ABSTRACT
Along with birth, death claims a central place in many cultures as one of the universal rites of passage. In positing a tripartite structure of rites (namely, separation, transition and incorporation), van Gennep (1960) is of the view that it was the theme of transition rather than that of separation which dominated funeral rites. Not only do these rites mark the transition of the deceased from the world of the living towards the world of the dead, they could also ease the transition for people who have been bereaved, drawing them from the world of the dead towards the world of the living (Littlewood 1993:75). Indeed, in Chinese culture, death is often treated as an important rite of passage, both for the dead as well as for the living. Watson (1988:4), for example, argues that ‘proper performance of the [funeral] rites…was of paramount importance to determining who was and who was not deemed to be fully “Chinese”’. Beyond ushering the deceased into a different world, these rites also reinforce values associated with Chinese social structure such as filial piety and the maintenance of lineage, affirm participants’ (both the dead and the living) belonging to their ethnic community, and help restore the living to their everyday worlds.
