The Night Tiger

by Yangsze Choo

“The body must be made whole again when you die. Anything added must be removed, and anything missing replaced—otherwise your soul won’t rest in peace.”

The Chinese have a tradition of exhuming a grave, and washing and cleaning the bones (see the beginning of chapter 33, where it’s described in more detail). It was seen as respect for the departed, and naturally, great care was taken to ensure that nothing was lost. When my father was a child, he told me that he participated in such a ceremony for one of his family members, and how small the bones were when they were unearthed. It must have been both strange and solemn, to handle the actual remains of people. This respect for the body is probably true across all cultures. As a child, I remember reading an English tale about a little old lady who picked up a bone and was later bothered by a tiny voice who followed her home, saying repeatedly “Give me back my BONE!” (for some reason, I found this utterly terrifying and resolved never to pick up any bones found on the road).