When It’s Sleepy Time Down South

I spent part of today’s sunny afternoon in the park adjacent to Nanchang’s Qingshan Lake (青山湖). Apart from being aggressively accosted and caressed by what must have been either a mentally unstable grandpa, or just an older gentleman overly-confident that I would be interested in a gay relationship with him, the day was really wonderful. My research proposal has finally been approved by my work unit (they actually have nothing to do with my research and were therefore quite confused as to why I was involving them in an official capacity, but the head of the research institute where I intend to work has stressed that this document from them is essential in moving forward – welcome to doing research in China), I ate an awesome lunch of spicy duck, and I happened to be in the right place at the right time to see a beautiful (but obviously sobering) traditional funeral procession. I was simply resting lakeside when I heard fireworks going off behind my head. This normally wouldn’t have even made me think twice - firecrackers and fireworks are literally a part of daily life here - but I heard the accompanying bay of trumpets and roll of drums, which eventually encouraged me to turn around and see what was going on. Below are two videos that show some of what I saw. In fact, I’m not totally sure if what I saw was a funeral march, but it’s my best guess. Anybody who knows better, please comment. I would love to know more about this custom/tradition, but I was too bashful to ask those participating. And soon after they walked past, the old mossback I mentioned above came to sit next to me, after which point my curiosity about the march fell temporarily to the back of my mind. Anyway, enjoy: