Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1889 — A Chinaman’s Funeral. [ARTICLE]

A Chinaman’s Funeral.

At the funeral of a Chinaman in Philadelphia some queer ceremonies were observed. The deceased was clothed in garments of the lightest texture, so that he might not suffer from the heat in his new abode. He wore a straw hat, and in one hand he held a fan. The corpse of a Chinaman is always provided with money to pay its expenses to the unknown country. One of the mourners dropped between Hong’s teeth a 25-cent piece, and about a score of the others came forward with their quarter subscriptions. The undertaker could not get all of them in the dead Chinaman’s mouth, and half of the silver pieces were placed in his pocket. The ceremonies finished, the coflin was closed, and over the top of it were placed strips of red, white, and black bunting, the colors of the Sing Ye Hong Society (Chinese freemasons), of which the dead man had been a member.