Chinese epitaphs are an ancient memorial style that tend to tell the life of the tomb owner like a human being. Use narrative as a carrier.
The characteristics of foreign epitaphs are humor and humor, mostly using poetry as the carrier. Such as:
Lermontov’s epitaph
Goodbye! Can we meet again?
Who knows whether Death is willing or not,
to bring two unlucky people together?
In this case, farewell, farewell forever!
You gave me life, but not happiness.
You yourself have suffered a lot in the world.
All you experience in the world is resentment,
But there is one person who understands your sorrow.
When people bow their heads and cry over your corpse,
This man stands coldly in front of you,
He doesn’t even wipe his eyes,
Not even moving, silent.
People don’t know what the cause of this is,
They all come to blame him rudely and rudely,
It’s like your last moment before dying,
It was precisely the beginning of his happy moment.
But what did their yelling mean to him? !
You idiots! They will never understand that
it is much easier to cry loudly than to show pain without showing it!
Epitaph of John Charles Goodsmith
Do not stand on my grave and weep,
I did not sleep, nor am I here.
I am the wind, blowing in all directions,
I am the snow, shining like diamonds.
I am the sunshine, caressing the mature manor,
I am the drizzle, falling on the soft autumn.
In the morning, I am the light and hovering bird,
silently accompanying you when you get up in a hurry.
At night, I am those gentle and twinkling ones again.
So, don’t stand on my grave and cry,
I am not here, I have not left.
You who are alive, please listen carefully to my words.
I will still accompany you with my life and watch your journey.
[Buckinghamshire, England]
These two reflect the cultural differences between East and West.
The Chinese have always had a large number of people, so the Chinese’s epitaphs praise the deceased’s achievements and hope that their name will remain in history.
People abroad, especially Westerners, may be more rational and have long seen that old age and death are inevitable, so they are more free-spirited and dare to smile in the face of death.