Every family have their happy and sad moments and it the same all over the world regardless of language, caste are gender and other barriers. The death of a near and dear one causes lots of grief in the family and it is the same with the Chinese too. However, there are certain customs that some follow when someone close to them passes away and these customs differ from religion to religion, country to country. There are some who cremate the body of the departed and some who bury the same. Most Chinese are Buddhists and they bury the body of the dead unlike Hindus who cremate their dead. Though Muslims and Christians do this too along with some other religions, what sets the Chinese different from the rest is the customs they follow when a member of their family passes away.
The Chinese tradition pays respect according to the age and seniority of a person and the same holds true when conducting rituals for their departed ones. Only youngsters can perform the last rites of the dead. If the unmarried son in the family passes away, his parents are not allowed to bring back his body to their residence. Instead the same is sent to the funeral parlor. The parents cannot offer prayers for the soul of their departed son since he is younger to them and cannot be offered respect by elders. This custom shows itself starkly when a young kid passes away. If there are no other members of the family younger than the departed, they shall not be bestowed any respect. The grief and the willingness to do something for them is there, but Chinese customs bar the way of those who want to provide respect to the youngsters who have passed away.
It is just the opposite if an elder passes away, especially if he is the senior most member of the family. In this case, all the members of the family have to pay their respects to him and must also conduct all the elaborate rituals required, even if that means taking loans from others for doing the same. When death occurs in a Chinese family, the members of the bereaved family should immediately cover the statues and pictures of deities with red paper or cloth and also remove all the mirrors. The mirrors reflect and show the coffin and it looks as if there are multiple coffins in the room, instead of one. Seeing the coffin too much is believed to bring another death to another member of the family.
Apart from these steps, a white cloth is stretched across the main entrance to the house. If the deceased is a male, a gong is placed to the left of the doorway. The gong is placed to the right of the doorway if the deceased is a female. Prior to placing the body of the deceased in the coffin, the Chinese have to clean the same with a damp cloth and dust the same with talcum powder.
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