HK 2004 - 2nd Burial

Great Grandma's 2nd burial.
Second burial is the practice of uncovering the remains of the dead after several years of burial and reburying them for a second time in situ or at an alternative site.
In Hong Kong, when the British introduced rules to control and manage burial grounds and cemeteries, they accepted second burial as a customary practice of the Chinese and institutionalised it without questioning the meanings behind it. In Hong Kong's public cemeteries, such as Wo Hop Shek Cemetery, second burial is mandatory; the remains in graves have to be dug up for relocation or cremation within a maximum period of time (normally seven years). The crematorium at Wo Hop Shek is specifically and exclusively for disinterred remains.

Remains are by no means always cremated, however. Cleaned bones can be stored in a jinta, literally 'golden pagoda'. This is a large, brown, unglazed pottery urn. Such bone urns can be buried in small graves in public cemeteries. Urn graves are the only permanent graves available in public cemeteries except for prohibitively expensive, and scarce, coffin graves in one of the four Chinese Permanent Cemeteries, which in 1997 cost approx US $35,000. Alternatively, bone urns can be placed, in the open, with or without a small, open-fronted shelter, preferably on a hillside with good Feng Shui, protected from water damage and with a good view. Single, or more often clusters, of jinta are a common sight on wild hillsides in the New Territories of Hong Kong, but sites must have official approval and are restricted to the remains of the relatively small number of indigenous villagers. Urban residents can choose to deposit ancestors' bones in a columbarium, in a somewhat larger niche than those for urns containing ashes.

Bai San is a chinese tradition where families go to the graves of their ancestors to remember, respect and honour them. The very least they do is bow three times. Others who are more traditional burn paper money & offer food so that it'll reach the heavens where their ancestors are.

Finally, it must be noted that, as well as providing for physical remains, relatives also maintain another form of memorial to the deceased. This is known as the ancestral tablet. These tablets are in fact far more than a memorial. The tablet is one of the three places where the ancestral spirit is believed to be present, the other two locations being at the grave and in the underworld. The tablet can be kept at home, where it is often lit by a red light bulb at a small shrine. Offerings are made on special occasions.

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