[179] The technical term almost invariably used for this action is hsün, which is the word used for the old practice of burying alive with the dead. In modern times, as in all these stories, the word signifies the death of a widow who commits suicide to prove her wifely fidelity.
[180] Obviously because they wished to arrange a new betrothal for her.
[181] The Underworld of disembodied souls.
[182] In Peking and many other places the bridegroom does not ying ch'in or "go to meet the bride." He stays at home and awaits her arrival.
[183] This is a temporary tablet in which the soul of the deceased is supposed to reside till after the burial, when it is formally summoned to take up its abode in the wooden tablet intended to remain permanently in the possession of the family. In the present case the temporary tablet would be ceremonially destroyed by fire after it had served its purpose.
[184] See the Chou Li. In Peking and many other places the women still accompany the funeral party to the graveside.
[185] In China the belief that inspires this practice is that the greater the number of mourners who throw handfuls of earth on the coffin, the greater will be the prosperity of the family in future and the more numerous its descendants. The custom is not, of course, confined to China. It is mentioned by Sir Thomas Browne as a practice of the Christians, "who thought it too little, if they threw not the earth thrice upon the interred body" (Urn-Burial, ch. iv.).
[186] See Grant Allen's The Evolution of the Idea of God, pp. 52 and 69.
[188] According to the Fijian Islanders the souls of the unmarried are soon extinguished in the Underworld. See Tylor's Primitive Culture (4th ed.), vol. ii. p. 23.