Is it necessary for peers to bow during a funeral?

No, bowing is sufficient.

Folk funeral ceremony in the prevalence of kneeling, bowing seems to be "not complete the intention" of the suspicion that there is a loss of "filial piety". 1917 Cili County, Hunan Province, a return to the township officials in the funeral of his father in the three bows, the results of the "The crowd under the stairs clamor, said to bow to easy comical forehead, the father's death of the so-called what this ceremony, do not want to watch, then a coaxing stand each scattered." (Republic of China, Cili County Records, Volume 17, Customs.) This official was eager to use the new style of funeral rites to change the traditional funeral rites, and the result was a big failure. In the funeral of the elders, the younger generation to bow, so far still difficult for the Chinese people to accept, such as children in front of their parents' graves or spirit of bowing instead of kneeling, more than public opinion to be criticized. Now, in the funeral rites, the official implementation and civil compliance is two sets of rituals, each with a different standard of value.