A HOTEL FOR THE DEAD

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 120, 22 May 1937, Page 27

A HOTEL FOR THE DEAD

On the outskirts of Canton, amid aregion of malodorous market gardens and tangled suburbs), lies one of the singular, buildings of the world—the Hotel of the Dead, writes Max Lamshed in" the "Adelaide Chronicle."

In the, clays before white men came to China with their strange laeas of city cleaning, sanitation,, and disposal of the dead, the hills about every town were a vast lindemarcated mausoleum, where relatives buried their dead when and where they would. So it is today that the hill slopes everywhere are dotted with graves —curious pieces .of masonry brought to a point at one end and flowing away at either side like the.prow of a ship.

With the inculcation of modern ideas cemetery areas were allotted, and promiscuous burial no longer permitted. ..The Hotel of the Dead marks a, halting place in the translation of the body from the love and affection of the home to the isolation of the tomb. While it resides there, relatives have the consolation that their loved one has not wholly gone from them.

. A privately-owned venture, the' Hotel of the Dead has little to distinguish it as it is approached by a' shrub-lined path. From an irregular-shaped, tiled court open dozens of rooms, some large, some small. Their walls are brightly1 hung. Screening the rear of the chamber, is a coloured partition. Behind it is the sanctuary, where, swathed, in voluminous , lengths of linen, the body of the departed lies in a coffin, which reveals his degree by its richness and adornment. Before the scr.een. v is a table , bearing flowers, ornaments, and a tiny .dish of food, from which the spirit of the dead may be nourished during the remainder of its mundane existence. Overhead is a great spiral of sandalwood; or some lesser-favoured . composition.

which smoulders slowly' from apex to base, perfuming the chamber with the sickly sweetness of ■ incense. Near it are parchments or scrolls. ex,tolling the virtues of the, dead, or, if the departed is of the modern regime; there may be photographs.

The "hotel" is conducted on a prosaic basis. For the largest chambers, some of them little less than salons, the rent may be 30 dollars a week, equivalent to a little more than £2 in,our money, or, even. 50 .dollars.. For those less pretentious the rate is correspondingly less, while for the smallest, little more than closets,; it may be five or ..ten dollars. . ,-,'.;.

In the "hotel" the bodies rest until the advent ;of what lias been, determined as a lucky day. Then they are taken to the burial ground. Providentially—as the cynically-minded y may conjecture—lucky days occur more frequently in the case of those of lowly estate, and on whom the'expense of an extended lodging might bear heav' ily, than oh .that of those of higher caste. The; poor may remain . only a' week or ; two, the well-to-do for months. The bodies ,of the very rich may lodge there-for an -indeterminate time, even may never leave.

And the reason for it all? These transient sepulchres are , the altars at which .the bereaved- household / worships its gods,'.and pays its;tribute to the departed. Let the guide explain —"Suppose the grave be far,away in the country, thefamily able to go there to worship very seldom," perhaps only once a month; if they belong to poor, not even that; here, they close by, and can come cheaply whenever they like, perhaps two, three times a week."

The Hotel of the Dead is ngt a pleasant place. Sunshine seems a stranger there. For all its bright colours, it has a sombre brooding and i over it hangs the mustiness of tombs.-