Roast Sucking-Pig and Whisky for the Dead

This illustration, published in the Illustrated London News on 24th April 1909 relates to London's Chinese community that clustered in the Limehouse area, also known as 'Chinatown'. Although East London's permanent Chinese community numbered no more than 300 residents, many of whom were married to English partners, its population was swelled by the transient Chinese seamen who took up temporary residence in the capital whilst their ships were docked in the port. This illustration shows members of that Chinese community visiting the graves of friends and family buried in an East London Cemetery, their headstones engraved in Mandarin. The accompanying caption describes the scene:
'The Chinaman pays great reverence to his dead, and continues to pay that reverence even when he is in an alien land. On the occasion illustrated some sixty Chinamen took part in the ceremonies in honour of deceased compatriots. A roast sucking pig, roast fowls, much fruit, cakes, rice and paper 'money' were brought for the dead. Whisky was poured on the graves and joss sticks were burned. On the back of the roast pig 3 crosses were cut. The grave in the foreground received the greatest amount of attention. The ceremony takes place twice a year. It is the belief of the Chinaman that should anything interfere with the repose of the dead, misfortune will come to the living.'