Chinese Death Taboos

Chinese people share a long history of poverty, famine, disaster, plague, and political unrest where death was commonplace and the living had few, if any, effective ways of protecting themselves from it. Their anxiety and fear of death and dying are manifested in a wide range of taboo behaviors that are prescribed by traditional wisdom. Social anthropologists have suggested that death taboos and rituals have contributed to the homogeneity among Chinese populations both over the centuries and across oceans in the Chinese diaspora. These beliefs may be changing among younger, educated Chinese people, but on the whole they remain strong and influential.

The common taboos include not talking about death; having no contact with sick and dying people; avoiding proximity to coffins and dead bodies, including their clothing or belongings; and not mentioning the names of dead people for fear of calling back their spirits. Contact with family members of the deceased is avoided, as they are believed to be ritually polluted and the bearers of ill luck. In general, the curtain that divides the living from the dead in the Chinese world is flimsy and permeable and the belief in spirits and their capacity to affect the living for good or bad is widespread. It is not surprising that a varied and complex system of beliefs and rituals has developed to ensure that the dead stay on their side of the curtain.

Death Pollution

All mortuary rites are regarded as unclean, unlucky, and contaminated by evil, so the living must adopt precautions against their influence. Bathing after returning home from burial rituals serves to purify the living from the polluting effects of death. Blankets, clothing, and personal belongings of the deceased, as well as mourning outfits, will all be burned. These rituals of cleansing and the shedding of mourning clothes may also serve to control infectious diseases.

Corpses are thought to pollute everything and everybody in their vicinity, and this pollution and the ill luck that accompanies it can be passed on by secondary contact. Grieving family members are encouraged to stay at home and not to visit others' houses for 100 days after the death. Traditionally, a white (the mourning color) lantern would be hung outside a house where a death had occurred to warn passersby. This sense of being polluted and contaminated can mean that the bereaved become isolated and are denied comfort and support when they need it most. Ignoring the taboos means risking being blamed for the bad luck, illness, or death that may befall anyone with whom they have had contact.

Rituals to Reduce the Harmful Influences of the Dead

Natural deaths may lead to haunting and evil deeds by ghosts, even family members. A corpse, if kept at home, is placed in the sitting room with feet facing the door so that should it rise as a vampire, it will walk straight out of the door instead of harming family in the home. The date and place of burial are carefully selected for the salvation of the soul and to promote smooth reincarnation so that the spirits will move on. Offerings of food and spiritmoney are made to appease any wandering spirits at the funeral. Elaborate funeral and mourning rituals dictate when to cry loudly, who to invite, what [Page 191]to put into the coffin to accompany the corpse, music, religious chanting, dress codes of family members, and food to serve. Paper representations of worldly possessions such as mobile phones, cars, iPods, and clothes, for example, are burned so that they follow the deceased to the spirit-world where they will be available for his or her use. What these objects are depends on standards and content of consumption in that particular community. Ideally, grave sites should be carefully selected with good feng-shui that will bring luck, health, and prosperity to children and grandchildren. However, for many decades cremation has been officially encouraged in China because of the fear of losing arable land to burials.

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