The evening times., 1899-10-28
THEIR coFFINs IN ADVANCE.
Chinese Methods Of Showing Respect
to Dying Relatives.


A sympathetic foreigner, recently writing
to an American newspaper, bewailed the
heartlessness of Chinese sons and daugh-
tiers, who in the parents lifetime prepare
| his coffin and shroud. and openly talk with
him of his demise The facts do not justi-
fly the sympathy, for there can be no truer
evidence of filial piety in China than for
child 10 present TO his parent burial out
fit. Let the head of the family be assured.
by the indisputable evidence OF the coffin in
the house that a respectable burial will be
his, and one Of the greatest anxieties of his
life is relieved. The coffin is proudly dis
played 10 each guest, the latter never fail
ing to add his testimony to the ilial piety
of the younger generation. The force OF
the Irish bull that hopes you may live 10
eat the hen that scratches on your grave"
is quite lost in China.
II is singular TO note with what certain
ty a Chinaman who is Old or i'll will prepare
for his demise. Premonitions Of coming
fate seem 10 enter into his soul, and he
sends word to his relatives and friends tina.
he is about TO die-what day can they come
to his funeral? II he has not been fore
handed enough to secure his burial outfit.
there is a great commotion among the
households till money is collected for a
coffin and also for feasting and music: for
d
spirits must be propiuated with food and
paper money. and a supply Of paper cloth
ing and furniture must be burned for the
use of the departed spirit in the realm Of
shades. When he is assured that his obse-
quies will be properly conducted the pa
tient calmly surrenders TO the inevitable.
When a man has made up his mind to die
il is rot often that he recovers. though it
sometimes happens that vigorous protest
and exhorta,ion on the part of some infu-
entail relative will induce him TO delay
shutting off this mortal coil.
Vastly more shocking than the ubiquitous
grave is the unburied coffin. 1t is every
where. Every village has its houses for
storing collins for which no suitable burial
place has been found. and whole hamlets
are given over to this CHASTITY use. The
interment depending on the good will Of
the Wind-and-W Water Devil. Fong-Shui.
and his favor being closely interwiHed with
that of the priest who is employed to
choose the site, IL sometimes happens that
the ancestral remains occupy corner of
the dwelling-house for fifty years before
the two powers that be can agree upon a
proper resting place. Even after the bones
are laid in the ground il is by no means
certain that they are finally disposed of;
for if the relatives have money the priest
is apt to discover that the site is not
changed his mind. and up comes the an
cestor. II the coffin has decayed the flesh
less bones are slowed in covered jar,
and these frightful objects, awaiting REIN
termept, dot the country thickly.
That China is being changed finds addi-
tionsl proof in the fact that not even her
graves remain inviolate Thousands Of
them have recently been destroyed to
make room for improvements. Even the
ancestors who for centuries have enjoyed
undisturbed repose. who in their lifetime
opposed all reform and advancement, and
in their death went to swell the long list
of those who are nothing less than an
incubus to their descendants, must now
share in the fate OF the old empire for
whose blind conservatism they are so
largely responsible.
One of the most fruitful sources of dis
pute is these same graves A little. man
came running into the compound of the
writer some weeks ago. in great distress
because his buffalo was accused of exer-
cising its horns upon a grave belonging
to another man. In consequence of such
rude disturbance of the Fong Shut the
mans wife was very i'll. and he demanded
s6 damages from the owner Of the buffalo.
The little man protested that it was not
his beast that did the mischief, and the
writer's teacher Ia literary GRADUATED, who
was sitting by, made the apparently axio-
matte statement: well, If it wasn't your
buffalo you won't have to pay" Where
upon some friend of the aggrieved grave
holder took the case before the magistrate,
accusing the graduate himself of interfer-
ing against him. and the case is still un-
settled. But time is nothing-a thousand !
years, more or less, are but as yesterday |
when 1t is past to Chinaman.