312 TWENTIETH CENTURY IMPRESSIONS OF HONGKONG, SHANGHAI, ETC.
with a paper frill, attached with gum, wound spirally along its whole length. In some parts of the country these sticks are necessary for driving away dogs, hyænas, wolves, and other wild animals, for Chinese burial grounds are often at some long distance from human habitations.
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The coffin is carried by from eight to sixteen men, sometimes by even more. The funeral is attended by bands of native instrumentalists, wearing white clothes, and playing mournful music. Banners are carried in the procession, and friends and relatives often send scrolls of silk or flannel bearing complimentary references to the departed. These scrolls are taken back to the house and hung up for a certain time, after which the characters affixed to them are taken off so that the material may be used for clothing or for other purposes. If the burial-place is some distance away in the country, or if the deceased is to be buried in another country, the procession makes its way to a temporary resting-place, where the coffin is deposited, and the friends who have followed the cortege take leave of the departed after burning incense, kowtowing, and performing other religious rites. Only the relatives follow to the graveside and witness the interment.
The cemetery itself is not necessarily the last resting-place of the deceased. The relatives consult a necromancer, who engages in a search for a "lucky spot" for the grave, as near to their own ancestral village as possible. This search may occupy months, or even years. Many points have to be considered. If possible, the site must be on a hill-side, and it must occupy a certain position in relation to the wind and the sea, or the nearest river. The situation having been selected, the coffin is buried on an auspicious day indicated by the necromancer, and a horseshoe-shaped tomb is built round it. In some cases in which it is not practicable, for pecuniary or other reasons, to move the coffin, the body is buried for ten or twenty years, and the bones are then exhumed and placed in jars. These jars are conveyed by the relatives to their native village, and deposited outside the grave, awaiting the decision of the necromancer as to a lucky date for the final interment. Not until the jar itself is placed in the ground do the Chinese consider the burial complete.
For forty-nine days — seven periods of seven days each — after a man's death masses are said, religious ceremonies performed, and sacrifices offered. The days of the third and fifth periods are days of sacrifice, and a third sacrifice falls within the seventh period. During these forty-nine days a business man mourning his father absents himself from work, and allows his head to go unshaven.
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Quite a number of rules surround the practice of mourning for the dead. Children mourn their parents three years, brothers and sisters mourn each other for one year, and grandchildren mourn grandparents for the same period. A husband mourns his wife for one year, but a widow wears her weeds for three years. Nephews and nieces mourn for one year. For the purposes of mourning a year is only nine lunar months, and a married daughter is only permitted to mourn for her parents one year, reserving the three years' mourning for her husband and her parents-in-law. Whilst in mourning for parents the Chinese are not supposed to take part in gaieties of any kind.
Among the official classes it is a recognised rule that no man may hold office during a period of mourning for a parent except by the special permission of the Emperor. The period of mourning the death of the Emperor himself is three years.
THE DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY.
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The head of a family may make a will, or dispose of his estate by word of mouth, or by memoranda, signed or unsigned. But in the absence of any verbal instruction or instrument in writing, all his sons, whether by his wife or handmaids (whose position will be defined later on), take equal shares of all his property other than the sacrificial, or family property. The formal will is uncommon in the interior of China, because a Chinaman believes it to be unlucky to talk about death when in perfect health, or, when he has an ailment, to anticipate death by making a will. The most common method of bequeathing property is by giving oral instructions. Feeling the end approaching, the head of the family assembles the members of his family and some of his clansmen, and gives them directions as to the future conduct of his business, and as to the manner in which his possessions shall be divided. Invariably the eldest son, or heir, inherits all sacrificial property, or property set aside for family or ancestral worship. It is necessary here to explain that, though the law of China enjoins monogamy, certain latitude is allowed when no heir has been born to a man. In such cases a man may take, in addition to his wife, other women who would be called
