Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1894 — Deceased Ancestors in China. [ARTICLE]

Deceased Ancestors in China.

The Chinese dislike to Western innovations which is now threatening the peace of that country, especially in the province of Human, is curlously illustrated by a correspondent who is employed in the service of the telegraph company which built the first telegraph line in China. It is well known that the Chinese used to pull down the lines at night, and that it became necessary to lay the wires underground, otherwise, theie would be no telegraphs in the country to-day. The reason given is that the Chinese venerate their deceased ancestors so profoundly that they will not allow even a shadow to fall upon their graves. As a rule, there are no cemeteries in China, the dead being buried near the dwellings of the living, and hence there is hardly a field or garden which has not its sacred place. Since China is so thickly populated, the telegraph men found themselves embarrassed by graves on every hand, and the people flung down the posts and menaced the workingmen’s lives. On applying to the authorities for the reason of this hostility, the engineers were told that at certain hours of the day the poles cast shadows over the tombs beside them; and, as neither money nor persuasion would overcome the sentiments of the people, all the lines in China have been laid underground.