Common
Knowledge of Chinese Culture
Mourning
Traditionally, the Chinese are very
punctilious in their observance of mourning. At the funeral the mourners are clothed in
coarse sackcloth,while the sons and nearest of kin wear caps of the same. White color is
the mourning color. A period of seven times seven days is observed in mourning, during
which no marriages take place in the family, nor can go to theatres. Funeral rites are
performed on each seventh day up till the forth-ninth. There are five degrees of mourning:
for parents; for grandparents and great-grandparents;for brothers, sister, etc; for
uncles, aunts, etc.; and for distant relatives in line of descent or ascent. In the first,
sackcloth without hem or border; in the second,sackcloth with hem or border; in the third,
fourth, and fifth, pieces of sackcloth are placed on certain parts of the dress. When
sackcloth is worn, after the third interval of seven days is over,the mourners can cast it
off, and then wear plain color, such white, gray, black and blue. For a parent, the period
of mourning is nominally three years, but really 27 months, and for all this time no silk
can worn; during these months,officials have to resign their appointments, as a general
rule, and retire from public life. What value the Chinese attach to such matters may be
judged by the saying that, "the most important thing in life is to get buried
well."
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