fed the corpse, and went on to the house-tops and called aloud
to the spirit to return. When at length they were convinced that
the absent spirit could not be induced to re-enter the body, they
placed the latter in a coffin and buried it--providing it, however,
with all that it had found necessary in this life (food, clothing,
wives, servants, etc.), which it would require also in the next (in
their view rather a continuation of the present existence than the
beginning of another)--and, having inducted or persuaded the spirit
to enter the 'soul-tablet' which accompanied the funeral procession
(which took place the moment the tablet was 'dotted,' _i.e._ when
the character _wang_, 'prince,' was changed into _chu_, 'lord'),
carried it back home again, set it up in a shrine in the main hall,
and fell down and worshipped it. Thus was the spirit propitiated,
and as long as occasional offerings were not overlooked the power
for evil possessed by it would not be exerted against the surviving
inmates of the house, whom it had so thoughtlessly deserted.

The latter mourned by screaming, wailing, stamping their feet,
and beating their breasts, renouncing (in the earliest times) even
their clothes, dwelling, and belongings to the dead, removing to
mourning-sheds of clay, fasting, or eating only rice gruel, sleeping
on straw with a clod for a pillow, and speaking only on subjects of
death and burial. Office and public duties were resigned, and marriage,
music, and separation from the clan prohibited.

During the lapse of the long ages of monarchical rule funeral rites
became more elaborate and magnificent, but, though less rigid and
ceremonious since the institution of the Republic, they have retained
their essential character down to the present day.