OBITUARY:
HING - Quong HIng, 66, Saturday afternoon at home near Waconda. Funeral Tuesday at 11 o'clock W. T. Rigdon's undertaking company. Burial I. O. O. F. cemetery.
Captial Journal, 1 Dec 1919, pg 9
Quaint Oriental Customs Seen At Chinese Funeral
One of the most unique funerals ever held in this city took place yesterday at the chapel of the W. T. Rigdon undertaking company, and at the I.O.O.F. cemetery, when Quong Hing, aged 66, Chinese farmer who resided near Waconda, was laid to rest. Quong Hing died Saturday, leaving his wife, Ifet Que Hing, and eight children. The services were held at the chapel at 10 o'clock.
A bluish smoke from many burning punk-sticks hung over the casket, the eight children, with their mother. bowed in sorrow, and weirdly chanting, lamented the passing of their husband and father.
The body was then placed in the hearse. All the way from the undertaking establishment to the cemetery, the children scattered small bits of paper, with a round hole in the center, along the route. According to the sacred celestial custom, the devil is after the deceased to devour him, and they believe that by throwing the small chinks of paper after the procession the devil will have to crawl through the small hole. In this way he is delayed. And when he finally reaches the grave he is too tired to dig after the corpse, and contents himself eating the morsels of food left on the mound.
On Hing's grave the mourning wife left a large platter of roast duck, a pot of prorage and a roll of butter.
In the ceremony, at the chapel each child, in turn, donned a long, white robe and helmet and chanted at the side of the casket, while several old Chinamen, friends of the deceased, bowed their heads in silence.
Captial Journal 3 Dec 1919, pg 9
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