CHINATOWN SHOOTING AFFRAY
FUNERAL OF YUAN YAP
EXTRAORDINARY SCENE AT ANFIELD
     The remains of the victim of the recent shooting affair in Chinatown, Liverpool - Yuan Yap - were yesterday interred in Anfield Cemetery, amid a weird and bewildering scene. The body, encased in an oaken coffin and placed in a hearse with glass panels left Frederick-street shortly after eleven o'clock. All Chinatown and the adjacent foreign neighbourhood were agog with excitement, owing to the tragic event, and its funereal sequel, for Yuan Yap was a harmless Celestial who was well liked, even by those who do not follow the doctrines of Confucius. Yuan Yap was a Christian convert, and there was no question of taking his remains back to the old land.
     The cortege was one of the biggest seen in Liverpool; it practically monopolised Frederick-street, and some forty vehicles followed the hearse in long queue. The occupants seemed to be almost exclusively Chinese. The coffin was covered with white flowers, bound with red satin ribbons. This is a Chinese emblem for sympathy with a person who has not died a natural death, and the arrangement was strikingly effective.
     The cortege proceeded at a brick rate along Paradise-street, Whitechapel, Scotland-road, and Walton-road, everywhere evoking much attention. Such a procession of carriage-carried Chinese was never witnessed in Liverpool before. All present were arrayed in black.

     Arrived at the cemetery, the body was conveyed to the Church of England mortuary chapel, where the ordinary service was read by the Rev Mr Passfield, who also read the committal service at the graveside.

     After he had retired to the Chinese service commenced and was very grotesque in the eyes of a foreigner. The ritual, if it may be so called, consisted of first lighting a fire with Chinese matches near the head of the open grave. This was accomplished with some difficulty, for the ground was sodden with damp, the air was raw, and a cold blast occasionally blew. The light and smoke of the burning material, emblem of futurity soared upwards towards the stark and gaunt trees near, while a Chinamen in his knees fanned the flames, others shouting what appeared to be strange incantations. They possibly were but expressions of regret and grief, but they sounded very droning and dolorous, more especially as now and again there came a hollow, sepulchral laugh, maybe due to emotion owing to the man's sad fate.
     The order of the ceremony was something like the following: -  As soon as the coffin got on to the bedrock, where it remains until the great assize hereafter, there was a chorus of groans, lamentations, and distressful cries from those round the grave. Streamers of paper arranges like the tails of a kite steeped in some scented liquid, were ignites, the aroma being wafted all round as the flames increased. Money was thrown down by the mourners on to the coffin in silver and copper. Then the cork of a whisky bottle was drawn, and a portion of the contents scattered into the grave. The bowls of rice were brought up and their contents emptied into the grave. Then more whisky was wafted from the neck of a bottle, and fruit was handed round. Some Chinese and some Christians took the fruit, the most of which was cast into the grave. Meantime joss-sticks galore had been lighted, and these were stuck in the grass at one end of the grave; the apples were divided and some eaten;  so with the oranges. A quantity of biscuits was also dropped gently upon the coffin, and there followed a final great pouring out of whisky. A plump chicken and a piece of meat, also cooked, were next handed round.
     Yueng Chang, the cousin of the deceased man seemed to be the presiding genius of the strange feast and ceremonial, and order was well maintained, though once or twice some Western ghouls had to be reminded, not inaptly, that the ceremony was a serious affair and sacred in the eyes of the Chinese. After all the stores had been eaten, cast away, or pocketed two Chinamen come forward and swiftly threw the soil down, and left poor Yuan Yap to sleep in peace.

ACCUSED AT THE POLICE COURT

     At the Liverpool City Police Court, yesterday, before Mr T Shepherd Little, stipendiary magistrate.
     See Lee, thirty-eight years of age, a Chinaman was charged on remand with shooting Yuan Yap,  a fellow Celestial, with intent to do him grievous bodily harm, in Dickinson-street on the 4th inst.
     Yuan Yap died in the Royal Southern Hospital on Monday nights, and the inquest in his body will be resumed on Wednesday next.
     Mr R E Warburton represented Yun Jong, a relative of the deceased.
     Mr Holbrook applied for a remand until Wednesday next when the result of the inquest would be known.
    The magistrate granted the application.

DAILY POST AND MERCURY 12th December 1908

 

THE CHINAMAN'S BURIAL
OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION
"Disgraceful, Disgusting and Abominable."
     The strange rites performed at the Chinese funeral in Anfield Cemetery, about a month ago - minutely described in these columns at the time - have been the subject of careful official investigation, and the upshot of a discussion at a meeting of the Burials Committee is that the city engineer was instructed to select a burial ground for Chinamen, and the town-clerk asked to draw up regulations.
     The city engineer's report, which gave rise to the discussion in the committee, corroborates the description we gave. After the funeral service, the mourners assembled round the grave, into which, after burning matches, they poured whisky and afterwards placed food and fruit of various kinds, finishing up with incantations. On another occasion, the report stated, there was a procession of about forty cabs containing Chinamen to Anfield Cemetery, and followed by many Chinamen on foot. At the rear of the procession was a carriage loaded with food of various kinds. The procession proceeded to the Church of England portion of the cemetery, where some time before a Chinaman had been buried. This being the anniversary of his death, his relatives and friends, according to their custom, visited his grave and performed certain religious rites. A heap of paper was placed at the foot of the headstone and set on fire, and after the paper was consumed tapers were lit. Articles of food, cooked pork and chickens, garnished and ready for eating, were then placed on the grave, on which a spirit, presumably whisky, was poured, after which other rites were preformed, the ceremony concluding with a loud fusillade of fireworks, which created a considerable amount of alarm and excitement amongst the  crowd which had assembled. The food was afterwards taken away. The chief element of objection to the ceremony was the litter of burnt paper which blew about, and the explosion of crackers. The city engineer suggested that some portion of the cemetery should be set apart for the interment of these Orientals, where such ceremonies might take place without causing offence to others.  
     Coloner Porter. - Did these ceremonies take place in consecrated ground?

     The Chairman (Alderman Taggart). - Yes.

     Coloner Porter. - It seems to me extraordinary and most improper that heathen ceremonies of this kind should take place in consecrated ground.
     The Chairman. - What happened was this. A Chinaman married an English wife, who belonged to the Church of England. She purchased a grave in consecrated ground, and had her husband buried according to Church of England rites, a Church of England clergyman officiating. They thought this was all, but then they found his friends coming on the anniversary of his death and performing their own religious rites. That is the unfortunate thing. We think the better plan will be to set apart a place for such interments. We have no right to interfere with the religious rights of anyone, but I think it would be advisable they should be buried away by themselves.
     Mr West thought no Oriental ceremony of this kind should be allowed in consecrated ground.
     The Chairman. - I quite agree with you.
     Mr Fred Pritchard thought Chinamen should be buried in a separate place, walled off. A demonstration of this kind in a consecrated cemetery was disgraceful, disgusting and abominable.
     Mr Meade-King did not think it could be called disgusting. The Chinamen might think the burial service of the Church of England disgusting in their view.
     Mr Pierce, deputy town-clerk, thought the advisable course was to instruct the town-clerk to draw up regulations which would prevent this taking place in consecrated ground, or in ground appropriated to Christian burial.
     Mr Rawlinson thought it was incumbent upon the Church of England clergymen to bury anyone who died in their parish.
     Mr Pierce. - But they are not under any obligation to permit ceremonies they consider repugnant to their religion.
     The Chairman. - If we allocate a small portion in the cemetery, to these people I don;t see why they should not carry on their ceremonies.
     Mr Pritchard. - IF the ground was walled off it would prevent a crowd following these people and their ceremonies.
     The Chairman considered a fence would be sufficient, while 
     Mr Meade-King suggested that a hedge of Japanese roses might be more suitable and ornate.
     It was ultimately agreed that the city engineer arrange a site for the burial of Chinamen, and that the town-clerk draw up regulations. 

DAILY POST AND MERCURY 8th January 1909

 

THE CHINAMAN'S BURIAL

TO THE EDITOR OF THE POST AND MERCURY.
Sir, - In reading to-day your report in the issue of January 8 of the meeting of the Burials Committee, investigating the rites performed at the Chinese funeral in Anfield Cemetery, I deplored the words "disgraceful, disgusting and abominable," used by a member of the committee in describing them. I was born in China, and have spent the last seven years in Shanghai, and perhaps I might be allowed to say a word for the Chinese point of view.
     It has always been the custom of the Chinese at funerals to burn silver or gold paper money at the grave of the dead, and to offer food and drink to the memory of the deceased (the "whisky" alluded to is probably siao-chiu drunk in tiny silver or pewter cups at every Chinese feast). These rites are symbolic, testifying to the desire of the mourners that the departed should have in the next world prosperity and happiness. Surely there is nothing "disgusting" or "abominable" in wishing one's friend happiness in the next life! We also bury our dead in the hope that they will wake up to a blessed life, though I acknowledge that the Christian's view of the next world is a different matter from that of the Chinese. But let us remember that the Chinese are acting up to the best light they possess. The money and food are merely the material outward signs of a spiritual belief. In the same way, Christians partake of bread and wine, a material sacrament symbolical of spiritual truth.
     The firing off of crackers always accompanies festive occasions. It ushers in the New Year with noisy joy, it welcomes the new official, or speeds the parting governor, and is indispensable at weddings. The fact that crackers are set off at funerals is very suggestive. It shows that the Chinese min at death is not entirely filled with gloom, but that there exists a dim idea, a faint hint, of joy that the deceased is entering a new and better world. the counterpart of the cracker in the Chinese funeral ceremony is the anthem in the Christian burial service. 
     Racial misunderstandings too often arise on account of opposite customs and modes of thought. What has been in China a custom of thousands of generations may possibly seem barbarous to us insular English, but we must remember that similarly many of our habits are offensive to the Chinese. The understanding heart is necessary for both.

     With apologies for trespassing upon your space. - Yours, &c.,   E I RICHARD,

     Jersey, January 9, 1909

DAILY POST AND MERCURY 13th January 1909