Why do people wear birthday suits when they die? And why is the life jacket a cotton jacket?

People should wear a life jacket after death to symbolize the meaning of health and longevity. "Life jacket" material can not use fur (to prevent the next life "change" for the beasts) and satin (satin commonly known as "satin", and "satin") " and "broken son" homophone), more cotton and silk, take "sheep" "family" meaning. The number of pieces of clothing, take a single taboo double. Clothing styles more than the same time the dress, no matter when the death, are mainly cotton.

In the old days, there were many things to do. Tunic lining made of red cloth, children and grandchildren will be red-hot descendants. Hat decorated with red tops, also symbolizes the descendants of children and grandchildren red hot. The outside of the man's birthday suit is mostly apricot yellow, the woman's coat is mostly blue, bronze-colored. Shouyi regardless of the inner and outer clothing, all without buttons, only with a small strip of cloth. Instead of buttons, the band alludes to the fact that it will bring a son, a successor.

Expanded Information

The traditional Chinese life jacket is designed to be the same as the daily dress of the Ming Dynasty. History has rumored that this is because when Wu Sangui surrendered to the Qing forces at the end of the Ming Dynasty, he specifically requested that the Han Chinese be allowed to wear Qing clothing during their life and Ming clothing at the time of their death after the Manchu Qing Dynasty moved south. Another theory says that this was a way for the Han Chinese at the time to express their dissatisfaction with the Manchu Qing's shaving of their hair and changing their clothes (the Qing dynasty at the time only stipulated that the living needed to change their clothes, without mentioning the dead).

Most of the modern life jacket is embroidered with five bats. The color of the life jacket is usually blue or brown, with red, pink or onion-white for young women. In addition, there is also a bedding, usually yellow, cover white (meaning gold cover silver), often embroidered with the "Eight Immortals" on the surface of the bedding.

A few villages still use this kind of life jacket, but most of the rural areas and cities have changed their customs, the funeral generally give the deceased to wear neat and clean daily life clothing, customary still called life jacket.

Qingdao City News - Funeral Folklore

Baidu Encyclopedia - Shouyi (Clothing for the Dead)