Chinese Funeral Traditions

So unfortunately, last week an employee of mine's grandmother passed away. So the employee went to China for the funeral.

I quickly needed to understand what the expectations and traditions are.

So I called HR and asked around. When an employee's close relative passes away, the company will send a wreath to the funeral.

If you are close with the person and the funeral is local, you are expected to attend the funeral. 

You are expected to bring a white envelope of money to the funeral. Since we did not attend the funeral (it was in mainland China), my team gathered some money and gave the employee the envelope when she returned to work.

Note that the white envelope must have money that ends in a odd number so if you give 100 you need to add 1 to the envelope.

I didn't expect anything further. Then this week the employee returned to my office with an envelope. There is a dollar, a tissue and a candy. She told me that it was tradition to give this back to someone who gave white money. She told me that I must use them today and not take them home or it will bring me bad luck.