Cantonese Society in Hong Kong and Singapore: Gender, Religion, Medicine and Money

Chapter 2: Chinese Rites for the Repose of the Soul,with Special Reference to Cantonese Custom

Chapter 2 Chinese Rites for the Repose of the Soul, with Special Reference to Cantonese Custom (1952)* To the Chinese, the adaptation of the soul to its new and complex environment in hell is a matter of the primest importance. This hell is, in its administrative aspects, rather like another China “ploughed under”,1 with a similarly complicated system of rewards, punishments and financial obligations on the part of the soul. Ransom payments must be made to the ruler of Hades to procure rebirth under circumstances most favourable for a successful and prosperous life; “squeeze” money must be given to judges, “pour boire” to hungry ghosts, and certificates owned (burnt for one by one’s relatives) to enable one to pass any barrier encountered on one’s wanderings there. A soul in hell without the financial support of the living would be in an unenviable position. Paper houses, sedan chairs and automobiles, trunks of clothes and other adjuncts to good living, together with quantities of mock money of various kinds must be burnt for its comfort,2 or what little comfort it can find between the almost continuous tortures suffered in the Chinese Hades. Everything burnt must be of the best possible quality: a poor quality paper house, as one paper image maker told us, would scarcely last out to the end of the hundred days of mourning activities. So the expense involved in settlement in the new land is often considerable. All the major expenses of a Chinese funeral are born by the male relatives of the deceased. When a man or a woman dies, the chief mourner and the one who, ideally, bears most of the expenses, is the eldest son, chang tzu3 ९՗ [zhangzi] or his appropriate substitute. He will, throughout the various ceremonies which take place during and after the * First published in Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 25(1)(1952): 149-60. Reprinted by permission of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 1 DuBose, The Dragon Image and Demon, p. 358. 2 De Groot, The Religious Systems of China, Vol. I., p. 78. Leyden: E. J. Brill, 1892. 3 Wade’s ‘Mandarin’ Romanization is followed throughout the text. 58 Chapter 2 funeral, carry as a sign of his status as mourner in chief for the dead, a long, lantern-like object with streamers attached, which is fixed to a long pliable stick (see Fig. 1). This is called the banner fan 䯫 and the chief mourner must carry it across his shoulder, the act of thus carrying it being known as tan fan 㩂䯫 [danfan]. If there should be no elder son and no substitute considered appropriate by existing Chinese custom, a man might in rare cases, be hired to carry the fan. For a person related to the deceased to carry the fan or wear mourning garments, is tantamount to showing his claim to part of the dead man’s estate. We were told by the only remaining Taoist priest in Malacca, that there is one man who is well known for his services as a carrier of the fan. Chinese custom, however, has allowed so generously for substitute mourners from among existing relatives that it is seldom necessary to resort to the practice of hiring a chief, or secondary mourners. In Singapore, many people cannot afford the long series of ceremonies which tradition demands should be performed for a deceased person. Since the war, the prices of paper things for the dead have risen and a first quality house, which before cost about $300, now costs about $1,000. For the Cantonese, who often prefer to have the rites for their dead performed away from the home, the rent for a Fig. 1. An example of the banner (fan) which the chief mourner carries across his shoulder as a sign of his status. It consists of a long pliable stick (above), to one end of which is attached a long lantern-like object ending in trailing streamers (right). Chinese Rites for the Repose of the Soul 59 room in which to perform such rites has also increased. There is a tendency for people of this dialect group in Singapore to pay more attention to the performance of elaborate rites for the dead, and less to the actual burning of paper things, whereas among the Hokkien and Teochews the articles burnt are usually more elaborate. In spite of...