Abstract
This chapter explores the general beliefs and rituals of grieving experience in Chinese culture. As the biggest population in the world, Chinese is not well understood and systematically studied in terms of their approaches to the death of family members. There is an urgency and necessity to explore this important and yet understudied phenomenon. The chapter is to introduce the general beliefs on death and grieving among the Chinese population, by exploring the primary philosophical and religious foundation of these beliefs such as ancestor worship, Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. The combination of the diverse origins is believed to have influenced Chinese people for thousands of years, particularly in relation to death and grieving. Over the long period of Chinese history, beliefs and traditions have formed and evolved on the basis of these philosophies/religions. They have demonstrated surprising persistence as the Chinese culture itself for the past four millennia or even longer. It was also noticed that the integration of other sources, such as Christianity and western culture also helped reform or shape perceptions of death in modern Chinese society and how Chinese families deal with death and mourning. In addition to the review of existing literature, a stand-alone case study based on a concurrent qualitative study will give readers a closer look at how a Chinese family dealt with their loss.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Boss, P. (1991). Ambiguous loss: Living beyond loss. Death in the Family, 164–175.
Boss, P. (2009). Ambiguous loss: Learning to live with unresolved grief. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Braun, K. L., & Nichols, R. (1997). Death and dying in four Asian American cultures: A descriptive study. Death Studies, 21(4), 327–359. doi:10.1080/074811897201877.
Chen, B. (2012). Coping with death and loss: Confucian perspectives and the use of rituals. Pastoral Psychology, 61(5–6), 1037–1049.
Chung, D. K. (2003). Confucianism. In J. J. Ponzetti Jr. (Ed.), International encyclopedia of marriage and family (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 368–375). New York: Macmillan Reference USA.
Cowles, K. V., & Rodgers, B. L. (1991). The concept of grief: A foundation for nursing research and practice. Research in Nursing and Health, 14, 119–127.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2005). Confucianism: An overview. In L. Jones (Ed.), Encyclopedia of religion (2nd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 1890–1905). Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA.
Eerdmans, W. B. (1994). Eerdman’s handbook to the world’s religions. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Field, S. L. (2002). Feng shui. In D. Levinson & K. Christensen (Eds.), Encyclopedia of modern Asia (Vol. 2, pp. 373–374). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Hansen, C. (2003). Taoism. In The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Spring 2003). Retrieved June 12, 2014 from http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2003/entries/Taoism
Hsieh, D.-H. (2002). Buddhism: China. In D. Levinson & K. Christenten (Eds.), Encyclopedia of modern Asia (Vol. 1, pp. 337–341). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Hsu, C. Y., O’Connor, M., & Lee, S. (2009). Understandings of death and dying for people of Chinese origin. Death Studies, 33(2), 153–174.
Jochim, C. (1986). Chinese religions: A cultural perspective. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Kemp, C., & Chang, B. J. (2002). Culture and the end of life: Chinese. Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing, 4(3), 173–178.
Kleeman, T. F. (2003). Taoism. In R. Kastenbaum (Ed.), Macmillan encyclopedia of death and dying (Vol. 2, pp. 873–875). New York: Macmillan Reference USA.
Lai, C. T. (2006). Making peace with the unknown: A reflection on Daoism funerary. In C. L. W. Chan & A. Y. M. Chow (Eds.), Death, dying and bereavement: A Hong Kong Chinese experience (pp. 87–92). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Lo, Y.-C. (1999). The relationship between the Taoist School and Taoism. Journal of Chang Gung Institute of Nursing, 1, 145–154.
Penson, R. T. (2004). Bereavement across culture. In R. J. Moore & D. Spiegal (Eds.), Cancer, culture, and communication (pp. 241–279). New York: Kluwer Academic Plenum Publication.
Picton, C., & Hughes, A. (1998). Understanding the needs of people with a terminal illness from different cultural and religious backgrounds: A guide for palliative care agencies. Retrieved June 29, 2014 from the Department of Human Service, Melbourne: http://www.cotavic.org.au/asn/hacc/resources/Palliative.doc
Ryan, J. A. (1986). Ethnic, cultural, and religious observances at the time of death and dying. Boston: Good Grief Program.
Sellmann, J. D. (2002). Taoism. In D. Levinson & K. Christensen (Eds.), Encyclopedia of modern Asia (Vol. 5, pp. 418–422). New York: Charles Scribner’s Son.
Wass, H., & Shaak, J. (1976). Helping children understanding death through literature. Childhood Education, 138, 159–174.
Watson, J. L., & Rawski, E. S. (1988). Death rituals in late imperial and modern China. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Wheeler, M. S., O’Friel, M., & Cheung, A. H. S. (1994). Cultural beliefs of Asian Americans as barriers to organ donation. Journal of Trans Plant Coordination, 4, 146–150.
Wijdicks, E. F., Varelas, P. N., Gronseth, G. S., & Greer, D. M. (2010). Evidence-based guideline update: Determining brain death in adults, Report of the Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology. Neurology, 74(23), 1911–1918.
Wilson, B., & Ryan, A. S. (1990). Working with the terminally ill Chinese American. In J. Parry (Ed.), Social work practice with the terminally ill: A trans-cultural perspective (pp. 145–158). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
Yang, S. C., & Chen, S. F. (2002). A phenomenographic approach to the meaning of death: A Chinese perspective. Death Studies, 26(2), 143–175.
Yang, F., & Lang, G. (Eds.). (2011). Social scientific studies of religion in China: Methodology, theories, and findings (Vol. 1). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.
Yick, A. G., & Gupta, R. (2002). Chinese cultural dimensions of death, dying, and bereavement: Focus group findings. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 9(2), 32–42.
Yin, J. (2006). Death from the Buddhist view: Knowing the unknown. In C. L. W. Chan & A. Y. M. Chow (Eds.), Death, dying and bereavement: A Hong Kong Chinese Experience (pp. 93–103). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Qin, S., Xia, Y. (2015). Grieving Rituals and Beliefs of Chinese Families. In: Cacciatore, J., DeFrain, J. (eds) The World of Bereavement. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13945-6_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13945-6_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-13944-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-13945-6
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)