Mendoza, In
The 16th Century, Alludes To No Disposal Of The Dead Except By Burial, But
Semedo In The Early Part Of The 17th Says That Bodies Were Occasionally
Burnt, Especially In Sze-Ch'wan.
I am greatly indebted to the kindness of an eminent Chinese scholar, Mr.
W.F. Mayers, of Her Majesty's Legation at Peking, who, in a letter, dated
Peking, 18th September, 1874, sends me the following memorandum on the
subject:
-
"Colonel Yule's Marco Polo, II. 97 [First Edition], Burning of the
Dead.
"On this subject compare the article entitled Huo Tsang, or 'Cremation
Burials,' in Bk. XV of the Jih Che Luh, or 'Daily Jottings,' a great
collection of miscellaneous notes on classical, historical, and
antiquarian subjects, by Ku Yen-wu, a celebrated author of the 17th
century. The article is as follows: -
"'The practice of burning the dead flourished (or flourishes) most
extensively in Kiang-nan, and was in vogue already in the period of the
Sung Dynasty. According to the history of the Sung Dynasty, in the 27th
year of the reign Shao-hing (A.D. 1157), the practice was animadverted
upon by a public official.' Here follows a long extract, in which the
burning of the dead is reprehended, and it is stated that cemeteries were
set apart by Government on behalf of the poorer classes.
"In A.D. 1261, Hwang Chen, governor of the district of Wu, in a memorial
praying that the erection of cremation furnaces might thenceforth be
prohibited, dwelt upon the impropriety of burning the remains of the
deceased, for whose obsequies a multitude of observances were prescribed
by the religious rites.
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