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Show 80 Pallbearers, 6 Bands in Colossal Chinese Funeral The greatest funeral held in 20th century China was that of the war lord, Marshal Wu Pei-fu, in Peking on January 24, 1940, says Collier's. Behind his catafalque, which was carried by 80 pallbearers and accompanied ac-companied by six bands, the mourners carried life-sized paper reproductions of his earthly possessions pos-sessions to be burned and thus, in effect, sent to heaven with him. Among thern was his automobile, the stage of his private theater with its actors, and his large bodyguard body-guard of soldiers on horseback, the construction of which, along with scores of other paper articles, required re-quired the labor of 200 people for seven weeks. |