自天子至士，各有次。
From the Son of Heaven down to a man-of-service, each followed procedures appropriate to his rank.
贈死不及柩尸，弔生不及悲哀，非禮也。
To bring gifts to the deceased without bearing them to the deathbed or the coffin and to commiserate with the living with no appearance of grief was a violation of ritual.
故古者吉行五十里，奔喪百里。
Thus, in ancient times, one would travel fifty li each day when undertaking a journey to convey felicitations to someone; whereas, if the purpose of the journey was to take part in rites of mourning, one would travel a hundred li each day.
贈賵及事之謂時。
Presenting gifts of carriages, horses, and rolls of embroidered cloth in time for the funeral (ji shi 及事) was called “timeliness” (shi 時), which was of prime importance in the performance of ritual.
時，禮之大者也。
A passage in the Spring and Autumn Annals says, “The Heaven-ordained king had his steward Huan come to deliver feng 賵 for Zhong Zi, the consort of Lord Hui.” What does the term feng mean?
春秋曰：「天王使宰咺來歸惠公仲子之賵。
」賵者何？
In funerals this term refers to carriages, horses, and rolls of embroidered cloth.
喪事有賵者，蓋以乘馬束帛。
Carriages and horses were called feng, domestic goods were called fu 賻, gowns and coverlets were called sui 禭, objects to be held [by the corpse] in the mouth were called han 唅, and decorative curios were called zeng 贈.
輿馬曰賵，貨財曰賻，衣被曰襚，口實曰唅，玩好曰贈。
Those who knew the living would give fu and feng, whereas those who knew the deceased would give han and zeng.
知生者賻、賵，知死者贈、襚。
Han and zeng were used to send off the dead, whereas fu and feng were used to assist the living.
贈、襚所以送死也，賻、賵所以佐生也。
Carriages and horses, rolls of embroidered fabric, domestic goods, gowns and coverlets, and decorative curios—why did these categories of objects exist?
輿馬、束帛、貨財、衣被、玩好，其數奈何？
The answer is this: The equipages given to a Son of Heaven were six in number; those of a regional lord, four; those of a court officer, three; those of a higher-ranking man-of-service, two; and those of a lower-ranking man-of-service, one.
曰：天子乘馬六匹；諸侯四匹；大夫三匹；元士二匹；下士一匹。
The rolls of embroidered fabric given to a Son of Heaven were five in number, three black and two red, each fifty feet long; regional lords were given three black rolls and two red rolls, each thirty feet long; court officers were given one black and two red rolls, each thirty feet long; higher-ranking men-of-service were given one black and one red roll, each two zhang long; lower-ranking men-ofservice were given one roll of colored brocade and one roll of white brocade; whereas commoners were given one roll of hempen fabric and one of brocade.
天子束帛五匹，玄三、纁二，各五十尺；諸侯玄三、纁二，各三十尺；大夫玄一、纁二，各三十尺；元士玄一、纁一，各二丈；下士綵縵各一匹；庶人布帛各一匹。
天子之賵，乘馬六匹，乘車；諸侯四匹，乘輿；大夫曰參輿；元士、下士不用輿。
The feng given to a Son of Heaven consisted of six four-horse equipages; that given to a regional lord consisted of four small equipages; that given to a court officer consisted of three small conveyances; whereas no carriages or horses were given to higherand lower-ranking men-of-service.