Going in Style in China Means Silk for Deceased

In old China, a funeral meant drums, gongs and horns, and garments of the finest silk for the deceased.

The drums, gongs and horns are no longer permitted in Peking, but shops in the capital once again are selling the fine garments for the dead that were outlawed 20 years ago.

But the government still bans or at least discourages traditional elaborate funeral banquets, bands and the burning of paper “spirit money” intended to assure the deceased a proper place in the hereafter.

‘Spirit Money’ Sought

“Some older people still ask for spirit money, but we have to tell them no,” said Zhang Yuzhen, a woman assigned to a small establishment that makes funeral arrangements.

“The custom of dressing the dead was revived only a few years ago,” said another shop assistant, Li Yanhua. “It was banned during the Cultural Revolution,” which began in 1966 and lasted for about 10 years.

The shop, run by the suburban Babaoshan Cemetery and Crematorium, arranges for a hearse, orders floral tributes and outfits the dead.

Funeral costs vary from 170 yuan to 200 yuan ($53 to $63), a figure kept low by a government that discourages costly ceremonies.

Traditional silk jackets for the dead have tie closures, not buttons, a concession to Chinese superstition. The word for button, “kouzi” is thought to be unlucky.

The store offers some jackets with gold embroidery. Felt hats and quilts in traditional yellow are also on display.

“One size fits all,” said Li, adding that about half of the 30 to 40 families who visit each week choose to sew their own funeral garments for better fit.

$11 for Funeral Jacket

The finest funeral jacket costs just 35 yuan ($11).

“Drums, gongs and horns are not allowed in the city, even if people ask for them,” said Zhang. Cremation is mandatory in Peking and most other cities, a policy dictated by crowding and sanitation requirements.

The funeral bands are coming back in rural areas, however, where government-mandated funeral reforms have never taken hold among the peasantry.

Burials Discouraged

An extreme case, reported in the official press, was the virtually idle crematorium of Taikang County in Henan Province, which in four years disposed of four bodies, three of them unidentified transients. The rest were buried, a practice authorities have fought with little success in the countryside.

Zhang, who has worked in the shop for five years, said time is on the side of government policy, especially in the cities.