BURIAL IN CHINA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 230, 27 August 1935, Page 3

BURIAL IN CHINA

BODY FROM SOUTH ISLAND

PROCESSION TO LYTTELTON

i For only, the second time on record ' in a great many years tire embalmed body of a Chinese is being sent from New Zealand to China for burial. The body is that of Willie Young, a 1 imam" fruiterer, who was killed last June when the car which he was driving fell from the Rangitata Bridge into the river bed. The body was brought from Timarn to Christchurch and taken by road to Lyttelton. -0 or 30 Chinese following in a funeral procession (states the Press). The body is consigned to Hong Kong. Tt went to Wellington l>v tire Maori and from there it will be taken _ to Sydney on the Maunganui. llio jouinev will be completed on the Chinese vessel Kamo Mam. Iho body was embalmed in Timarn by. Hr. U . H. | Unwin two months ago. some delay having been necessary for the making of shipping arrangements, i Tbe expense of sending a bodv from ' New Zealand to China is considerable and this is understood to be the reason why tbe desire of Chinese in New Zealand to bo buried among their ancestors is so rarely fulfilled. Last year tire body of Mr Young Sing Kow, head of the firm of Chew Lee doling, merchants. of Ferry Road, Christchurch, was embalmed and sent to China; but it was stated at the time that it was probably the first occasion on winch a body iiad been sent from Christchurch. PRACTICE ONCE COMMON. Once it was fairly common for the bodies of Chinese to he sent back to China from other countries, though it was sometimes difficult to arrange shipment because of the superstitions of sailors about such cargoes. Lead j coffins were used as a rule, and sometimes a large number of these were collected and sent in one shipment. It lis recalled that, 30 or more -ears ago, a ship carrying one of these shipments from Australia to China was wrecked on the Great- Barrier Beef. It is said that many of the coffins were washed up on tlic shores of New Zealand and Australia. , , . , Every Chinese wishes to lie buried with bis ancestors, lint only those of i sufficient, substance can afford to be so buried. In China the coffins are laid in the family tombs. When a body ! reaches the country special ceremonI ies are performed, and in some cases ; the tombs are visited and honoured , at the various festivals held each year.