The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-10
A STATELY FUNERAL
BARBARIC gPLENDOR ATTENDS
 BODY or EMPEROR,
Theusands KneeI in Streets Of Pe.xfn @s Cortege Pasges Through . Screened Lanc--Camels In
 Processfon.


 Pelgtn, Dec. s,--Ths body of Huang Hsu. the late Emperor of China. was to- day carried with much ceremony from the hall Tn the forbidden city where il has reposed for che last week, to the Coal Hill Mortuary. 1t will here con. tinue to lie in state pending the loca- ton and construction of the imperial sepulchre.
 The funeral cortege, brilliant, barr bartc and weird from the eyes of Vest ern observers, was led by Prince Chun, the regent, for a short distance from its starting point. and sit passed through the streets Of the imperial city, thous- ands of mourners knelt in the dust un- til the coffin was no longer to be seen.
 The route of march was out of the east gate of the Forbidden City, and thence through the imperial city in the direction of the mortuary. The funer- al observances were notable for a strange mixture of ancient Chinese customs with western worms and prac- tices. a fact that shows the progress made in recent years of undermining the system of procedure for imperial interments. handed down from by-gone generations.
 The fact that many of the old gros- tesque funeral forms that have been observed for centuries were ignored as
  brought out much local criticism of the government but in spite of this the throne yesterday ordered the grand council to consider another memorial looking to the alteration of exercising funeral observances to, conform to modern methods.
 The cortege was accompanied by six thousand mourners and four thousand soldiers Fully 10000 men kneIt in %to NfS AAN rs& ATAn .SEk procession went by.
 The baby emperor and the dowager empress Yshonala. widow of Ruang Hsu. kneit side by side on the floor of the hall where the body had been re- posing as the remans started on their final journey. Sixty-four imperial chair bearers bore the catafalque as far as the east gate and at this point the regent and the members of his suite fell out of the procession and retraced their steps to the Forbidden City. At the east gate these sixty-four bearers were replaced by 12s others. by whom the coffin was carried and escorted to the rfortuary.
 Following an old custom a number of low class cooIies. the dregs of the capital, were brought into the sacred precincts of the Forbidden City and, clad in gorgeous embrodieries liverfes, AOAAOWC0 thN AAkpSAi@a SOhAA SO ANS Aaot resting place.
 Tn the procession also were horses with strange cushioned saddles. eamels with panniers on their backs and other animals used in caravan transportation that have been waiting in the Forbid den City since shortly after the death of the emperor for this occasion. It is regarded as an essential to dignity that the dead emperor be conducted to hEa awa ssaU hyy% aAV and crude examples of methods of trav- el.
 Grand Councillor Yuan Shi Kai has had in hand the carrying out of the fu- neral arrangements Yuan Shi Kai himself together with thirty-seve other Chinese nobles. followed the irn- perial comm from the Forbidden City to the mortuary. They walked the en- tire distance.
 slow progress various sacrifices cf wine were made and quantities of pa- per were burned. Upon arriving at the mortuary there were ceremonies that lasted for two hours that signified the desire that the body of his late majes- ty repose in peace.
 Foreigners were for the first time permitted to witness the imperial fu- neral procession. Almost the entire line march was screened off from the gaze of the public but provision was made for the foreigners in the city to occupy points of advantage.