The Chinese have such respect for the dead that they will live
in poverty during life to pay for elaborate ceremonies at the
time of death. An old carpenter whose shop adjoined the church
in Tsicheo, in a time of business prosperity acquired for
himself a beautiful coffin valued at four hundred thousand cash.
(About $800.) Flood, disease and two worthless sons brought him
to poverty, so that he was unable to pay the yearly rental of
twenty-two dollars for his shop. Nevertheless, he was unwilling
to part with his coffin, tho it would have given him a roof over
his head for ten years.
In this same town a very poor Christian woman was forced to
become a beneficiary of the church, because relatives who owed
her a year’s wages would not pay. When she passed away, however,
they paid their long-standing debt in a coffin and funeral
accessories ungrudgingly.
(675)