PDLP Chapter 202 Funeral Ceremony
Chapter 202 Funeral Ceremony
On June 30th of the third year of Yongzheng's reign, Concubine Hua died. Yongzheng ordered a five-day suspension of court as a sign of mourning and issued an edict to the Ministry of Rites:
Concubine Hua Nian possessed a gentle and virtuous character, possessing a prudent and virtuous demeanor. While I was in the imperial residence, she served me with the utmost respect, acting with care and courtesy before the Empress, and managing her subjects with magnanimity and kindness. The Emperor, in recognition of her dignity and dignity, bestowed upon her the title of Prince's Consort. Since my accession to the throne, Concubine Hua has devoted herself to all important matters, diligently observing and respecting them, truly assisting in domestic affairs. She had always been frail, and for three years, I had been so preoccupied with official duties that I had not had time to carefully discuss her diagnosis and treatment, leaving all matters of prescription and medicine to the physicians, resulting in significant delays. Now that she has passed away, I am deeply saddened. I hereby ennoble her as Imperial Noble Concubine, posthumously honoring her with the title of Dunsu, and direct the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Household Department to solemnly handle all funeral rites.
To remember the good deeds of the country is called Dun; to be warm, benevolent, loyal and honest is called Dun; to be diligent in doing good deeds is called Dun; to be firm and resolute is called Su; to be firm and decisive is called Su; to be upright and restrained is called Su. (Dunsu Imperial Noble Consort was the first Chinese consort to use the character "Dun.")
In the Qingliang Palace, the Imperial Noble Consort Dunsu was buried in a nanmu golden coffin, which was decorated with bright yellow. The coffin was made of five pieces of satin with inscriptions, one piece of shroud and one piece of python, and seven layers of satin inside. The coffin was covered with a Dharani Sutra blanket, and the outside was covered with a bright yellow satin cover. The seat was covered with a bright yellow cloud satin curtain and a stone blue Japanese satin curtain. In front of her were a bed and mattress, a five-offering table with a mattress cover, and a silver five-offering goat-horn lamp. On the left and right were white silk clothes and eight-character walls. Silk books and treasures were displayed, and felt was spread. A court curtain was hung, and a banner was placed on the right side of the door. Eleven lamas chanted mantras, and mourning cloths held staffs.
The imperial court specially selected ministers to be in charge of funeral affairs, including seven close princes, the chief steward of the Imperial Household Department, three ministers of the rank of Sanzhi and ninety guards. On the day of the grand sacrifice, they took off their mourning clothes and shaved their heads, and set up places for the princes to wear mourning clothes.
For ten days, members of the imperial family and high-ranking officials within the palace wore plain clothing and refrained from performing rituals. The princes removed their hats and cut their hair as a sign of mourning. The women in the imperial concubine's palace and the eunuchs followed the same practice. In-laws and related individuals also removed their mourning clothes on the day of the great memorial and shaved their heads a hundred days later.
During the funeral, officials of the fourth rank and above, below the rank of prince, offered memorial services three times a day, morning and evening. Ladies of high rank below the rank of princess and consort offered memorial services in the morning, evening, and on the day of the great memorial.
The concubines in the harem wore plain clothes and knelt in the Qingliang Palace to recite scriptures and pray for blessings except for eating and resting.
After the prayers ended that day, Shen Meizhuang supported An Lingrong as they walked back. "Rong'er, are you still able to handle this? How about I go and ask the Emperor..."
An Lingrong shook her head: "No, the Emperor is in a state of distress right now. If I don't come, I'm afraid he'll vent his anger on me. Look at Sister Zhen, even when she's pregnant, she still has to come and kneel for a while every day, let alone me!"
Seeing the concern in her eyes, An Lingrong whispered, "Don't worry, sister, Sister Jingpin is always by my side. If I get tired, I can lean on her. It won't be a problem!"
The concubines were in great pain, and the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Household Department were even more pitiful. Firstly, the dynasty had never held a funeral for an imperial concubine, and the officials lacked experience. Secondly, Nian Shilan's death was sudden, and many things had to be prepared from scratch. Everyone was inevitably in a hurry. After all the hard work, Yongzheng was still very dissatisfied. He accused the funeral of "careless ceremonies" and demoted four people from the Ministry of Rites, from Shangshu to Shilang, "two levels."
Yongzheng's third brother, Prince Cheng Yunzhi, was late for the funeral and showed no sign of sadness, which made Yongzheng furious.
A few days later, on the Chinese Valentine's Day, Yongzheng wrote a poem himself:
The sky is clear and blue, and the fairy bridge is built by magpies.
The grandson of heaven still has an appointment, how can the world be so heartless?
The crescent moon is like a needle, and the water clock is dripping under the shadow of flowers.
I stand alone in the cool night, watching the Milky Way fill the sky.
The enduring friendship is evident from this.
After twenty-eight days of rest, the coffin of Imperial Noble Consort Dunsu was moved to the Zhuangpin Palace, ten miles outside Fucheng Gate. On the day of the transfer, officials from the Ministry of Rites performed rituals, and the coffin began its journey. Officials from the king down followed on foot. At each gate and bridge, officials from the Ministry of Rites, along with the princesses' wives and other ladies of honor, would first wait at the funeral palace.
A few days later, the ceremony of enthroning and posthumously conferring the title of emperor was held. Officials from the fourth rank and above, including princesses, wives, and other women of high rank, gathered. The chief and deputy envoys respectfully carried the imperial edict and imperial seal out of the Meridian Gate's central gate, accompanied by an official to the main gate of the funeral palace. The chief and deputy envoys knelt and kowtowed three times before respectfully carrying the imperial edict and imperial seal into the funeral palace through the central gate. The edict and imperial seal were placed on a table, with the golden edict on the left and the imperial seal on the right. The chief envoy then lit three incense sticks before the incense table, while the official reading the edict and imperial seal texts read out the edict and imperial seal texts.
After the ceremony, the funeral of Imperial Noble Consort Dunsu came to an end. Officials from the concubine palace took care of the memorial service and waited for the burial together with Emperor Yongzheng after his death.
For the first hundred days after the death of Consort Dunsu, three offerings were made at dawn, dusk, and noon, with incense and candles lit day and night. Beyond the first hundred days, for three years after that, a offering was made at noon, with incense and candles lit, and three times on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month. Three years later, until Emperor Qianlong's transfer to Yongan in the Tai Mausoleum, offerings were made once on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month.