A CHINESE BURIAL
Harper’s Weekly, January 28, 1882, page 62 (Illustrated Article)
The Chinese have a profound reverence for the dead, and the worship of ancestors is one of the most solemn rites of their religion. They carry the custom into foreign lands, and pay great attention to the graves where their dead find a temporary resting-place previous to removal to their native land.


A Chinese Burial in Lone Mountain Cemetery,
San Francisco, California
January 28, 1882,  page 56

Our illustration on page 56 represents a scene in Lone Mountain Cemetery, San Francisco—one of the Chinese temporary burial-places in California. Their funerals are gala excursions. Hacks and coaches are at a premium. The procession is headed by musicians with gongs and other musical instruments, followed by friends of the deceased and hired mourners. The latter, dressed in white, chant the praises of the dead in discordant strains.
After the burial, lighted tapers are placed on the grave, which is covered with dishes of the choicest Chinese cookery; and as experience has taught our Celestial friends that their Hoodlum enemies will make free work with the provisions if left on the ground for the benefit of the departed, it has become the custom to consume them on the spot. Meanwhile a native priest chants, rings a bell, and sprinkles the grave with consecrated water.
Harper’s Weekly, January 28, 1882, page 62 (Illustrated Article)

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