Peking, Pechili province, China: hired bannermen in a Manchu funeral procession. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869.

Three people standing outside by a brick wall, two to the right hand side holding flat circular banners up on poles. Seems identical to Thomson's negative number 731, probably one half of a stereo pair. A Manchu funeral procession in imperial China was an extremely elaborate and costly affair. Sometimes the coffin would be carried by as many as 64 men; the canopy covering it was often decorated with embroidered white satin. Wailing household women would follow the procession in carts covered with white material. Bannermen, commonly beggars, were hired to take part. The banners and paraphernalia were integral parts of a Manchu funeral, and they differed greatly from the ornaments used in a Chinese one. For Manchu funerals, the Qing government gave an allowance towards the costs