I was working on one of my MOOCs this morning around 10:00 when I heard a lengthy round of firecrackers going off down in the street. I peered through my window and saw that the firecrackers were being tossed off the back of a three-wheeler. Behind that were people parading down Zhuge East Road. They were carrying floats decorated with a model of a Chinese house and many flowers. By the time I got my shoes on, grabbed my camera, and took the elevator down 18 floors, the parade was over and the floats were being packed up into a truck. The people stood around and chatted, many of them with their heads wrapped in white turbans and their bodies covered with white tunics. They seemed to be in a good mood and gladly acquiesced to my request to take their photos.
Later I learned from some Chinese friends that this was a funeral procession. White is the color of death and mourning in China, which explains the tunics and turbans.
(I was cautioned never to give white flowers to someone outside of a funeral.) The model of the house and the flowers are to symbolize the possessions of the decedent.
If the person who’s died is old, then the funeral party is generally a more festive one.
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