Manchu Dynasty, the burying of living men was prohibited by the
Emperor Kang-hi, at the close of the 17th century, _i.e._ the forced
burying; but voluntary sepulture remained in force [_Yu chi wen_].
Notwithstanding this prohibition, cases of forced burying occurred
again in remote parts of Manchuria; when a concubine refused to
follow her deceased master, she was forcibly strangled with a
bow-string [_Ninguta chi_]. I must observe, however, that there is
no mention made in historical documents of the existence of this
custom with the Mongols; it is only an hypothesis based on the
analogy between the religious ideas and customs of the Mongols and
those of other tribes.” (_Palladius_, p. 13.)
In his _Religious System of China_, II., Dr. J. J. M. de Groot
devotes a whole chapter (ix. 721 _seqq._), _Concerning the
Sacrifice of Human Beings at Burials, and Usages connected
therewith_. The oldest case on record in China dates as far back as
B.C. 677, when sixty-six men were killed after the ruler Wu of the
state of Ts’in died.
The Official Annals of the Tartar Dynasty of Liao, quoted by
Professor J. J. M. de Groot (_Religious System of China_, vol.
ii. 698), state that “in the tenth year of the T’ung hwo period
(A.D. 692) the killing of horses for funeral and burial rites was
interdicted, as also the putting into the tombs of coats of mail,
helmets, and articles and trinkets of gold and silver.” Professor
de Groot writes (_l.c._ 709): “But, just as the placing of victuals
in the graves was at an early date changed into sacrifices of
food outside the graves, so burying horses with the dead was also
modified under the Han Dynasty into presenting them to the dead
without interring them, and valueless counterfeits were on such
occasions substituted for the real animals.”—H. C.]