Birth, old age, illness and death is the natural law of nature, no one can reverse, although the emperors of all dynasties are looking for eternal life, but it is difficult to escape death after all, but if you look closely, you will find that after the death of a person, relatives often cover the face of the deceased with a white cloth, from ancient times to the present, this custom is still in use, why is this?
The "Zhou Li" is the collection of major ceremonies, and the earliest funeral is also from the Western Zhou Dynasty, "Zhou Li Chunguan Dazongbo" records: "Mourn the worries of the state with fierce etiquette, and mourn death with funeral rites." And the funeral rites are very cumbersome in the "Zhou Li", and the "five clothes" alone must be worn according to the status of relatives, but in the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was no such thing as covering the face.
The burial system in the Spring and Autumn Period also supplemented some omissions in the Western Zhou Dynasty, such as the time limit for burial, which is recorded in the Book of Rites and Five Systems: the son of heaven is buried on seven days and buried in July; the princes are buried on five days and buried in May; doctors, scholars, and shuren are buried in three days and buried in March. The time of burial varies according to status, and the face cover is also called: "face paper".
The word also has to start from Fu Cha and Wu Zixu, Wu Zixu is the doctor of Wu Guo Fu Cha, in 494 BC, Gou Jian sent troops to attack the State of Wu, the two armies fought a decisive battle in Fu Jiao, Gou Jian was defeated, surrendered to Fu Cha, Wu Zi Xu saw that Gou Jian could be tenacious and hard-working, it was a big scourge, so he proposed to get rid of Gou Jian, but Fu Qiao did not listen, and continued the Northern Expedition to the State of Qi.
Wu Zixu repeatedly made fruitless remarks, Fu Cha distrusted him even more, so he reused Dazai Boyao, Dazai Boyao wanted to completely take power, he framed Wu Zixu for wanting to rebel, Wu Zixu had repeatedly provoked Fu Cha, Fu Cha gave him a sword to commit suicide, Jun wanted to die and Wu Zixu was also powerless to return to heaven.
In 473 BC, Gou Jian attacked the State of Wu, and Gou Jian originally wanted to exile Fu Cha to Yongdong and give him a hundred households to let him retire, but Fu Cha said: "I am old, and I can no longer serve the King of Yue." I regretted not listening to Zi Xu's words, and when I died, I covered my face, and I had no face to face him" So I drew my sword and killed myself.
Since the birth of the husband to hang themselves, the "face paper" has slowly been passed down, because the ancients had a reverence for ghosts and gods, all the faces also have the meaning of resting, but from the perspective of technology, there are three important reasons.
First, ancient medical technology is backward, easy to misjudge death, when in order to prevent suspended animation on the face covered with a thin yellow paper or white paper, if people do not die, the paper will be shaken because of weak breathing, but because of the exhaled breath description of the formation of water vapor, will wet the yellow paper, so it evolved into a white cloth.
Second, in order to prevent the spread of bacteria, from a medical point of view, people lose immunity after death, the body bacteria will increase, cover the face can reduce bacteria to a certain extent, the third is to prevent the family from being frightened, the death of relatives is sad, seeing the corpse will often be more sad, so out of science and morality, it is covered with a white cloth.