Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. IV.pdf/49

 many ages would prevent the entrance of the spirit into another body; on the top is a cover on which a quotation from the classics has been woven. This aids the spirit's flight to the southern heaven, and for the same purpose the ancestral tablets and idols are covered, and neglected for the space of one hundred days. A J pearl wrapped in red paper is placed between the lips of the corpse, or with the poor, a little tea instead. This is held to act as a charm against decomposition for ever. They never use worsted or furs in dressing the dead, lest the spirit should transmigrate into the sheep or animal to which the fur coat belonged. If it be a parent who has died, the children kneel and howl in a discord of distress, then undoing their hair, and cutting off about two inches of it, they place the shreds, if it be a mother, in her right hand, if a father, then in his left. The geomancer next foretells the day on which the spirit will quit the house, and places a paper surmounted by a small mirror on the breast of the corpse. On the day foretold, some sounds are heard which indicate that the spirit is about to depart. Then the geomancer is again called in and determines the day of burial, and the position of the grave. The day must fall on one of the odd numbers, as the fifth or seventh of the month, and not the sixth or eighth. The mourners wear robes of white coarse cotton, white shoes, and white thread plaited into their hair. Musicians sit at the door on the day of burial and announce the arrival of a gentleman by beating a drum, or of a lady mourner by blowing a trumpet.

Guests frequently contribute to defray the funeral expenses of poor relations. Buddhist and Taoist priests preside and chant prayers. Heavy debts are thus at times contracted, for there is no limit in the north of China to the outlay on mortuary rites.

Paper model residences and furniture, horses, carriages, and servants of the same material are burned in front of the dwelling, the fire transforming them into the spirit residence and retinue of the deceased.

The funeral procession is elaborate and costly, the coffin may be borne by sixty-four men, and perhaps the canopy which covers it is of richly embroidered white satin.

The women of the household follow, waiiing, in carts covered with white, The hired bannermen who take part in the procession are shown in No. 39. They are commonly beggars dressed up by the undertaker for the purpose. The funeral of the wife of a salt merchant in Peking was said to have cost ,£40,000.

When a bride dies they frequently burn her expensive trousseau for her use in the spirit world.

The banners and paraphernalia used by the Manchus are quite different from those in fashion amongst the Chinese. Each Manchu bannerman has a small allowance from government to meet his funeral expenses.

Three years is the customary period of mourning for a parent, and where the sons are mandarins they may not hold office until the period of mourning has elapsed. This is an exceedingly ancient custom in China. We are told in the "Shoo-king" that when Yaon died he was "mourned for as a parent for three years," and that his successor did not ascend the throne until the three years of mourning had expired.