ABSTRACT
Since Chinese antiquity, two opposing ideals of conducting funerals have been debated: “lavish” or “frugal”. “Lavish funerals” (houzang 厚葬) were commonly practiced throughout all levels of society but condemned by Confucianists. During the 20th century, socialists in China continued the criticism against costly burials. Like the Confucianists, they formulated an ideal of “frugal” burial (bozang 薄葬). Because Confucianism was seen as a “feudalist” ideology, the Confucian arguments for frugality were ignored and the socialists formulated their own ideal of frugality, which became the topic of a socialist discourse, aiming at the reform of Chinese burial practice.
