The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-09-19
CHINESE BURIAL CUSTOMS,
Varied and Curious Practices to Insure
Comfort to the Dead.

Varied and Curious Practices to Insure
Comfort to the Dead.
| The burial customs of China are as
varied almost as the dialects of the peo-
| pies, but in no province are they more
interesting than in Foo-Kien, and es-
pecially in the neighborhood of Annoy,
| the city which has just been brought
prominently before the world on ac-
| count of it's occupation by the japanese
troops The picturesque hills which
surround Annoy are dotted with thou
sands of horseshoe shaped tombs OF
| glittering white, which produce a some
what uncanny effect.
But of all the odd graveyards near
! Annoy, none is so strangely weird as the
one depicted in the accompanying view
1t is the last resting place OF about
three thousand Tartar soldiers who died
of disease or were killed half a century
or more ago. They lie there side by
side, like the burrows OF ploughed
field or the waves of a lazy sea; the
men in positions corresponding to those
which they would have held in the
ranks, and the officers in advance of
them as they would have been on pa
rade or in action. These graves are
the only ones the writer ever saw IN
China that in shape or aspect resem-
! bled those Of Europeans Each mound
has been carefully cemented to insure
preservation, and so well has the work
been done that the elements might be
defied for centuries. With the succeed
ing years these easements have grown
harder and harder, and although little
or no attention Is ever paid to the
strange graveyard it is wonderfully
free from the weeds that one would
naturally expect to find flourishing
there Each grave bears the name of
its occupant.
The little valley in which they lie is
eingularly beautiful spot. The granite
faced hills which lean back from it
show alternate patches of glittering
rock and clumps OF the greenest vegeta-
ton. The crowded city Of the living, al
though only stones throw away is
hidden.So still and serene are the inn
mediate surroundings that one might
imagine ones self a thousand miles
from the maddening crowd
The ground was chosen for its propi-
tious flung This extraordinary
superstition is one of the foundations
of the Chinese social system, and could
adequately be described only in long
article. Its chief features, however,
may be briefly told. To the Chinese the
whole face of nature is full of signs
and omens. The course of a river, the
position of a pile of rock, and the like,
are replete with significance to those
who pretend to understand these mystic
ries. The "fung-shui'' may be transla-
ted as wind and water rules" and the
fung-shu doctors are the men who pre-
serve what China has of natural sci
ence and spiritualism. The system is
old, of course. Its present form, in
deed, has changed little since the
twelfth century. Its application to
burial customs is its most important
development.
Round the mystery of death revolves
the whole religious system of the Chi
nese. The powers of nature are stern
and relentless, but they may be propiti-
ated by the intercession of the depart
ed spirits who have at heart the well
fare of the living. This is the reason
that the only form Of religion which APP
peaa to the ordinary Chinese is that of
ancestor worship. A large staff of an
cestors, fiattered by the careful de-
scendant into continual intercession for
his material prosperity, Is obviously a
valuable asset Therefore the comfort
of the dead is the first thought Of the
living for. although the spirit of the
dead is free, the body must lie In it's
grave, and at ease, or the spirit is an
noyed. Exposure to the elements, the
nature of the soil the configuration of
the hills-all these effect the comfort of
the occupant of the grave.
To avoid burying ones relatives in
the clutches of some earth dragon or
leaving them exposed to some evil cur
rent of the air 1t is necessary to call in
the services of a fung-shui doctor
This doctor will see that the man is
buried in such fashion that he will bear
no i'll will toward his descendant.
Sometimes the corpse will remain for
years unburied while the family seeks
for a spot full of lucky fung-shui or
saves money to buy such place. The
two earth currents, those of the dra-
gon and the tiger, must be on the right
and the left of the grave. The geoman-
Ger arranges these things by the direc-
ton of streams, the position of male
and female ground" the position of the
stars and the like. The whole system Is
one of incredible confusion and absur-
dity, but it affords fine living to it's
learned professors.
The fung-shui is most to be consid-
cred at burial, but the observance of |
many customs is entailed by the Sc
we're laws of precedent, which to great |
extent govern Chinese life Customs |
vary in the different provinces. At |
Annoy the breath is no sooner out of |
the body than a hole Is bored through |
the roof to permit the escape of the |
spirit. Then piece of silver is put into |
the mouth Of the corpse, in the suppo-
sition that bride which so often /!
the path of life, will not be
less potent after death among the Off
Gals Of Hades. Papers having lucky !
figures on them are burnt, together
with paper money The body lies in it's !
best garments in a coffin which resem-
bles in shape the trunk of a tree. |
Quicklime is put in and the coffin is |
sealed with mortar. If it is not to be |
buried at once it is placed in the hall of |
and incense is burned before |