Becoming a Comb Sister took great bravery, not least because the designation cast one’s afterlife into uncertainty. Most villages imposed constraints on where women could live if they were old, sick, or dying and had never been married. A “hostless” daughter, as a Comb Sister was called, was not allowed to die in the main house of her natal family, but was removed to wait for death elsewhere, alone, usually in an outlying building—a shed, or an empty house.
Such a “death house” still exists in a small village in Sanshui County. It is a modest brick house, just 20 square metres in size, located outside the village territory.
A glance through the windows revealed three photographs of deceased Comb Sisters, a silent testimony to its former purpose.
