# Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 1/Chapter 4

CHAPTER IV
Deaths 喪禮
When a person seems just about to die a few bundles of cash-paper are burned at his side; two candles and some incense are also burned. The dying person is sometimes moved from the bed and laid on the ground, but it is more lucky to die in bed. The superstitious, however, will not afterwards use the bed where one has died, for fear of the demons. Children of the dying kneel at the bedside while the spirit takes its departure. Rice is thrown about the house to drive away demons, if by any means the life may still be saved.
As soon as life is gone a tablet is set up. On its front is written the name of the dead, and on the back the dates of birth and death, with the characters for the five elements, gold, wood, fire, water and earth.
Beside the tablet, to call the spirit to enter it, a yellow paper flag is set up bearing the characters meaning, "To the goddess of mercy who saves from suffering."
If the corpse does not stiffen or does not close its eyes there is fear that more deaths in the family will soon follow.
​Soon after death the evil influences of the dead are let out from the house ch'u ssŭ hsing or sha 出死星 or 煞, by poking a stick or bamboo pole through the roof; a person inside calls, "Has it come out?" and one outside replies, "It has come out." Then the stick is pushed through the hole onto the roof, and no one will touch it again if he knows it has been used for this purpose.
Before death the bed-curtains are removed, that the spirit may have easy exit. After death the body is laid on the ground or on the coffin-lid to cool.
In the case of the aged, one envelope full of paper money for each year the deceased has lived is burned in the central room. While this is done the corpse is bound in a chair, and an umbrella held over its head; women wave peach and willow branches toward heaven, and others flourish knives toward the earth, lest hungry ghosts should come and rob the dead of his travelling money.
The ashes of this paper imitation money are gathered and put into a jar, to be buried with the body, either in the coffin or beside it. The idea is that as soon as the spirit is free it is in need of cash to secure its passage through the various courts of Hades.
Five garments of each kind, suitable for all seasons of the year, are often put on the corpse. The shoes are made with cloth or grass soles, no leather being allowed. The coverlet is often very expensive. The pillow is filled with sawdust, cedar branches, or wood ashes.
In wealthy families the whole body is bound in a single piece of white cloth or silk, each finger, toe and limb being bound up by itself. Only the napkin for the head is separate. After this, or, in poor families, after the corpse has been washed and shaved, it is dressed. No outsiders are allowed to see these operations.
In ancient times it was believed that a precious stone held in the mouth 含玉 han yü, would preserve the corpse from corruption. The custom now is to put a piece of silver or some small article in the mouth.
It is said that a corpse has a small loaf of bread placed in one hand and a stick in the other. If attacked by a dog ​he may first feed it with the bread and then, if necessary, drive it away with the stick.
Coffins are of various prices, according to the wood and varnish used. It is common for elderly people to have their coffins lying ready in the house for many years. The provision of a good coffin and an expensive funeral gets over many a difficulty in family relationships.
The body is encoffined 入殮 ju lien as soon as everything is ready. The sealing of the coffin lid 封棺 fêng kuan or 閉殮 pi lien takes place three days later, the delay being to give the spirit time to return if it will. Black varnish is generally used for sealing, and a charm is pasted on at the top and bottom. The stick and bread are taken out before the sealing. Three days later the coffin is placed in position in the central room, preparatory to the chanting for the dead. It may remain there for three months 三月殯 san yüeh pin, or for a year.
To show the importance of burial, there is a saying 亡人得土如得金. Earth is to the dead what gold is (to the living).
Funeral rites are counted more important than care for the living. The Li-chi 禮記 ideal is for one mourning a parent to have a bed of straw and a pillow of clay 寢苦枕塊, and for three years the teeth must not be shewn in laughter; neither wine nor meat should enter the mouth, nor silks cover the body; but coarse weeds and coarse food must be the mourner's lot.
The rule to mourn a parent for three years is based on the mother's nursing of her child for that time.
Strips of white paper are pasted on the sign-board, etc., mourning scrolls over the door-gods and the sorcerer's chart over the family altar.
There is a custom confined to the mountain districts and decidedly aboriginal: old and young of both sexes sing and dance in a ring round a pot of wine 跳鍋椿 t'iao kuo chuang. After dancing, each person cuts a piece from a large lump of pork, sits on the ground and sucks wine from the pot through a long pipe stem. This goes on for two or three days and nights.
​On every seventh day after the death, till forty-nine days have elapsed there is chanting, and the women of the family weep.
Soon after death there is a ceremony to open the road for the spirit; this is done by chanting and is more or less elaborate according to the family means.
A passport to Hades is also burned and the ashes put in or near the coffin and buried.
Immediately after opening the road a ceremony may be performed called 繞棺 jao kuan, to go round the coffin, or 熱血道塲 jé hsüeh Tao ch'ang, hot blood chapel. The Taoist priest chants the 救苦經 chiu-k'u ching save-from-sorrow classic. The ceremony may last from one to three days, according to the means of the family. It is the short way of getting through the funeral ceremonies; the longer will be described later.
Within three days all mourning preparations must be complete. The chief mourners must have white garments, turbans and shoes, with a coarse girdle; sometimes the clothes are of coarse hempen cloth. If a son of the deceased should hold an official position he must vacate office for three years.
The coffin is guarded by sons and grandsons while in the house.
The tablet set up immediately after death, and called 血靈位 hsüeh-ling wei, is only temporary. It is removed, and a new one of wood, sometimes gilded, takes its place 設靈位 shé ling wei. This is carried to the grave at the funeral, brought back, and kept in the house for three years.
At each family meal food is offered to the spirit, in some families for three years, in others only till the funeral, perhaps during seven or fourteen days. Much depends on the position of the family.
The priestly ceremonies: 道塲 Tao ch'ang.
Chanting for the emancipation of the soul is done by Taoist priests and lasts for from three to eight days, according to the family means. The first act of the ceremony is to invite water 請水 ch'ing shui for the cleansing of the altar. The priests go in a body to the river where they bury paper, ​incense and candles, chant awhile, and return to the house with a vessel full of water.
Then the priests have a day of tramping round the house, a man following them with a tray of vegetarian dishes of all kinds, 轉齋 chuan chai. Some of this food is first offered to the dead; the rest is eaten by the company. At the close of the ceremony the rice offered to the dead is at once carried off and presented to families with no male issue, in the hope that sons will then be born.
The priests then proceed to break open Hades 破地獄 p'o ti-yü. Quicklime is sprinkled on the ground in the form of a square to represent Hades; at each of the four sides is an imaginary gate. The priests walk round it, chanting as they go, then a priest breaks it open by smashing a basin or tile with his staff at each corner and in the middle.
At certain seasons lighted lanterns are set adrift on the rivers to appease the spirits of those dead who have no one to sacrifice to them.
To each of the ten kings of Hades a tablet is set up; the priests go round them chanting prayers and followed by the youth of the family. Each time they go round a passport is burned, till all ten kings have been thus passed.
In the courtyard of the house a small platform is erected for the worship of heaven 供天 kung t'ien; ten lighted yellow candles are set thereon, incense is offered, and there is much chanting with clanging and banging of gongs, etc. It is said that when the spirits are pleased a small black line appears on the candles.
A ticket containing an official declaration about the person for whom the chanting is being done is burned with a thick bundle of paper, and thus sent to the gemmeous Emperor. This is called 上表 shang piao.
The priests cast a flower here and stick another there; this is supposed to take away sin or to lessen its evil consequences.
The departed spirit is exhorted 勸亡 chü'an wang to behave and and not to injure the living. It is also invited, with chanting, to return, the youths of the family kneeling meanwhile.
​A platform is put up, paper and incense burned on it, commands issued to the spirits, and 鬼彈子 kuei tan-tzŭ scattered for the benefit of orphan spirits. These tan-tzŭ are bread and cakes; the people scramble for them and eat them; those who eat become bold and are free from bad dreams.
A little weeping may be heard directly after the death, but it is generally checked because it confuses the spirit so that it cannot find its way; but after the formalities of opening the way and escorting the spirit through the difficulties of Hades are finished, the floodgates of weeping are opened. There are few if any paid weepers at a funeral, and this may be regarded as the real and spontaneous outflow of grief, though some, of course, weep as a mere form.
The ceremony of chanting for the dead is performed every seventh day for seven weeks, at the end of 100 days, and on the first, second and third anniversaries of the death.
The three Offerings to the dead, etc. 三獻禮 san hsien li.
Only those occupying a high position in social life and having an ancestral hall can have this expensive ceremony.
The three offerings are all alike, but one is given by the eldest son, one by the eldest grandson, and one by younger sons and grandsons. In each case the offerings are of three kinds, as follows: 酒樽, chiu tsun; 羹饌 kêng chuan; 香帛 hsiang pi; or, respectively, wine, soup and food, incense and silks. But various minor gifts are also included under these headings.
In this ceremony sacrifices are made to Heaven, Earth, the well, the kitchen god, the door god, the carrying-poles for the funeral, sang yü shên 喪輿神; to the effigy which leads the way 開路神 k‘ai-lu shên, and to the 河伯 ho pei or gods of the river if a stream has to be crossed.
Temporary buildings are generally put up for the purposes of the ceremony; they are called 望燎所 wang liao so or 望位所 wang wei so, and often adjoin the house. They consist of rooms where are stored the three kinds of offerings named above; a 'chapel,' tsan chiang t‘ang where the master of ceremonies performs the ceremonies; a pavilion 歌講廳 ​ko chiang tʽing for the singers, who are generally scholars with youths to assist; a room for the mourning robes of the family, etc.
The officiating masters are usually literati, who call on the mourners to do certain things in a certain order. They are, the officiating priest 點主官 tien chu kuan; the two precentors 引讚生 yin tsan shêng; three or four assistant precentors 通讚生 tʽung tsan shêng; the reader of the eulogy 讀祝生 tu chu shêng; singers of the poetic eulogy 歌詩生 ko shih shêng; the teacher of filial duties for the youth of the family 講書生 chiang shu shêng.
Letters are sent to relatives, announcing the date of the funeral and the time when offerings to the deceased should begin, and giving an invitation to be present.
The mourners arrive for the ceremony, bringing many kinds of gifts, such as pigs and sheep for sacrifice; pig's head, feet and tail, raw, or cooked with coloured rice; paper, candles, incense, gold and silver tinsel money, with "golden youths and gemmy maids" i.e. slaves made of paper.
A paper shrine is prepared to contain the tablet when carried to the grave.
The sons and daughters put on their white or coarse hemp garments, and white turbans or girdles are given out to all visitors.
A likeness of the deceased is hung in the chief room of the house. Lanterns are hung, and mourning scrolls of any coloured paper except red; the most commonly used are white and light blue. On the lanterns are the characters 當大事 tang ta shih.
The services are begun by the sons going round to the mourning department, donning the mourning robes and taking from each store such things as wine, incense, etc.; these they offer to the tablet 神主牌 shên chu p'ai, and then fall down before it while the the preacher reads and the singers chant the Filial Piety classic 孝經 hsiao ching.
The members of the family walk up to the pavilion where the ancestral tablet has been placed. They prostrate themselves before it at the bidding of the master of ceremonies, and return to their places. This is done thrice.
​A notice is read that the family has entered on a season of mourning 讀成服文 tu ch'êng fu wên. Then the chief mourners kneel towards the wang liao so, the master of ceremonies burns the notice of mourning, the mourners and friends enter the house, and the initial ceremony is at an end.
The ancestral tablet 神主牌 shên chu p'ai, is a double piece of wood about three feet long, the outer portion fitting on the other like a box-lid; on both surfaces is written 新故某公某母某諱謀老人老孺人之神主 meaning that it is the abode of the newly deceased person, name, etc., being given.
The consecration of the tablet begins by the eldest son kneeling down and taking it on his back; he carries it to the ceremonial table and there leaves it.
Then the scholar tien chu kuan who is to perform the duty is brought in; he washes his hands and approaches the table, where a pencil and red ink are also put ready. He takes the tablet from its casket and lays the two parts on the table with their surfaces exposed. Then the finger of the chief mourner is pricked for blood, with which the officiating scholar mixes his red ink. The pencil, having been dipped in this blood and ink, is breathed on by the scholar. The idea is to get the life, virtue and ability of the son and the officiating scholar into the tablet, as in writing a Heaven and Earth tablet. (See under Family Altar).
Next, a dot of red is put over the date of birth and another over the date of death. Then a red stroke is made through the character 神 shên on the inner tablet 穿內神 ch'uan nei shên, and a red dot is put on the 主 chu. These characters being thus completed they are enclosed by covering with the external part of the tablet 合主 ho chu. The same two characters on the outer tablet are then finished in the same way.
A red circle is put on each side of the tablet to represent the ears; a red dot at the top is for the forehead, and one at the bottom is for the feet; down the middle of the tablet is put another red mark, on both front and back. This whole proceeding is called k'ai kuang 開光 or opening the senses. It is to be remarked that there is an inner part of the tablet, ​supposed to correspond to the inner man, while the sense organs are on the outer tablet, and the breath on the pencil touches all into life.
When the writing is finished the scholar throws the pen over his shoulder. It is caught and used to paint the sores of smallpox: they will then not run together.
The tablet is put back into its casket, and the scholar addresses it as the person himself and lauds his virtues.
The chief mourner then knocks his head 磕頭 k‘o t‘ou four times to the officiating scholar, who now retires, and the tablet is taken by the son and placed beside the spirit tablet 靈牌 ling p‘ai.
Incense and wine are offered to the tablet, while the preacher reads aloud the pacificatory ode 安主文 an chu wên.
A document in which are written the virtuous deeds of the deceased is burned. The sons bow thrice while this is done, fire-crackers are let off, women weep and singers praise the dead man's virtues; and the ceremony comes to an end.
The funeral 送喪 sung sang.
The finding of a lucky spot for the grave is the geomancer's business, and is a most important matter. Many miles may be travelled and much money spent in seeking the right place, especially for a parent's grave. The prosperity of the family depends on the position of the ancestral tombs. It is said that if the wang ming 亡命 departed life and the earth crust 山甲 shan chia do not agree, the spirit returns and troubles the living with sickness and disaster. For this reason the remains are sometimes removed to a new resting-place.
The geomancer has also to fix the day for the funeral. As all branches of the family must have their convenience suited, the funeral may be postponed for years, the remains being kept in the house or in a temple, or the coffin may be put outside and thatched with straw against the weather 寄土, ch‘i t‘u or 停棺 t‘ing kuan. When the lucky day is agreed on, the lucky times for leaving the house and for lowering the coffin are also fixed.
At the proper time the coffin is carried out and a catafalque placed over it; a tile on the roof is driven outwards ​with a hatchet and broken to pieces; sometimes rice is scattered and swept inwards as the coffin is carried out.
Strips of white paper attached to the ends of bamboo rods are used as flags to lead the spirit to the grave 引魂幡 yin hun fan.
Paper money called 買路錢 mai lu ch'ien, buying-road money, is scattered to the demons on the way. This money is of various shapes and sizes.
The tablet which is to be destroyed at the end of three years, not that belonging to the ancestral hall, is carried out on a portable pavilion t'ing tzu, with candles, incense, etc. Afterwards it is taken back to the house.
A paper image to which sacrifice has been offered, is put in front of the coffin to open the road, 開路神 k'ai-lu shên. It is burned at the grave.
On the coffin a white cock is carried, to lead the spirit which is supposed to be in the coffin. For there are three spirits; one enters Hades, one the tablet, while the third goes to the grave. The cock is the perquisite of the geomancer.
Paid men carry the coffin, and the chief mourners dressed in weeds go in front and pull. Women generally go in chairs, weeping as they go. They are accompanied by umbrellas, gongs, fire-crackers, etc.
A coffin may not be borne through a city unless it has the dragon's head at its back and front. This becomes absolutely necessary when a funeral cortege has a long distance to go.
Husbands and wives are laid close together, the side of the first grave being opened and the side of the coffin laid bare, that the new-comer may lie close. This is termed 聯棺合塜 lien kuan ho chung.
The grave is dug 開山 k'ai shan a day or more beforehand at a lucky time, and in the direction fixed by the geomancer.
A scholar with a degree is invited to 破土 po t'u break earth. He shoots three arrows away from the grave, then burns incense and worships. The idea is that the progeny of the deceased will become like this scholar.
A notice is read, to inform the spirits of the hills that the interment has taken place and to set the spirit of the deceased at rest. ​The shops which sell other funeral requisites have ready-printed forms for title-deeds of the ground on which burial is made. These are read at the grave and on the third day burned there. In the case of land acquired for the purpose of course it is a copy of the real deed which is used.
The position of the coffin in the grave is fixed by the geomancer with chart and compass.
Three days later an offering of food, wine and paper money is brought to the grave 三日伏山 san jih fu shan.
Cranes, deer and a tombstone, all of paper, are taken to the grave; the tombstone is placed where the proper stone will afterwards be erected; the other things are left on each side of the grave to be destroyed by the weather.
The grave is guarded by the sons of the family, but sometimes people are paid to do it. Grave riflers might otherwise strip the dead of their clothing, though the punishment for such crime is death. For the first three nights a straw torch is lighted at the grave; if it is burns out it is a lucky omen, it is unlucky if half is left unburned.
After a few months fresh earth is heaped on the tomb, and every spring or winter afterwards.
A tombstone or ornamental arch is erected to the memory of the dead. In wealthy families the stone is set on the back of a stone tortoise. In the case of officials stone pillars are put up. High officials have stone lions round the grave, to remind them of the stone lions of their yamens. The trees of a graveyard are spoken of as being like the clothing on the body. If they grow well the family will increase and prosper. There is hence trouble when one branch of a family wishes to cut down trees round the ancestral tombs.
Before the graves of very important men are set up statues of men, horses, etc.
Public graveyards are generally on land given for the purpose, and the title-deeds are kept in the yamen for 60 years, after which the graves and tombstones are a sufficient guarantee. In some such public cemeteries small towers 枯骨塔 k'u ku t'a are built as receptacles for dry bones dug up in grave-digging; on them may be the characters 骨⺼相遇 ku jou hsiang yü, flesh and bones meet.
​A young child is often rolled in a mat or old garment and buried without ceremony, and new-born babies are often thrown out to be devoured by the dogs.
Buddhist priests' graves may be known by the small pagoda-shaped stone in front.
It is supposed to have been the custom to level all grave mounds at the beginning of a new dynasty, till the Ta Ch'ing dynasty, whose grace extended to love of the bones of the dead 澤及枯骨 chai chi k'u ku. At the present time much land is occupied by the dead which is greatly needed for the use of the living.
Sometimes the astrologer says the deceased has done something which will shortly cause another death in the family 犯重喪 fan ch'ung sang. Then a coffin is prepared and funeral rites gone through for some imaginary person or perhaps for a known sick person, and the empty coffin is buried. It is hoped this will deceive the demons and prevent the second death.
The Cantonese in Ssŭch'uan often remove the bones of their dead to another place. A grandparent's bones are inurned and kept on the family altar, in some cases being counted and strung together on wire or cord.
The aborigines find out from the astrologer how a body should be disposed of, whether by hanging out for the birds to devour 天葬 t'ien tsang, by throwing to the beasts of the field 地葬 ti tsan, by cremation 火葬 huo tsang, or by throwing into the river 水葬 shui tsang.
National mourning 國服 kuo fu. On the death of an emperor of the Ch'ing dynasty men went unshaved for a hundred days; and no red buttons might be worn on the hat; if the New Year came in this period no red scrolls were pasted on the doorposts, etc., but white or blue scrolls might be put up in sign of mourning. Women did not wear their ornaments, and marriages and theatricals were deferred till the hundred days were over.
During the first three days all officials sat for a certain time on straw in the temple, while no public business was attended to, except urgent cases of life and death.