ABSTRACT
This chapter describes Chinese cultural perspectives pertaining to the concept of continuing bonds (CB). It focuses on the findings of a qualitative study and explores other forms of CB that are not included in the Continuing Bonds Scale. The chapter discusses the complex role of CB in bereavement adjustment, with implications for research and practice elucidated. Sensation-related experiences of CB include bonds in the form of sights, smells, sounds and the sense of touch. The adaptiveness of CB can depend on whether a person can make meaning from the bond with the deceased, and such a meaning-making process is never personal and internal but closely related to the bereaved's interpersonal and socio-cultural contexts. The Value-Action-Sensation model offers an alternative perspective in making sense of CB in the Chinese context. Sensory CB experiences may reveal a need for relational affirmation which induces grief, while action forms of CB provide a channel for proper acknowledgment of grief and collective support.
