Letters from the Far East . high officialunder the Manchus, who had been dead for two years;but as is often the custom in China, considerable timehad elapsed before the funeral, while the family waitedfor a propitious day. He had been regarded by some as the prime causeof the first revolution in China; he was immenselywealthy, being the owner of the Hanyang Iron Works,mills, and railroads; but on account of political trou-bles he had been obliged to mortgage these to Japan,to which country he himself was banished for a num-ber of years, returning to China only a short timebefore his death. The
Letters from the Far East . high officialunder the Manchus, who had been dead for two years;but as is often the custom in China, considerable timehad elapsed before the funeral, while the family waitedfor a propitious day. He had been regarded by some as the prime causeof the first revolution in China; he was immenselywealthy, being the owner of the Hanyang Iron Works,mills, and railroads; but on account of political trou-bles he had been obliged to mortgage these to Japan,to which country he himself was banished for a num-ber of years, returning to China only a short timebefore his death. The cost of this funeral was two hundred thousanddollars. There were banners and flowers of all de-scriptions, hired mourners, and all kinds of paper of-ferings to be burned at the grave. There were bandsof music and mounted escorts, and things that no for-eigner had ever dreamed of. The catafalque was a most magnificent affair,covered with red satin, heavily embossed with golddragons and various other designs. The dragon was. LETTERS FROM THE FAR EAST 39 the five-clawed one, which can be used only for theroyal family; and the carrying poles were also was the same one that was used for the empressdowager, her son, and Yuan Shi Kai. It was carriedby thirty-two carriers, robed in gorgeous red satin em-broidered robes; these bearers being relieved at inter-vals by thirty-two others. The next day we saw another funeral, as differentfrom this one as it was possible for two funerals tobe—a poor man this time. The coffin was an uglyblack wooden affair, suspended by ropes from a pole inthe hands of two men. A man walked ahead with aChinese gong for music, and heading the procession thenever-absent bunch of spirit money. There were oneor two gaudy affairs, intended for ornaments; whilethe coffin was followed by rickshaws containing themourners. There were no paid mourners, but thegenuine tears were running down the cheeks of therelatives as they wept and wailed. One was an oldla
Size: 1275px × 1960px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorevansali, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1919
