Then & NowChrysanthemums, Oriental lilies, frangipani, ginger blossom – how certain flowers became associated with death, and thus bad luck, in East Asia
- At a time when crude injections with preservatives merely helped slow the decomposition of bodies, heavily scented flowers were used to mask the smell of death
- In Hong Kong, such flowers, being associated with funerals, evoke superstitious responses – a fact new arrivals needed to learn to avoid a social misstep
Happy Valley’s historic Colonial Cemetery chapel, built in 1845 – Hong Kong’s oldest surviving British-era structure – contains a little-noticed relic that recalls the building’s original function.
An anteroom where the coffin was kept overnight, before early morning committal ceremonies, has heavy metal mesh ventilation grates set into the walls below the windows. Constant cross-draughts through the room – even when otherwise closed up – helped slow the corpse’s decay in hot weather; a practical reminder of earlier times.
The American funeral industry’s consumerist excesses – in particular, elaborate embalming techniques – all wonderfully eviscerated in Evelyn Waugh’s novel The Loved One (1948) and Jessica Mitford’s satirical, journalistic exposé The American Way of Death (1963), did not reach Hong Kong until recent decades.
Local embalming standards were primitive by comparison; crude injections with formalin, formaldehyde and other preservatives merely helped slow decomposition; when aided by refrigeration, funerals could be delayed for a few days.
Along with the post-war introduction of scheduled long-range air services, these innovations meant travel to Hong Kong for funerals was possible – for those who could afford it.