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Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6* x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMl directly to order. Bell & Howell Information and Leaming 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 UMf DEATH RITUALS IN A CHINESE VILLAGE: AN OLD TRADITION IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL CONTEXT DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Gang Chen. M. A. ***** The Ohio State University 2000 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Chung-min Chen Professor Richard Moore Advisor Professor Amy Zaharlick \Departr lent of Anthropology UMl Number 9971525 UMl' UMl Microform9971525 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Leaming Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Leaming Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT Death rituals have played an important role in Chinese society for over two thousand years. Death rituals that followed the elaborated Confucian ritual canons were promoted by officials and elites in imperial China. However, after 1949. the traditional death rituals were branded as superstitious and relics of feudalistic society, and were officially banned. In the early 1980s. as China started its economic reform, the traditional death rituals were quickly revived in rural China. What has contributed to this revival? What do today's death rituals look like in rural China? What economic, political, and sociocultural changes that rural China has experienced in the last two decades are reflected in the ritual practice? This dissertation will address these questions. The ethnographic data were collected in a village in Chongqing in southwestern China. The history of the village was investigated, and so was its contemporary way of life in terms of settlement patterns, demographics, kinship system, economic life, political activities, and religious rituals. After presenting the ethnographic setting, we center our attention on death rituals. The sequence of pre-burial, funeral, and post­ burial rituals usually performed by the villagers is reconstructed. These ii rituals are discussed from a cultural perspective that looks into the symbolic and normative dimensions of Chinese death ritual. The symbolic dimension illustrates the worldview of practitioners, and reveals the meanings of rituals. The normative dimension focuses on social implications of rituals, social relationship of ritual participants, and current socio-cultural structure in the village. It is shown that the basic pattern of traditional Chinese death rituals is well kept in this village, though the performance of many rituals is simplified. The practices of these rituals perpetuate the traditional Chinese cosmology of heaven, earth, otherworld, gods, ghosts, and ancestors, though many younger villagers seem no longer to believe in the existence of heaven and otherworld. This dissertation argues that the contemporary death rituals in the village can be understood as a modified version of the traditional pattern. Such a modification came about in order for the traditional beliefs and practices associated with death rituals to be continued in a changing sociocultural context. £11 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I wish to thank my advisor. Dr. Chung-min Chen, for his help, support, encouragement, and guidance throughout my years at The Ohio State University and throughout the writing process of this dissertation. He was more than an advisor. Over the years, he always helped me tackle problems not only in my study and research but also in my daily life. His hard work and dedication to anthropology and Chinese studies were an inspiration and an exemplary role model for me. 1 greatly appreciate all the time and effort he put forth in editing earlier versions of this dissertation, the great wealth of knowledge and experience he shared with me in the study of Chinese society, and the freedom he allowed me to pursue my individual interests in my graduate studies. 1 am indebted to Dr. Richard H. Moore for his excellent seminars in human ecology and economic anthropology. His lectures greatly expanded my intellectual horizons. He stimulated my interest in the ecological dimensions of fengshui. The trips with him to the Amish farms in Northeastern Ohio aroused my interest in indigenous knowledge in farming, which was incorporated into this study. As a member of the IV committee overseeing the dissertation. Dr. Moore provided important feedback and insights that were very useful for completing this dissertation. My gratitude also goes to Dr. Amy Zaharlick. It was in her seminar on writing grant proposals that I drafted my dissertation research proposal. With her guidance and suggestions, the proposal won a predoctoral grant from Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. In addition, her seminar in ethnographic theory and method prepared me well for the fieldwork and data analysis for this dissertation. I would like to thank Dr. Shu-min Huang of Iowa State University, who made all arrangements for me to come to the States to pursue a career in anthropology and guided me to obtain a Master Degree in anthropology. He also initiated my interest in studying death rituals in Chinese society. During the process of the dissertation research and writing, he was always ready to help whenever 1 contacted him. I am genuinely grateful to Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research which awarded me a predoctoral grant that covered all the expenses of the fieldwork for the dissertation. My sincere thanks also go to the Sun Yat-sen Foundation for a Cai Wan-Iin Award, the East Asian Studies Center and the Anthropology Department of The Ohio State University for the support that made my graduate study possible. I am deeply indebted to my informants in Sanyuan Village for their kindness, cooperation, and information, without which the dissertation could not have been completed. Special recognition is owed to the Xie families of Xiejiawan Village, who provided me with a room and meals, and even did my laundry. 1 really appreciate Mr. Steve Zolvinski’s efforts in editing my dissertation and smoothing out the rough edges. Finally, I would like to thank my wife Jin for her patience and support during the long years 1 spent in pursuing a graduate career. 1 am also indebted to my daughter Jennifer who was brought to the United States at the age of 7, changing her life completely. VI VITA May 25. 1963 ......................................Born, Chongqing, China 1983 ....................................................... B.A., English, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou City, China 199 3........................................................M. A., Anthrpology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 1983 - 1990........................................ Lecturer of English, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an City, China 1994 - 1998........................................ Graduate Administrative Associate. East Asian Studies Center. The Ohio State University 1998 - 2000 ...................................... Course Instructor. Department of Anthropology. The Ohio State Universitv PUBLICATIONS 1. Gang Chen (review), "Cong Caifu dao Quanli: Meiguo Zenyang Chengwei Shijie Qiangguo" [From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of American’s World Role]. Fareed Zakaria. Princeton: Princeton University Press. In Guowai Shehui Kexue Qianuan [Latest Studies of Social Sciences of Foreign Countries], Shen Guoming and Zhu Minyan, eds. Pp. 801-804. Shanghai: Shanghai Shehui Kexueyuan Chubanshe, (1998). 2. Gang Chen. "The Old Tradition in the New Setting: a Preliminary Study of Mortuary Ritual in a Chinese Village." Journal of Ritual Studies. 10(2): 41-57. (1996). VII Gang Chen, "Mortuary Rituals and Social Changes in a Chinese Village." In Marriage and the Family in Chinese Societies, Phyiis Lan Lin, Ko-wang Mei and Huai-chen Peng eds. Pp. 79-91. Indianapolis: University of Indianapolis Press, (1994). FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Anthropology Areas of Specialty: Chinese Ethnology, Anthropology of Religion, Ritual Studies, Human Ecology, Modernity and Developmental Anthropology, Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Agriculture. VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS Page A b stract .....................................................................................................................