Kin and Kindred

Most literature on Chinese death rituals has emphasized their importance in maintaining solidarity in the family and cohesion of the larger kinship grouping. Yang, for example, asserts that mourning rites:

have the effect of helping to reaffirm the ties of the family organization and demonstrate group solidarity, at a time when the death of a member, particularly the head of household, tended to disinte-grate family relations. ¹