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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 |
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