Jīngguò duōnián piāobó, tā zhōngyú huídào gùxiāng rùtǔ-wéi'ān.
After years of wandering, he finally returned home to be buried in his native soil.
Tips
history
Recorded in the Ming-dynasty story collection 二刻拍案惊奇 - reflecting the Confucian belief that the deceased only find peace once properly interred, which is why delayed burials traditionally troubled the family.
culture
Grounds the historical Han Chinese preference for burial over cremation and the importance of returning a body to the ancestral homeland. Used both literally at funerals and figuratively to mean 'put a matter finally to rest'.
