ABSTRACT
“Blood burial” is used as a term of reproach, and refers to hasty burials, preceded by few mourning solemnities. As death is an inauspicious event, and the presence of the coffin containing the corpse in the common hall is an inauspicious circumstance, the Chinese have endeavoured to dispel or prevent any unhappy results from reaching to the other family by the expedient of presenting red articles. In the front of a funeral procession, when a high mandarin is carried to his burial, sometimes will be seen two immense likenesses of men, one dressed to represent a civil, the other to represent a military officer. The widow is required to take a prominent part in the weeping and wailing on receiving the condolences of friends at the set periods of public mourning. The white cock and the mourners go forth to meet the letter or relic of the departed, just as they would go to meet the corpse.
