medicines and Amulets obtained from Coffins and Graves.
The reader knows that in China vital power is specially
1 IS fër-
-ocr page 367-
MEDICINES ANü AMÜLETS OBTAINED EROM COFFINS AND GRAVES. 327
assimilated with the Yang, the chief part of the Cosmos, identified
with light, warmth and life. He knows also that snch products of
Nature as are deemed to be inibued with shen, i.e. afflatus
derived from this Yang element, have always been believed in
China to be capable of strengthening the vital energy and
consequently have been widely made use of as elixirs of life and
as medicines. As such we have instanced the cock, jade, gold,
pearls and the products of pine and cypress trees. Purther it has
been seen from this and the preceding chapter that, as a direct
consequence of the said ideas, all these things have, since remote
ages, been placed inside, upon and around the dead, in order to
imbue them with vital energy and so, besides preserving them
from decay and facilitating their resurrection, to enable them to
bestow vitality upon their offspring, causing the latter to live to a
great age, hale and healthy. Now combining these ideas with the
idiosyncrasy of man in general, to believe that what one wishes
really is, then it is as natural as natural can be that the Chinese
should take it for granted that corpses, coffins and graves, when
prepared in accordance with all the rules of the art of burial,
beconie the ne plus ultra of seats of Yang matter, or, what is
essentially the same thing, embodiinents of shen afflatus. A cotfin
or grave therefore can, according to these reasonings, produce
first-rate medicaments, health-restoring, life-sustaining. Moreover,
whereas things imbued with Yang counteract the influences produced
by the element Yin, which the reader will remeniber is the
great principle of darkness, cold and death standing in the
Universe diametrically opposite to the Yang, parts of the
equipment of corpses and parts of coffins and graves neutralize
the effects of the Yin, in other words, they paralyze all agencies
of evil and death assimilated with the latter element. As a matter
of fact the Chinese do what these theories teach them must be
salutary, deriving from their coffins and tombs both medicines for
ouring the sick and amulets for warding off evil.
When, in Amoy, a person who has attended the dressing or
coffining of a dead body, feels indisposed, his family consider this
a sure proof that his vital spirits have suffered by contact with
the deceased, and they decide at once that the corpse must be
applied to for an antidote. The wife of the sick man, or another
matron of the family, immediately repairs to the house of
death. There, with incense sticks in her joined hands making
obeisances to the coffin, she informs it of the object of her coming,
-ocr page 368-
328
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
and picks up sonie of the chips which the carpenter lias cut away
while levelling the pegs that join the case and the lid, or, if
everything lias already been swept away, she cuts off a few particles
of wood from a corner of the coflin. Taking them home, she
places them with some tea in a pot, raakes a decoction from the
mixture, and gives it to the sick man to drink as a medicine.
Should the corpse have already been buried, a little earth is
fetched from the grave and used instead, the result being, as
people believe, just as effective. Persons who fall sick after attending
at the exhumation of a corpse, are restored to health by a decoction
of chips from the old cottin.
Tuining over the leaves of the Pen-iscao knng muh, we find the
following passage, quotcd from the writings of Chen Tsang-khi,
who, as we have said on page 201, lived in the eighth century.
» Old cottin boards. — These are not poisonous; they conquer the
»influences of spectres, dissolve obstinate inner evils and pains in
»the heart and belly, and counteract asthmatic affections, as also
» perturbations caused by bad dreams. Those who are constantly
» under the influence of spectres and spirits should make a decoction
» of the wood in water and wine, adding a branch of a peach tree
» growing on the east side of the trunk, and they will vomit them
«out"1. As an additional rescript the Pen-ttfao hang muh gives:
» When babies cry at night, kindie some old cofHn wood and let
» the flames shine over them, then they will be quiet immediately" •.
As for evil-destroying amulets derived from cottins, as such
nothing is in Fuhkien so highly prized as armlets of jade, which
have been for years on a corpse in the grave (see p. 279). All
of those we have seen on the wrists of the living, had partly or
entirely turned black in consequence of their long contact with
the mass of corruption. It is said, however, that some peoplecannot
be persuadcd to wear such disgusting ornaments.
In his Social Life of the Chinese (ch. 31), Mr. Doolittle informs us
that in Puhchow iron nails which have been used in fastening up
a cottin, are used as amulets. »They are", he says, » carried in the
1 ümfö.mm^&m.&\'fttyBMmm^
*^a # m. *5 fit * * »jj m z m ±
-ocr page 369-
OM) COFFIN BOARDS USED FOR SUNDRY PURPOSES.             329
» pocket, or braided in the cue. Sometimes such a nail is beaten
» out into a long rod or wire, and encased in silver. A large ring
»is then made of it, to be worn on the ankles or the wrists of a
» boy until he is sixteen years old. Such a ring is often prepared
» for the use of a boy, if he is an only son. Daughters wear such
» wristlets or anklets only a few years, or for even a shorter time".
The Chinese are by no means always logical in their superstitions.
While on the one hand they use old coffin wood as a medicine,
on the other hand they are obstinately opposed to cooking their
food over it, saying that such a fire may emit infiuences which,
entering the food, would poison those who eat of it. Old boards,
obtained after a lapse of years when the family thinks it proper to
exhurue the corpse and transfer the bones to an urn of earthenware *,
are consequently left about the spot as useless. Not even beggars
will piek them up, although this class of people are not chary
about laying their hands on whatever they can catch. Country
people, however, sometimes use them for the construction of dams
in wet rice-fields, for bridging over narrow water-ditches, for
troughs to feed their pigs, and the like. If the wood has
originally been of first-rate quality and suffered but little in
the ground, the boards are not seldom used in the manufacture of
circular and oval guitars, for, as the Chinese pretend, instruments
made of such wood produce music of particularly agreeable sound.
Already more than eleven centuries ago Chen Tsang-khi wrote:
» The very best among such old coffin boards which become better
»as they grow older, are those of San wood. When these are a
» thousand years old, they are imbued with shen afflatus, and
» they should then be used for making the sounding boards of harps" s.
Coffins for Children and Buddhist Prièsts
Bearing in mind the fact that burying young children is,
for reasons set forth on page 243 , not a matter of any solicitude,
it is natural that little care should be bestowed on their coffins.
Receptacles resembling those which are in vogue for up-grown
people are only provided for children above the age of eleven or
twelve. There are, however, no fixed rules of conduct for the
people on this head. Their behaviour in each particular case depends
1 For particulars on this head see the next Volume, ch. XIII.
Pen-ts\'ao kang muh, ch. 37.
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330
THE IDE AS OF ItESÜRRECTION.
upon the sex of the child, the affection of the parents and, most of
all, upon their pecuniary circumstances.
Babies and very young children are usually encoffined in
boxes made of six fiat boards of thin wood. Such so-called
bók dl, » small coffins", or hhoeh aa, » boxes", are of such weak
construetion that they must inevitably be crushed to pieces in the
ground under the weight of the earth. In most cases they are
narrower at the foot than at the head. Of painting ór caulking
there is no question, neither is a board of the seven stars ever
placed inside.
Children dying under two years of age are in a great many
instances placed inside large-mouthed earthenware jars, and thereupon
buried in the ground, or deposited somewhere in the mountains.or
in the open fields. This convenient mode of ridding one\'s self
of such corpses is especially practised by the poorest classes, jars
being much cheaper than wooden boxes.
üeceased mombers of the Buddhist clergy are either buried or
burned. In the former case their coffins do not differ from thosc
used by the laity; hut when one is burnt, he is placed in a sitting
posture in a large square box which lias a door or a slide in front,
and so he is reduced to ashes with box and all. Details of such
cremations we reserve for our Book on Buddhism.
1 *f?-              2 ft1T
-ocr page 371-
CHAPTBR V.
ON SOME OTHER USAGES PROMPTED BY THE BELIEP IN A RESURRECTION.
1. Washing and Dressing the Dead.
The great solicitude manifested by the ancient Chinese to keep
the bodies of their dead in a good condition, that they raight
at any time be fit to be re-occupied by the soul, naturally suggests
their being very particular in subjecting corpses to a scrupulous
cleansing before enclosing them in their coffins. The correctness of
this inference is fully confirmed by the old books of the nation.
On page 16 sqq. we have already quoted sucli passages from the
/ li and the Li ki as show that, in pre-Christian times, the
dead of rank were carefully washed with water prepared with rice,
millet and other ingredients; that this water was boiled on a
furnace specially built for the purpose, over fire-wood collected
on a spot particularly assigned. Further those passages teach us
that the basins, tubs and other implements used on this occasion
were quite new, that the beard of the deceased was trimmed and
the nails were pared with the utmost care, and finally that the
hair, after having been washed, was bound up with ribbons and
adorned with pins. We have further described how washing the
dead and making their toilette is still a matter of great solicitude
among the modern Chinese. The ancient books do not give any
other information on this subject worth reproducing. Hence we
need not dweil upon it any longer, but can proceed at once
to what those books teil us about the manner in which the dead
were dressed for the grave.
As already stated on page 36, the dressing of a dead body
was usually done in three stages: first, they put on the body
clothes, which proceeding they denotcd by the character fl|;
then came the so-called slighter dressing, and finally the greater
or fuller dressing. These proceedings are referred to by the Li ki
so frequently, as to fully justify the conclusion that they were
-ocr page 372-
332                                THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
matters of the greatest concern to the ancients. Yet these numerous
references are very incoherent, extremely concise and of little
interest; consequently we wil] not waste time and space by reproducing
them. In the / li, however, the dressing of ordinary officers and
members of their families is described with so much elaboration
and exactitude, as to teach us almost everything we can desire to
know on tliis head. Hence we reproduce this description in its
entirety, interspersing such extracts frora the Li ki as are useful
to supply its deficiencies.
»The articles of dress for the deceased are arranged in the
»apartments, the collars on the west side. The principal articles
» are placed on the south of the less important ones. The clothes are
»not folded. The coats and petticoats for the manes (the body
» clothes) are of linen \'.
» These coats and petticoats are of curtain-linen; the sleeves are
»as wide as the breadth of the linen, and so long as to reach
»below the knees. The petticoat consists of a front and a
» back part, but it is not open at the sides *; it hangs down upon
»the upper part of the feet. There is a hem of a light red colour
» along the openings and along the lower edge, and a black hem
» round the neck, as also round the cuffs 3.
»The pin for the hair-knot is of mulberry wood *; it is four
»inches long and tapers away in the middle. The cowl for the
» head is of well-finished taffety, as broad as a full width of cloth
» and five feet long; a slit is made in the lower end \\ The ear-
» plugs are of fine white floss. The cover for the eyes is of black
fó . Ch. 26, leaf 36—38.
2 In other words, this garment was composed of two broad square pieces
hanging down from the waist, the one in front and the other behind, and passing
a little over each other at the sides.
4   According to the commentators this was so because the mulberry is called
sang JSk, which word is synonymous with another sang §», meaning »funeral,
loss by death".
5   On page 53 the reader will have noticed, that such a cowl is still worn by
the dead at the present day. Because the I li prescribes that it should be as broad
as a full width of cloth, it is now-a-days called a hok kun, or » kerchief of one
width of cloth". The Kia li also orders the use of it.
-ocr page 373-
333
DRESSING THE DEAD IN ANCIENT TIMES.
»silk; it is one foot two inches square, has a red lining and
» strings to fasten it (beliind the head) \'.
» The object to be placed in the hands of the dead is of a dark
» stuff with a red lining. It is one foot two inches long and five
»inches broad. In the middle (where the hands grasp it) it is
» narrower by one inch on either side. A string to fasten it by is
» attached to it *.
»The archer\'s thuinb-ring is of genuine royal Kih wood, or of
»Tseh kih wood. It is tied on by means of strings. The covers
» for the fingers, made of cotton floss, are two in nuniber \\
» As to the corpse-sack, the sack proper is of black silk and so
» long as to reach to the hands. The red half, which tapers away,
» covers the legs" 4. In ch. 55 of the Li ki (1. 25) we read: »What
is a corpse-sack? It serves to conceal the corpse" 5. And ch. 58 of this
Classic (1. 11) says: » For the Ruler of a state the corpse-sack is
»embroidered; the part which tapers away is ornamented with
»axes, and the side is closed with strings in seven places. For
» a Great officer it is black, the tapering part is likewise ornamented
» with axe-like figures, but there are only five strings at the side.
» For an ordinary officer it is of dark silk; the part which tapers
» away is red and has three strings at the side. In general, such a
»sack is long enough to reach down as far as the hands, and the
»tapering part measures three feet" °. So the sack was not exactly
M M *?& la Ü- Ch-26\' \'•38 •»
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China sucli covers were put on the fingers of the right hand to prevent them from
being singed by the string of the bow.
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334
THE IDEAS OP RESURRECTION.
a sack, as one of the sides was open and had to be tied by cords
or ribbons after the body had been wrapped up in it.
The I li continues its enunieration of the grave clothes as follows:
»The attire such as is won) with the official cap, and a dress
» of fine silk. The attire sucli as is wom with the leathern cap.
» A black attire with a red hem. A girdle of black silk. Knee-pads
»of leather. A tablet of bamboo (such as courtiers hold before
»their breast at audiences). Shoes of Dolichos cloth in suinmer,
» white shoes in winter, in both cases with strings between the sole
» and the upper leather, with strings of black silk at the points,
» and loops serving for button holes of the same niaterial. On the
»shoes there are also ribbons and strings to lasten thein at the
y heels. All the clothes that have been presented by the Ruler,
» friends and relations (see page 34 seq.) are laid out along with
»the rest, but are not used for dressing the dead" *.
The clothes were not put on the dead man until he had been
properly washed (see page 17 neg.) and the raouth had been stufted
with cowries and rice (page 275 seg.). »The Invoker after the
» nianner of the Shang dynasty lays the clothes out on a couch,
» successively placing upon it the sacrificial garinents 2 and the black
» attire with red heramings *. Having placed the cowl on the head
»of the dead man, he puts the plugs into the ears and binds
»the cover before the eyes; then he puts on the shoes, knotting
» the strings over the top of the foot and fastening the bindings
»of the points. (After the dead man has been placed upon the
»clothes laid out on the couch just-mentioned), he dresses the
»body, which has three suite put on, in addition to the body
»clothes. He then adjusts the knee-pads and the girdle, and
» sticks the tablet into the latter. The archer\'s ring is now put on
1 MiïM.mii. &#Jt.# n.mft.föw.iï
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2 Tliese frarments are those mentionod above as being worn with the official cap
and the leathern cap. They were called sacrificial garinents because they were worn
by the officials when in attendance on the Ruler while he sacrificed to his ancestors.
On pp. 48 and 51 we have drawn attention to the fact that still at present notable
people are very fond of having a sacrificial attire on when leaving this world, and
that this is to a great extent attributable to a tendency to closely imitate the
ancients.
3 fói!lü^J»ti3c#-ch-27>1-8-
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335
DRESSING THE DKAD IN ANCIENT TIMES.
»the lower part of the thumb, so that it is held up by the base
»of the thumb1, and the object for the hands of the dead is
»fixed in its place by being tied to the lower parts of the fingers 2.
»This is done in such a way, that the lining comcs in contact
» with the skin; the cord is wound round the middle finger and
»knotted on the lower parts of the fingers \\ The corpse-sack
» having been laid out, the body is sheathed up in it and covered
» with a shroud. The cloth (which is placed over the face when the
» mouth is being filled with nee and cowries), the plug for the
»teeth, and the spoon (used for pouring in the rice), are buried in
»the pit (see page 10), together with the trimmings of the hair,
»beard and nails \', the pit being thercupon filled up by the
» Overseers of the waste and cultivated grounds" \\
» On the next day they again arrange clothes in the apartments, the
»collars on the south. The principal of these articles of dress is
» placed on the west side of the less important. They are folded.
»The scarfs for winding round the corpse, three crosswise and
» one straight, are as broad as a whole piece and have a slit at the
» ends. Then follows a black sheet with a lining of a dark red
»colour, but without the usual hem at one end. Next comes a
» sacrificial attire, then the upper clothes, in all nineteen suits;
»subsequently they display the clothes (presented by the Ruler,
» friends and relations), but it is not necessary to use all these" e.
Some particulars about this display of the grave garments
to be used at the slighter dressing are to be found also in the
\\ In translating this passage we have foliowed thecommentary of Ching Khang-ch\'ing.
But this author probably indulges in mere guess-work, the diameters jj^ and •fit»
being, as Xgao Ki-kung jnstly remarks, inexplicable.
5 ^ A £!##:• Ch-34\',-"•
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336
THE IDEAS 0E RESURRECTION.
Li ki (ch. 58, 1. 1). »As to the linen scarfs used at the slighter
» dressing (for swathing the dead), one is to be tied lengthwise and
»three crosswise. In the case of a Ruler there is one embroidered
» slieet, in that of a Great officer one of a plain white colour, in
» that of an ordinaiy officer one of a dark colour. There are nineteen
» sets of clothes. For a Ruler the clothes are displayed in the corridor
»on the east, for a Great officer and an ordinary officer in the
»apartments, all with the collars on the west and the principal
» article on the north side" \'.
» Strong men" — continues the / li, » having washed their hands,
»take up a position in pairs at the foot of the western steps, with
»their faces to the east. Mats are spread out in-doors (in the back
» chamber), one of Kien straw underneath and one of fine bamboo
» over it, and the Invoker after the manner of the Shang dynasty
»lays out over them successively the scarfs, the sheet, the upper
»clothes and the sacrificial garnients. These (two) sacrificial
»garnients he does not place in irregular order, but the finest
» he lays underneath the other. Thereupon the said strong men lift
»the corpse up and transfer it (to the dresses), returning then to
»the spot which they previously occupied"3. » All those" — says
the Li ki (ch. 58, 1. 8), » who dress the corpse, have the upper
»parts of their bodies naked, but those who transfer it to the
» clothes are dressed. At the obsequies of a Ruler, the Great Adjuncts
» do the dressing, assisted by the ordinary Adjuncts; at those ofa
»Great officer the Great Adjuncts merely stand by, while the
»others do the work; and at those of an ordinary officer the
»ordinary Adjuncts stand by, while the strong men perform the
» dressing" 3.
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DRESSING THE DEAD IN ANCIENT TIMES.                       337
»A couch with mats", so the / li continues, »is now placed
»between the two pillars and covered with mats as before \'. A
» pillow is placed on it for the head. The dressing finished, they
» remove the curtain. The principal mourners, their faces turned
»to the west, now lean on the corpse (see page 39), stamping
»their feet an unlitnited number of times, and the female moum-
» ers, their faces turned eastward, lean on it also, acting in the
» same manner. The strong men then lift the corpse up; the males
»and the females sustain it, and so it is carried to the hall,
»where (placing it on the aforesaid couch,) they cover it with
» a corpse-pall *.
» The next morning, after having extinguished the torches, they lay
» out the garments (for the fuller dressing) in the apartinent, the
» collars on the south side and the principal garments on the west
» side of the others. They are folded up. There are scarfs for swathing
»the corpse, a sheet and two palls, further the grave clothes
» presented by the Ruler (see page 34), a sacrificial attire, upper
»clothes, and grave clothes presented by relations and friends,
»thirty suits in all, without counting the sheet. It is, however,
» not necessary to use them all" 3.
»For the fuller dressing", the Li ki says (ch. 58, 1. 3), » there
»are scarfs of linen, three laid straight and five laid crosswise,
» further, a sheet of linen and two palls; this holds good as well
» for a Ruler as for a Great officer and an ordinary orticer. In the
» case of a Ruler they display one hundred suits of clothes in the
» court-yard, with the collars towards the north, while the principal
» clothes are laid out on the west side of the others. For a Great
» officer there are fifty suits, displayed in the eastern corridor, the
»collars towards the west and the principal clothes on the south
»side of the others. For an ordinary officer they exhibit thirty
»suits in the corridor on the east, with the collars towards the
1 That is to say, as in the case when the dead had just expired: see page 7.
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338                                THE IDKAS OF RESURRECTION.
» west and the principal clothes on tlie south of the others. The
» scarfs and the sheet are of the sarae quality as the court robes.
» Three scarfs are cut out of one width of cloth, and they are not
» split at the ends. The sheet is made of five pieces of full width,
»and has not the usual hem at one end" \\
» The hall" — continues the / li, » having been curtained off,
» the women arrange themselves on the west side of the corpse, turning
» their faces towards the east. The principal mourner and the near
» relations ascend the western steps, pass by the feet of the corpse,
»and stationing themselves with their faces westward, they bare
»the upper part of their bodies. The strong men, having washed
»their hands, take up a position as before (viz. as at the slighter
» dressing), and mats are also spread out as at the slighter dressing 2.
» The fuller dressing takes place near the eastern flight of steps 3.
» The Invoker after the manner of the Shang dynasty successively
» lays out upon these mats the scarfs *, the sheet, the palls and
»the clothes, so that the finest of the latter shall be outermost
»when the corpse is dressed. The grave clothes which have been
»presented by the Ruler are not placed upon one another in
» reverse order. Now the strong men lift the body (frorn the couch
» between the two pillars) and transfer it (to the pile of clothes).
» As they return to their place, the principal mourners stamp their
» feet an unlimited number of times. The dressing finished, they
»remove the curtain, and the chief mourners lean on the corpse
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1. 12—14.
3  Jttik1? PÉ.Ch.31,1.23.
4   Note that the swathing of the corpse with sheets and strips of linen, which
was done twice, once at the slighter and once at the fuller dressing, is still the
custom at the present day: see page 93. No doubt this is attributable to the Kia
li, which contains regulations on this head of the same tenor as those laid down
in the I li. The Ta Ts\'iny thung li also prescribes the wrapping up in a sheet
and swathing for all classes of officials and tbr the common people.
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339
DRESSING THE DEAD.
» as they did at the slighter dressing, the principal female mourners
» acting in a similar manner" \'.
The fact that in ancient China the dead were dressed in so raany
expensive suits, indeed in more suits than ever living man wore,
is a most convincing proof that this part of the funeral observances
was the object of peculiar interest. We read in the Domestic
Discourses of Confucius (see page 303) that, »when Confucius died,
»the clothes put on him at the first dressing consisted of eleven
» suits, to which was added one court dress, besides a chang-fu
»cap"2, that is to say, a cap after the fashion of the Yin
dynasty. Over these eleven suits the numerous attires of the
slighter and the fuller dressing were put on. That the modern
Chinese are still very partial to burying their dead in many suits,
preferring a great number of very inferior quality to a few of good
material, we have shown on page 65; yet the facts adduced in
that part of our vvork prove that they are far behind their ancestors
in this respect. Their imitation of the progenitors of the nation is
indeed an imitation of the poorest kind. They no longer dress
the dead in three different stages. The ancient first dressing they
now identify vvith their dressing of the deceased in his body clothes
after the washing (page 20); the slighter dressing of antiquity
corresponds to the final dressing described on page 67, and the fuller
dressing to the coffining. This is in strict accordance with the Ta
Tiing thung li, which prescribes for all classes of officials a dressing
in two stages only and calls these stages by the same naraes which
were used by the ancients for the first and the second dressing;
the fuller dressing of antiquity is made to consist merely of the
coffining. At the first dressing, it says, the official classes should
have on » one suit of every day clothes, as also a court dress with
cap and girdle, all corresponding to the respective ranks of each" 3;
the gentry should be dressed likewise »in one suit of every day
»clothes with a cap and a ceremonial attire such as corresponds
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340
THE IDEAS OF RESURItEi;TION.
» with the rank of the dead" l. And as for the slighter dressing,
»the officials of the first, second and third degree are to be
»equipped with five suits, vis. three lined and two unlined
»dresses. For the officials of the fourth and fifth rank these
»numbers must be three, two and one, and for those of the
»sixth and lower ranks, two, one and one"2. For the grave
clothes of the cominon people the book gives no rescripts.
Returning once more to the ages prior to the Han dynasty, we
find a more tangible proof than any yet inentioned, of the interest
bestowed by the living upon the dressing of the dead, namely the
anxiety shown by relations and friends in presenting garments
for the purpose. By quoting extracts from the / li we have shown
on page 34 seq. that it was an established custom for all the
kinsmen and friends, and in the case of an ordinary officer even
for the Ruler in whose service he was, to contribute grave garments.
Rulers even went so far as to send thera to their princely colleagues
of other feudal kingdoms. »Tliis was an established ceremonial
usage", as the Tso elf wen relatos. »The feudal princes presented
»to one another their condolences and congratulations, and even
» when the garments could not be of service (because they arrived
»too late), they were accepted as a mark of courtesy and
» recorded as such, that the good understanding which had existed
» heretofore between the parties, might not fall into oblivion" 3.
In its 54th. chapter (1. 31) the Li ki contains a detailed account
of the way in which the messengers despatched by a Ruler to offer
grave clothes to a inourning fainily acquitted themselves of their
duty. » The man with the grave clothes said: \'My Ruler has sent
» me with clothes for the deceased\'. A person in attendance then
»entered the gate to report the arrival of the messenger and,
»coming out of the gate again, said: \'The orphan son So-and-so
»is waiting for you\'. Upon this the other took a dress which was
» worn with the crown-cap, holding the neck in his left hand and
»the waist in his right, and thus he entered the gate, ascended
* nm-fflm#mm&w%m ch ™>•• i8-
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341
PRESENTING CLOTHES FOR THE DEAD.
»the steps of the hall and delivered his message, saying: \'My
»Ruler has sent me, So-and-so, with grave clothes\'. The son then
» bowed to him, touching the ground with his head and, the clothes
» having been laid down on the east of the spot where the body
» was to be stored away after the coffining, the messenger descended
»the steps, to receive inside the gate, under the eaves, a dress
»such as was usually worn with the official cap. Communicating
» his message in the above way, the son bowed with his forehead to the
» ground as before. Subsequently the messenger received in the court-
» yard an attire such as was worn with the skin cap; then he received
» a set of court robes at the foot of the western steps, and finally, at
»the entrance of the hall, a dress which was worn with the dark-
» coloured cap; these he presented successively with the same message,
»the son, in each case, bowing with his forehead to the ground
» as he did the first time. In the end the messenger descended the
»steps, left the gate and returned to his place. Five men in
»attendance on the major domo then took up the garments and
»brought them to the east, afterwards going down by the steps
» on the west" *.
The grave clothes presented in such large quantities by anxious
relations, friends and superiors were, as we have seen, displayed
during the dressing. The object of this no doubt was to express
the willingness of the family to make use of all of them in behalf
of the dead. The question now arises: what was done with them,
in so far as they were not used for dressing the corpse? Nowhere
do the ancient books clearly express themselves on this head; but
considering that in ancient China it was customary to stow away
in the tombs of grandees all sorts of articles, implements and
valuables which might be useful to the dead, it is not beyond
the bounds of probability that the clothes in question went the
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342
THE IHEAS OF RESURRECTION.
same way, at least in the earliest ages. This supposition assists us in
explaining why the ancient works denote thein by the character
H£, that is: clothes ^ which follow ^. This character is
nowhere found in the books in the sense of garments which were
really used for dressing the dead, nor in that of any otlier sort
of garments. Tn chapter IV of the next part of this ltook, which
is especially devoted to the custoni of entombing articles with the
dead, more will be said on this subject.
It is worthy of notice that the high importance which was attached
in ancient China to the dressing of the dead, is testified by the
fact that, in the case of grandees and their wives, the Ruler of
the state and his consort attended at it personally, resorting to the
house of mourning for the purpose. What the Li ki and the / li
say on this liead lias been reproduced already on page 35 seq.
Besides this, the / li shows that Great officers were in the habit of
displaying the same interest at the decease of ordinary officers.
» The fuller dressing", it says, » takes place near the eastern flight
» of steps. The Great officers ascend the western steps and station
» themselves on the east side of the same, where they turn their
» faces to the north, and each higher officer stands on the east of
»the one of lower rank. And when the mourners have tinished
»leaning on the corpse, the Great officers descend the steps in
» reverse order and return to their places" \'.
2. Keeping the Dead unmutilated.
The belief in the resurrection of the dead having obtained such
a firm hold upon the Chinese of ancient tinies as to prompt the
creation of numerous practices for the purpose of preserving corpses
from decay, it is but natural to find them also cherishing a
conviction that mutilation renders a body unfit to receive the soul
again. That this notion has ever been deeply rooted in their minds
may be inferred from the fact that the Li ki (ch. 58, 1. 36) says:
» The hair and nails of the Ruler of a state and of a Great officer
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MUTILATING CORPSES BY WAY OF PUNISHMENT.                343
» must be placed in the corners of his eoffin, and in the case of
»an ordinary officer they must be buried" \\ Many centuries later
the Kia li prescribes that, »when the corpse has been lifted up
»with united force and placed in the cofhn, the teeth and
»the hair which have fallen out during life are to be put in the
«corners, together with the parings of the nails" 2. And amongst
its rescripts for the disposition of the dead, laid down for all classes of
officials, the gentry and the common people, the Ta TsHng thung li
likewise says, that »the teeth and hair which have dropped out
during the life of the deceased, should be placed in his eoffin"3.
The authoritative rank of these works renders it very probable
that the above precepts are still conformed to in many parts
of the empire.
The royal house of Cheu went so far as to exclude from its
grave-yards those of its blood who had died from wounds inrlicted
by weapons. »Those who have been killed by arms do not enter
the burial grounds" *, says the Cheu li. This passage throws a
remarkable light upon the destination of those burial places.
Indeed, whereas such people as by the mutilation of their bodies
had lost all prospect of returning to life were not suft\'ered therein, it
is evident that at that time grave-yards were not grounds laid out by
the living to dispose of useless human remains, but places where
the dead were devoutly collected to await resurrection.
And, if mutilation prevents a body from ever reviving, then
mangling or destroying the remains of an enemy is the most
refined means of revenge. It is also the severest punishraent one
can inflict on the body of a criininal. The Books of the Tsin
Uynasty relate that Shih Lih 5, a pretender, to the Throne in the north
eastern part of the Empire, exhuined and burned the corpse of Yueh °,
an imperial commander who had been in the held against hini and
had died in the year 311; — »this man", said he, » has thrown
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344
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
»the Empire into disorder, and so I must take revenge in the
»name of the Empire"1. And in the Loh-yang kia-lan ki% or
Description of the Buddhist Monasteries in the city of Loh-yang, a
work written in the sixth century, it is related: »In the H i a o
»eh<:ang period (525—528) the empress conflscated Liu Thing\'s
»immovable property. Tlie same day on which Yuen-i was killed,
»Liu Tliing had already expired; but the empress remembering
»his crimes, she had bis grave opened and his body destroyed,
»that his manes might be deprived of everything in which to take
» refuge" \'. Otlier instances of this kind will be given in the next
part of this Book, in chapter XVI, when treating of Cremation.
The idea that mangling a person after death constitutes a
punishment of the severest kind, still plays an important part in
the criminal legislation of modern China. Tlie Ta Tiing luk li
says: » Whoever murders three members of one family, not guilty
»of a crime punishable with death, or whoever quarters a living
» person or mortally mangles him, shall be slowly cut with knives
»till death doth ensue. His property shall be confiscated for the
»benefit of the family of the victim, his wives and sons be
» transported for life to a country two thousand miles away, and
»his accomplices shall be bebeaded" *. Considering, however, that
this cruel way of dispatching the chief culprit is too slight a
punishment for so heinous a crime, a bye-law is added, to this
effect: »Moreover, his corpse shall be chopped to pieces and his
head exhibited on a stake as a warning to the public" 5.
The Legal Code bas heavy punishments in store for those who
1 tik A ft % T >W 1$ % T » Z c"- 59- "•39
. Ch. I. This episode is also related, though less circumstantially, in ch 94 of
the Books ot\' the Wei Dynasty (I. 18), and in tlie Ilistory of the North of the
Empire, ch. 9\'2, I. 17.
&ft.mmwtfn%zm>m¥fo=^\'f&>ftfö
% ff. fJlmpter \'20, § |[-|HA\'
-ocr page 385-
liEGAL PROVIS10NS AGAINST MÜTILATJNG THE DEAD.           345
mangle the dead. It even goes so far as to extend its care to
criminals executed. »Whosoever after an execution mangles or
» destroys the corpse shall receive fifty blows with the short bamboo
» stick" *. Further we find the following articles:
» Whoever mangles or destroys the corpse of a member of another
»family, or casts it into the water, shall be punished with one
» hundred blows with the long stick and be transported for life to
» a country three thousand miles distant. And he who mangles or
» casts away the still unburied corpse of a kinsman who occupied
» a position higher than himself in the hierarchy of his family and
» for whom he must wear mourning in one of the five degrees 8,
» shall be decapitated and shall be kept in jail until his execution.
» Eacli of these punishments to be abated by one degree if the
»corpse thrown away was not lost, or when the mangling only
» consisted of an injury to the hair\'.
»Whoever mangles or casts away the dead body of a kinsman
» who held a position in the hierarchy of the family lower than
»his own, and for whom the perpetrator would have to wear
» mourning in one of the five degrees, shall undergo a punishment
»similar to that inflicted when the corpse of any one belonging
»to another family is concerned, but with a mitigation by one
» degree for each degree of relationship by which the perpetrator
» stands above the dead \\
» Mangling or throwing away the corpse of a son or grandson
»shall be punished with eighty blows with the long stick. But
» any child or grandchild who couimits the same off\'ence against a
»grandfather, grandmother, father or mother, or any male or
» female shvve or hireling who mangles or throws away the body
» of his master, shall be beheaded and shall be kept in jail until
< £Bm&t£#l]MlS?EfË£^lL . Cl.. 37, §
2 About these degrees sec ch. VI of the next part ot\' this Book.
=^ io * m mm m m ± m m * m nu m m fê
/>mmmBw±myjïïu&ft)iAmtöi.-m-
-ocr page 386-
346
THE IOEAS OP RESUltRECTION.
» his execution, no account being taken as to whether tlie body was
» destroyed ór lost" \'.
The significance of these provisions of law will be better under-
stood, if we take into consideration that the Code is hardly less
severe with regard to the crimes these articles are intended to
prevent, than on the point of wilful murder. Premeditated murder
of a person not belonging to the family of the perpetrator is
punished with decapitation , which is a penalty only two degrees more
severe than that inflicted for the mutilation of the corpse of such an
individual, or for the making away with it. Further, for parricide
or the murder of a grandparent or great-grandparent, slow execution
by the knives is decreed, which punishment is only one degree
heavier than decapitation, with which persons who have mangled
or thrown away the corpse of such a relative must expiate their
crime.
In chapter XI of the next part of this Book we shall revert at
length to the protection awarded to the bodies of the dead by the
State, whose line of conduct on this head is the natural outgrowth
of the great political principle that the Religion of the Dead must
be maintained by all possible means. This primary religion of China,
sanctified by the books of Confucius and his school, is enforced
upon the nation by the present dynasty as the most holy institution
of social life, being closely connected with the doctrines of the
hiao referred to on page 120. In connection with this political
principle successive dynasties have promulgated codifications of the
funeral rites, such as the reader has been acquainted with on
page 236.
The inveterate aversion of the Chinese of all ages to the mutilation
of the body after death explains why in the Ta Tiing luh li
decapitation is considered a punishment of a severer nature than
strangulation. Both methods of despatching criminals are ranked
by that Code side by side as »the severest penalty existing" 2;
but at the same time it makes a distinction between the two
because, as it says, »strangulation leaves the body entire in
2 Wt«*-
-ocr page 387-
DECAPITATION AND ST11ANOUI-ATION.                           347
all its parts" *, while »decapitation sends the body and the head
to different places"3. It is, indeed, entirely in accordance with tliis
legal distinction that the heads of criminals executed in the province,
when not exposed on stakes or in cages as a wam ing to the
public, are in many instances sent up to the provincial capital,
to serve not only as warrants to the higher authorities that the
execution has taken place, but also to mak e sure of their not
being buried along with the body.
2 |ff % || J| JU. See ch. 2, I. 30.
-ocr page 388-
CHAPTER VI.
ON THE COHAB1TATION OF THE SOUL AND THE BODY AFTER DEATH.
The belief in the resurrection of the dead has waned away in
the process of time. As civilization ad vaneed, cold experience taught
the sons of the Empire of the Midst that death was real.
Nevertheless, as this Volume testifies on many of its pages,
numerous practices created by the said belief have survived. Nor
has the conviction been lost that the nianes continue to hovcr
about the body and to be intimately connected with it, a conviction
naturally arising froni the old belief that they might at a suitable
moment again enter the corpse and resuscitate it.
That such a belief in the cohabitation of the body and the soul
really exists among the modern Chinese as vividly as ever, is shown
by many of their funeral customs. We need only draw attention
to those enumerated on page 241. Amongst them is that of
systematically entombing part of the manes with the corpse by
placing the soul banner and the temporary soul tablet in the
grave with the coffin. This custom is of special importance, because
it introduces us to a new series of practices and conceptions relative
to the tomb and the treatment of the body and the soul which
dweil therein, practices and conceptions so numerous, that a
description of them will occupy almost the whole of the next
volume and a great part of the Second Book. By the way it may
be noted that the ideas about such cohabitation of body and
soul in the grave are closely connected with the conception
that, if a body is properly circumvested by objects and wood
imbUed with Yang matter or, in other words, with the same
s h e n afnatus of which the soul is composed, it will be a seat for
the manes even after death, a support to which the manes may firmly
adhere and thus prevent their nebulous, shadowy being from evaporating
and suffering annihilation. Coffins with a corpse inside are, in
accordance with this notion, designated throughout the whole
-ocr page 389-
349
FLA.GEIXATING DEAD BODIES.
range of Chinese literature as »animated encoffined corpses" !, or
»animated coffins" 8.
The conception that after death the body and the soul do not
separate for good, having given rise to a category of practices so
comprehensive that a great part of this work will have to be
devoted to thera, it becomes our duty to prove by facts that such
a conception has always been a predominant article in the creed of the
nation. Passages quoted from native books for this purpose will at the
same time acquaint our readers with some matters of interest relative to
the Religion of the Dead, which could not be elsewhere better inserted.
It is related in the historical documents of the Empire that Wu
Tszfc\'-sü, a minister of the kingdom of Wu in the sixth century
before our era, having at the head of an army conquered the town
of Ying, he there exhumed the body of P\'ing, a former king of
the state of Chcu, and had it flogged, as a retaliation for the
execution of his father who, when a minister in Chcu, had been
put to death by Pcing. The Historical Records say.: »When the
»troops of Wu entered Ying, Wu Tszë-sü tried to lay hands on
»king Chao (Pcing\'s successor); but being unable to discover him,
»he opened the grave of king P\'ing of Chcu, dragged his corpse
»out of it and gave it three hundred lashes" 3. This act would
have been perfectly devoid of sense if Wu Tszë-sü had not been
firmly convinced that, when flagellating a corpse, something more
than a lifeless lump of flesh and bones was struck at.
In chapter 26 of the Li ki (leaf 1 sqq.) we read:
» Tseng-tszë asked: \'When a successor to the Throne is born
» after the demise of the Ruler of the state, how is one to act?\'
» Confucius said: \'The highest nobles, Great officers and ordinary
»officers shall take a position behind the minister who administers
»the empire ad interim, at the south side of the western steps,
»turning their faces to the north. The Great Invoker, in his court
»robes and cap, bearing rolls of silk in his hands, shall then go
» up to the top of the western steps, and there, without entering
»the hall, he shall, when the wailers have been ordered to stop
»their cries, call three times (to the soul) and make announcement
1 mu-           2fiü-
2Fïg,tttg/\' JtSf. Ch. 66,1.5.
-ocr page 390-
350
THE IDEAS OK RESURRECTION.
»to it, saying: \'The son of Such-and-such a lady has been bom;
»I presume to inform Thee of this event\'. This done, he shall enter
»the hall, lay the silk on a bench on the east side of the
»place where the coffin is, wail and descend. All the principal
» mourners, the high noblcs, Great officers and ordinary officers,
>: with all those who find themselves in the apartments, shall wail
»also, but without stamping their feet. This burst of grief over,
» they shall return to their assigned places, after which the mom ing
» offerings (see page 118) shall be set out and the Second Minister
» shall go up the steps and take the silks away \'.
»And on the third day, all the principal mourners with the
» high nobles, Great officers and ordinary officers shall take their
»places as before, with their faces towards the north. The First
» Minister, the Superintendent of Religious Worship and the Great
»Invoker shall all be dressed in their court robes and cap, and
»the officer in charge of the education of the child shall carry the
» babe in his hands in a coat of sackcloth. When they enter the
»gate, the Invoker preceding, the child behind him, and the
» First Minister with the Superintendent of Religious Worship in
»the rear, the wailers put a stop to their lamentations; the child
»is then brought up by the western steps and held in front of
»the place where the coffin stands, with his face to the north,
» while the Invoker stations himself at the south-eastem corner of
» the coffin. Now the Invoker shall call three times (to the soul)
» and exclaim: \'So-and-so, the son of Such-and-such a lady, presumes
»to appear before Thee, under the guidance of those in charge
»of the ceremony\'. The babe shall then bow his forehead to the
»ground and wails. The Invoker, the First Minister and the
» Superintendent of Religious Worship, with the principal mourners,
»the noblemen, Great officers and ordinary officers now wail and
» stamp their feet three times, repeating these testimonies of grief
ft ê mm *êl^x ft &,&#%,&#=•*& b,
n> ¥ftmw-
2 It need not be said that the man who carried the child peribrraed these ceremonies.
-ocr page 391-
ANNOUNCEMENTS MADE TO DECEASED MONARCHS.               351
»t\\vice; this done, they descend the steps and return to their
»proper places on the east, where all of them bare the upper
»parts of their bodies. Now the child shall stamp his feet,
» and the persons in the apartments shall act likevvise; thrice they
» shall do so, stamping three times each time. Having dressed the
»child with the coat of sackcloth and given him a mourning staff
»in his hand, the (morning) offerings to the deceased are set out,
»after which they leave the gate. The First Minister shall also
»give orders to the Invoker and the Recorder to announce the
»name of the child all around at the five places of sacrifice and
» at those devoted to the hills and streams\' " \\
Such announcements, first made to the dead monarch of the
birth of his heir and afterwards of the name which had been given
him, evidently ranked amohg the principal solemnities of the State,
seeing that they were presided over by the highest ministers and that
the high nobility, the gentry and the whole host of officials attended
them. If Confucius had not been absolutely under the sway of the
dogma of his time that the soul remains present at the side of the
body of which it once constituted the vital energy, he would never
have sanctioned such announcements as matters of State, as
observances which no government might presume to neglect. Could
China\'s greatest philosopher have prescribed the celebration of such an
ostentatious ceremony to a mass of niere lifeless clay ? Many passages
might be quoted from the Li ki and other ancient works to
illustrate the ancient belief in an intimate coherence of the
corpse and the soul. But this would only weary the reader; moreover,
it is quitc superfluous in the face of the above citations, which
speak volumes.
In perusing such of the interesting pages of the Historical Books of
ie lu ju •sect f- ¥ m. i-
-ocr page 392-
352
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
the Han dynasty as describe the ceremonial institutions of the State
at that time, we find that the inveterate belief in the presence of
the disembodied soul about the corpse had already then prompted
the Government to celebrate another solemnity of the first
order, viz. the succession to the Throne, in the immediate
presence of the deceased monarch. »After the demise, the gates
» of the city and of the palace were closed. The Ministers surrounding
»the Throne, the Commanders of the soldiers of the interior
» yellow gates, the Imperial body guards and the Secretaries of the
» Boards all kept a vigilant watch at the palace buildings, each
»exhorting five pickets of the northern division of the army to
»surround the palace, while eunuchs from amongst the farming
» soldiery ordered the ushers of the Presidents of the Boards and
»those of the Censors to patrol the files of warriors during the
» day and the niglit *. The three Chief Ministers of State presented
»a memorial to the Throne, running as follows. \'If, as the Sftu
»king expresses it, the commandments of Heaven are kept in
» sight2, the Crown prince must mount the throne of the Son of
» Heaven on the same day, in front of the encoffined body. Accordingly
» we beseech the Crown prince to take possession of the Imperial
»throne, and the Imperial Consort to become Imperial Grand
» Consort\'s. This request having been answered in an approving sense,
» all the ministers left and then re-entered without mourning clothes, to
» assemble (in the court-yard) in conformity with the prescribed ritual.
» The Commander of the Army then ascended the eastern steps.
» Stationing himself with his face to the north near the coffin and
»the Imperial throne, he bowcd his head to the ground, recited an
»address and then, facing the east and in a kneeling attitude,
\\ It may be asked whether these measures were taken to prevent the soul of the
deceased from escaping, and thus to facilitate the task of those who had to bring
it back (comp. p. 251). It is otherwise difficult to account for them.
2   This expression occurs in the section Thai-kiah -j£ ra of that Classic, in a
memorial presented to the young monarch Thai-kiah (18th. cent. B. C.) by his
counsellor I-yin \'ÖJ- \'33*. The memorial opens with the words: » The sovereigns
who have preceded Thee on the throne, kept their eyes on the clear commandments
of Heaven" ft £ ffi |S ^ £ ÖJ ffr.
3   In China the position of an Empress-Dowager is higher than that of an
Empress because, during the reign of her son, she is the owner of the empire, »a
son having no property of his own as long as his father or mother lives" -4£ -fflr
<EC yK /Éf 4^ Bi" (Li ki, ch. 2, 1. 21). But an Empress whose husband is
living cannot possen the empire, because it belongs to her consort.
-ocr page 393-
THK ACCESSION TO TUE THRONE IN CHINA.                    353
»tendered to the Crown prince the seals of jade with the ribbons
»appended, which usually did service in transferring the Realm
» from one emperor to another. Tliis done, the Crown prince ascended
»the Imperial tlirone. The Commanders of the inner yellow gates
»then handed to the Commander of the Army the articles of jade,
»the Sui-heu pearls \' and the serpent-beheading precious sword;
»what had happened was thereupon soleranly announced to the
»multitude of otficers present, and all prostrated theinselves,
» exclaiming: \'May Your Majesty reign ten thousand years!\' In somc
»cases a general amnesty for the Empire was at the same
»time proclaimed. Messengers were dispatched with orders from
»the Emperor to re-open the gates of the city and the palace, and
•» to march off the farming soldiers and other guards; all the
» ministers and otticers then retired, and put on such complete
» mourning attire as was prescribed by the established rites" *.
Nearly all the monarchs who have borne sway over the
Empire from the seventh century to the fourteenth, including
those of the Liao dynasty, are formally stated in the official books
of history to have ascended the throne in the presence of their
encoftined predecessor. Though such statements are not made with
similar regularity with regard to the other dynasties, yet there seerns
to exist little ground for doubting that these also faithfully conformed
1 Precious pearls shining during the night (see page 277) are often denoted by
this name on account of a legend told ot\' one Sui-heu, who had onee upon a time
received a pearl which could light up an entire room at night, from a wounded
snake he had cured. See the Pei wen yun fu, eb. \'26 II, I. 94.
2 g m m m pi nr pi e e # m n n & $t n m
JÜ #& jjg. Ch. 10, leaf i aqq.
23
-ocr page 394-
354
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
to what the House of Han had established as an institution of the
State. As for the dynasty which now wields the sceptre, — according
to the Ta Tiing thung li, the accession to the Throne is oelebrated
in the T h a i - h w o hall on the second day after the deceased monarch
lias been dressed and coffined, but the work does not state whether
the coffin is in the hall on this occasion. »The Imperial heir
»repairs to the sacrificial tables which are placed in front of the
» coffin, there to invoke the deceased parent and announce to him that
» he accepts the task imposed upon him by Heaven; after having left
» he puts on his ceremonial attire and goes to the Thai-hwo hall,
»to ascend the Imperial throne" 1. These official rescripts sufficiently
prove that the belief in the presence of the soul on the spot where
the coffin is deposed, is still entertained by the present emperors.
Chinese literature affords nunierous proofs that the cohabitation
of soul and body after death has never been doubted in succeeding
ages. To quote one single instance out of the many before us: —
the History of the South relates of Wang King-tsih 2, a statesman
living in the last half of the fifth century: » On reaching the district
»city of Ki-yang (where he was to enter upon his functions as
»Governor), at the foot of the Luh-chu mountains the ten and
» odd ships of his clans-people who accompanied him started, but
» his own boat was the only one which did not move. He ordered
» his junior relations to jump into the water and push it forward,
» when his eye feil upon some black-varnished coffins. lnvoking these,
»he said: \'If you are objects of good omen, then cause my boat
» to move forward quickly; and as I am a wealthy man occupying
va high position, I will take care that you are properly buried\'.
» Instantly the boat moved on unto the city. Afterwards he had
» the coffins collected and buried" \\
1 mÊ.ftmjifëifim.&gft* w, iii>i
dk ^0 Kx ifl ÊL "rf»* f& • Ch\' 47\' \'• 6\' The solemnity is Jescribed in detail in
ch. 21 of the Ta Tn\'ing thung li.
m m m ^ m. ^ ^ ^ a & m z >% m « fê.« m
^cA^o1l^itfctif^^- 0haPter 45>leaf 2-This ePiso(ie is ,,e,ated a|s°
in the Books of the Southern Ts\'i Dynasty, ch. 2G, leaf i.
-ocr page 395-
DISEMBODIED SOULS RETAIN THE SHAPE OF THE BODY.         355
It is quite natural man should imagine that the souls of the
dead retain the shape of the body which tliey possessed during
life. This must be true of the Chinese in particular, seeing they
are convinced that body and soul keep together after death, a
conviction which calls up the body immediately before their eyes
whenever they think of the soul. They believe that a beheaded
man wanders about a headless spectre in the World of Shades.
Such spectres are frequently to be seen in walled towns, especially
in the neighbourhood of places of execution. Here they often visit
the people with disease and disaster, causing a considerable depreciation
in the value of the houses around such scènes. Whenever an
execution takes place, the people fire crackers to frighten the
headless ghost away from the spot; and the mandarin who has
superintended the bloody work, on entering the gate of his
mansion, lias himself carried in his sedan chair over a fire
lighted on the pavement, lest the headless apparition should enter
there along with him; for disembodied spirits are afraid of fire.
On August 22nd. 1849 the Governor of Macao having been
assassinated near the Banier by some Chinese, who severed his
head from his body and fled on Chinese soil with this bloody
testimony of the niurder, the native inhabitants of the port
declared that the spectre was often seen riding up and down the
isthmus, looking for his head; and these rumours inspired such
tenor, that no one dared go home through the Banier after
nightfall\'. In the » Celestial Empire" of February 7th. 1883 (page 78)
we read: »The Chinese have a theory that a headless corpse in
»this world wanders about a headless ghost in the next, and they
»adopt the subterfuge of fixing a wooden head to a corpse,
»thinking thereby that the spirits will not know the difference.
» A case of this kind has lately occurred. It will be remembered
» that the head of the mandarin who was murdered in Quangse
»Road (Shanghai), could not be found. Search was made for it
»without success, so the compradore, who was a friend of the
» deceased, has had a wooden head made and placed in the coffin
» with the body of the murdered man. This having been done,
»the corpses of the mandarin and his wife were removed from
» Quangse Road for burial".
1 The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal, XIX, p. 456.
-ocr page 396-
CHAPTBR VII.
TLACING FOOD IN THE MOUTH AND BY THE STDE OF THF DECEASED.
The conception that death is a state of insensibility froui which
the body may awake as well as from sleep or a swoon (conip.
page 244), naturally induced primitive man, on seeing that the
unconsciousness of the patiënt lasted uncoinmonly long, to place
food at his side and, finding that he did not partake of it, to try
to raakc hiin eat by putting tnorsels into his raouth. These practices
are still prevalent atnong raany tribes. In the Par East may be
instanced the Assu Tslanders, »of whom Earl says that several
»tiines during the few days after one lias died, these Papuans try
»to make him eat, \'and when they find that he does not partake
»of the food, the mouth is tilled with eatables, siri, and arrack,
» until it runs down the body, and spreads over the floor\'. Aniong
» the Tahitians, \' if the deceased was a chief of rank or fame, a
» priest or other person was appointed to attend the corpse, and
» present food to its mouth at different periods of the day\'. So is
» it with the Malayans of Borneo • when a chief dies, his slaves
»attend to his imagined wants with the fan, siri, and betel-nut.
»Harkness tells us of the Badagas, that \'between death and
»burning they frequently drop a little grain into the mouth of
» the deceased\' " \'.
The like reniarkable customs were observed by the Chinese in
times of old. Confucius himself was convinced that, like the calling
back of the soul, these customs had originated in the darkest
ages; for, according to the Li ki (ch. 30, 1. 20), he said:
» When ceremonial usages carae into existence, people, whenever a
» case of death occurred, went up to the housetop and exclaimed:
»\'Ho. o. o. So-and-so, come back!\' After this they filled the mouth
» with uncooked rice and put cooked food upon stands" •. At the
1 Spencer, Principles ot\' Sociology, § 84.
$ ffc IR IE flö 1: &.sect. |gig,i.
-ocr page 397-
PLACING FOOD IN THE MOUTH OF THE DEAO. 357
time of the Cheu dynasty we find that sucli stuffing of the mouth
was considered a rite of so rauch importance that it had a
place allotted to it among those funeral observances which no one
might neglect. This may be inferred from the following passage in
the Li ki (ch. 11, 1. 37): »Ca Hing back the soul, plugging open
»the teeth, binding the legs on a seat to keep them straight,
»filling the mouth with rice, laying out the clothes for the dead,
»and curtaining the hall — these things are performed conjointly"\'.
According to the unanimous assertion of commentators, this plugging
open the teeth served to prevent the mouth from closing tightly
when the body grew cold, which would have rendered the stuffing
very difficult; therefore it was done almost immediately after
the last breath had escaped from the lips of the dying man. After
describing the way in which the soul of a deceased officer was
called back (see page 248), the / li says: »Thev plug the
»teeth open with a spoon of hom and tie the legs to keep
»them from contracting, using a seat to this end"2. And the Li ki
(ch. 57, 1. 34) has: » As soon as death has taken place, the corpse is
»transferred to a couch and covered with the sanie shroud which
»is to be used at the dressing. The garments in which the dead
»man has expired are then taken off, a lower official plugs the
» teeth open with a spoon of horn, and the feet are tied straight
» by means of a stool. All these things are done in the case of a
» Ruler as well as in that of a Great otficer and an ordinary officer" 3.
The clear and elaborate desciïption which the / li gives of the
way in which the stuffing of the mouth was performed in the case
of ordinary officials, has been reproduced in full in the chapter
dealing with the placing of precious articles in the mouth of the
dead, so that we have only to refer the reader to page 270. It
must be noted by the way, that the importance attached to the
rite in question during the Cheu dynasty is manifest also from the
fact that the Cheu li is not silent on it, as may be seen on
pages 20 and 209, where two extracts from this book alluding
to the same subject have been inserted.
1 %M1&M&MM%M<ÈLMtt^ m 3-
1, 3.
3 & ft m p ^ ^ m m m. &. * ft * ,* s m #
m n n m& m ï& n.n * * ±-&•***•& ^ ie. »
-ocr page 398-
358
THE IDEAS OF RESURRECTION.
Such of our readers as have studied the written language
of China may see from the passages quoted in this ehapter, that
the practice of stufting the mouth of the dead is denoted in
the Li ki and the Cheu li by the character ^. This occurs in
all the works of antiquity in the sense of » a meal, or to take a meal",
as its composition from the elements ^, »to conie back", and ^,
»to eat", implies; which clearly shows that the stufting of the
mouth was indeed conceived of by the people as a feeding process.
Nevertheless one passage in the Li ki (ch. 12, 1. 22) points to
the contrary, saying: »The mouth is filled with uncooked rice
» and with cowries because one cannot bear the idea that it should
»be emptv; the underlying idea in using these good things is
» not that of giving food" l. But we cannot help repudiating this
view, on ethnographical grounds. Even during the Han dynasty
the true purport of the custom was not lost sight of, as the Poh
hu thuny i, a work of the first century to which we have already
referred on page 277, says: »Wherefore exists this custom ot
»rilling the mouth of the dead with rice? It is a continuation of
»the feeding of the living" \'2.
During the Han dynasty the custom likewise held a place among
the funeral rites for monarchs and grandees, as may be seen from
two extracts reproduced on page 277. It was allotted a place in
the Codex of Rites of the K h a i y u e n period , which orders that
»for grandees of the highest, the second and the third degree
»spiked millet shall be used, for those of the fourth and fifth
» rank panicled millet, and for all persons of still lower rank spiked
» millet" \'. Uncooked rice, well cleansed, must, according to Chu Hi\'s
Rituals for Family Life, be poured into the mouth of the dead
by the principal mourner when he places the coins therein (see
page 278), all this to be done with observance of the ceremonial
prescribed by the / li; but the Ta IVing thuny li gives no rescripts
about the practice. This explains in some measure why the custom
has now fallen into disuse at Amoy and its environs (see page 29),
so that, in describing the modern funeral rites, we have not mentioned
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PLACING FOOD AT THE SIDE OF THE DEAD.                   359
it. But we do not suppose it has died out all over China, the
influence of the ancient works and the Rituals for Family Life
being too great to justify such a supposition.
Placing food at the side of the corpse, which may be said to
be simply another form of the custom of actually feeding it by
filling its mouth, is, however, far from having gone out at Amoy.
This we have shown on page 29, in describing the way in which
it is done there at the present time. Considering, as we have
said at the outset of this chapter, that the sanie practice
prevails elsewhere on the globe among tribes in a low stage of
civilization, it is not surprising that it should have been an
established custom in barbarous and semi-civilized China, and as
such held the rank of a sacred funeral rite in the Empire during
the pre-Christian era. Chapter 13 of the Li ki (leaf 11) says:
»Presently after the demise dried meat and pickled meat are set
down" \\ And the / li, immediately after giving rescripts as to the
calling back of the soul, plugging open the mouth and tying the
legs to a stool, says: » They set down dried meat, pickled meat,
» must and wine. These articles having been taken up the eastern
»steps, they are deposed on the east side of the corpse 2. They
» are set down near the couch, close to the shoulder. No funereal
»vessels are employed. Either must is offered, or spirits, but no
» covers of cloth are used, nor spoons" 3. The / li thus explicitly
forbidding the food to be placed in such vessels as were used
for the service of the dead, we are justified in suggesting that
the patiënt was not considered dead in reality, but only in
appearance. It is also noteworthy that Ngao Ki-kung says in
his commentary upon the above passage: » Those articles were set
.» down after the demise as if a living person were being waited
» upon. The dead man was now lying with his head southward,
»so that the east was on his right hand, and the articles were
» placed on this side to enable him to partake more easily of the
» food and the drink" *.
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Ch. 31, I. 9.
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3G0                                THE IDEAS OP RESURaECTION.
The ancient Chinese did by no means confine themselves to placing
food at the side of the dead only once. They also supplied a
sumptuous meal the next day, after the dead man was dressed for
the grave. The elaborate description given by the / li of this
saeritice has been inserted in full on page 83 sqq. As has been shown
on page 70 sqq., the modern Chinese still faitlifully maintain this
usage. Neither do they, as we have seen on page 99, deviate from
the ways of their ancestors in placing food near the eorpse after
it lias been enclosed in the cottin, for in ancient China too the
nobility and gentry went so far as to continue the process of
feeding after the cottining, by placing baskets with scorched grain
and dried fish and meat inside the wooden shed in which
the body was stored away in the hall of the mansion. This
custom, which was cursorily touched upon on page 99, is more
particularly passed in review in the first chapter of the third part
of this Book. Tf we now call to mind the rooted belief of the
Chinese of all ages that the soul does not abandon the body after
death, it appears quite natural the conviction arose at a very
early date that it is the soul which enjoys the food, as nobody
ever saw the body touch it. The numerous presentations of edibles
and liquors to the dead body even after it has been nailed up
in an enclosurc of six substantial planks, are in this way easily
accounted for. Some of these sacritices have been described in
both their ancient and modern shape in our dissertation on Funeral
Rites. Many more, not mentioned therein, are presented after the
interment at regular intervals for years, nay in many cases for
ages; these will form part of\' the subject of our Second Book,
which is specially devoted to the Soul and its Worship.
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