Wishing happiness and long life to a new-born child seems natural enough, but less obviously, gold also has a role to play in the Chinese way of death.Following a miscarriage, Second Sister You in The Dream of the Red Chamber is depressed and joyless, and finding that there is nothing left to bind her to the world, decides she might as well end it all.
為新生命祈福、祝禱，言之成理；想不到臨終閉口，金子也有一用。《紅樓夢》中尤二姐因為腹中胎兒未能保全，鬱鬱寡歡，想到世上無所留念，不如自做了斷。