FLIGHTS FROM DEATH: The Diasporic Legacies of Chinese Mortuary Rites
Mae Liu, New York University
17 May 2024
Fig. 1
Encoffining paraphernalia, including wash bins,
robes, and a commemorative portrait of the deceased.
(Kiong)
Fig. 2.
Rural Chinese funeral procession, with
mourners dressed in white robes. (Felici)
Fig. 3.
Joss paper facsimile of a cow, meant
to be burnt to provide food in the deceased’s
afterlife. (Library of Congress)
Fig. 4.
Ancestral tablets in Fuzhou, China c.1905 (Keystone View Company)
Fig. 5. Altar to the
deceased (Kiong)
Fig. 6.
Bone House in Manoa
Valley, Hawaii, with jars
containing bones from graves
awaiting shipment to China
c.1993 (Abraham)
Fig. 7. Bone urn, c.2000, by P. Wegars (Abraham)
Fig. 8.
Park sign in Pierce, Idaho,
denoting site’s history as Chinese
cemetery and exhumation site c.
1997. By P. Wegars (Abraham)
Fig. 9. Bible motif grave
marker in General Protestant
Cemetery (Li).
Fig. 10. Cross insignia on grave marker. (Li)
Fig. 11. American-Chinese photo car
procession in San Francisco. (McNally)
Fig. 12.
Hua Sheng
Guan Yuetuan playing
for a funeral motorcade
on East Broadway, New
York City. by John
Huang (Kaminski)
Fig. 13 Extravagant
burning of mortuary
offerings in Penang’s
Hungry Ghost Festival.
(Kumar)
Fig. 14. Traditional omega-shaped
Chinese tomb in Honolulu,
Hawaii. By P. Wegars, c.1998
(Abraham)
Lùo yè gūi gēn, “a fallen leaf returns to its roots,” is the Chinese idiom for retiring to one’s hometown in old age, or an expatriate’s desire for burial in their home country. For my people—the Hakka of Southern China—the concept of home itself has a complicated history. Our name translates to “guest,” derived from ancestors fleeing war from the Northern capital down to the rural villages in the South. The villages of Fujian Province first became known for strong mortuary superstitions, accumulated from generations of vagrants and their ephemeral hometowns, and second, for its emigrants (a vast majority of overseas Chinese hail from Fujian) (LaCroix 56). Following centuries of movement and political upheavals, where is home for migrant Chinese today? As the third-largest diaspora in the world, these scattered leaves branch far and wide (Kably). Chinese funerary traditions are inherently reflective of individuals’ social identity and ties to their surrounding community. Hence, how have Chinese mortuary beliefs been influenced by, or transformed as a result of, diasporic migration?
Early on, homogenisation of Chinese customs occurred primarily due to socio-political limitations of predominantly anglophone environments, while more gradual changes took place due to urbanisation and growing multiculturalism. Moreover, the transient nature of migrant identity in a foreign space compelled mortuary rites to function as both an assertion of identity to outsiders, and preservation of familial
history for one’s descendants. This study will provide background to Chinese funerary traditions before examining assimilation, urbanisation, and multiculturalism in the context of case studies gleaned from across the diaspora, including North America, Australia, Southeast Asia, and Europe.
In the years following the Cultural Revolution’s purging of traditions in favour of Westernisation (post-1979), China experienced a resurgence of folk spirituality (Dean 19). Concentrated in village communities—which were able to preserve old customs compared to cities where political reform was more active—these included week-long funerary processions, seasonal festivals, and theatrical rituals, as well as the renewal of ancestral halls for death anniversaries (Havik 66). As a locus of religious renewal, the countryside exhibited “considerable overlapping of ritual function between Taoism and Buddhism” (Dean 100). Though individual funerals may vary, most “[combine]...conceptions of the soul and the afterlife with classical Confucian ritual,” as well as Taoist, Buddhist, and local sectarian techniques (Dean 71). Hence, this syncretic understanding of the belief systems co-existing in Chinese society will be the reference point when analysing how customs have changed across the diaspora. Specific funerary aspects examined include on-site rituals (processions, music), paraphernalia (grave markers, altar offerings), and veneration (festivals and anniversaries).
Early preparation is common for traditional funerals, from appointing mourners to carry out the extensive process to consulting geomancers to find propitious burial plots (Abraham 61). As the extravagance of a funeral cemented the deceased’s reputation and reflected the devotion of their family, lavish spending and incurring debts are common in order to uphold a family’s image (Kiong 85). After death first comes the encoffining (Fig. 1), where the corpse is washed and dressed in layers of robes in preparation for the afterlife (Dean 29). Elderly and high-standing decedents’ coffins are publicly paraded to their burial plot outside the village (33; Fig. 2). Offerings of incense, food, and facsimiles of wealth (paper money, houses, servants) are burned for the deceased to use on their spiritual journeys (Fig. 3), while incantations are chanted to ward off evil spirits and comfort the soul that has passed (Abraham 64). Lastly, a tablet with their name is added to an ancestral hall or shrine, where living relatives pay respects during festivals and anniversaries (Dean 36; Fig. 4 & 5). Evidently, funerary customs have both a symbolic significance—spiritual welfare—and social function, indicating the decedent’s reputation and their family’s piety. In migratory contexts, this dual function persists in varying forms—performing for a wider, non-Chinese community, while fulfilling a familial obligation.
To begin, the practice and preservation of Chinese customs abroad were underpinned by legal and migration procedures (such as taxes and permanent residency policies). In environments unaccommodating
to migrants—either in earlier days of Chinese immigration, or in rural, isolated communities—Chinese customs were largely disregarded, or the deceased’s body was simply returned to their hometown. As the first wave of immigrants were labourers contracted to replace slave labour in the 1850s, harsh living and working conditions limited their existence to the margins of their host communities (Havik 58). Consequently, dying overseas, isolated from kin and home, inevitably disturbed the communal roles and familial responsibilities in traditional funerals. Unable to appoint close family or even co-ethnics as ritual-keepers, immigrants were forced to “make accommodations with the host culture” (Abraham 58) This lack of social standing and political significance compelled the Chinese to assimilation and acculturation: Jan Ryan points to “isolated areas far from the Chinese population centre” such as Western Australia as host communities where “funeral rituals and the organisation of burial sites were profoundly compromised” (59). As migrant populations grew, “individualised variations” of Chinese burial rites emerged (58). Bodies were often buried with temporary markers before their exhumation 5-7 years later, when the bones were more suitable for transport and reinterment back in the home village (Teather 2; Fig. 6 & 7). Rural mining towns across Canada, the United States, and Australia show records of regional associations who managed this process: patterned depressions in a forested plot in Pierce, Idaho—once a gold mining camp—point to its former usage as a Chinese cemetery a century prior (Abraham 59; Fig. 8).
This illustrates an adaptation in response to surrounding limitations, and in accordance with traditional beliefs: bones were believed to carry an individual’s “ancestral spirit” and the eternal component of one’s soul, while flesh contained the “mortal, ephemeral” spirit, making this exhumation and reinterment a relatively favourable alternative (61).
However, political unrest soon quashed this solution, forcing overseas Chinese to acclimate to their host country’s resources. “Invasions, banditry, and civil war” in China made facilitating these bone shipments increasingly difficult, with the second World War halting the practice entirely (60). Exclusive immigration policies further restricted travel. Publically performative funerary rites, such as ancestor veneration and festival observances, were foregone; on the contrary, grave robberies grew rampant in Warren, Pierce, and Florence (Idaho) and Baker City (Oregon), where graves of Chinese miners were thought to conceal buried gold (60). Hence, marginalisation of ethnic identity led to an erasure of Chinese funerary aspects. Additionally, in these smaller, anglophone communities, Chinese immigrants assimilated to gain social acceptance. Mu Li posits that in Newfoundland, Canada, grave markers and associated mortuary paraphernalia were used to present an “emergent Westernized Chinese diasporic identity” (55). Grave markers of Chinese migrants were dominated by Christian motifs: clasped prayer hands, book-shaped “Bible” markers, winged angels, and crosses (62-64; Fig. 9 & 10). These insignia therefore held a strategic function, signifying efforts to establish a “new relational identity as Christians” alongside regular church attendance (85). Notably, the dates on these markers forewent the Lunar calendar in favour of
Gregorian formatting (64). As local religious practice reshaped and Christianised Chinese mortuary rituals, they reflected the multiplicity and temporality of this emergent overseas identity, but also a fragmentation from one’s original culture. Small towns in other anglophone countries exhibited similar patterns: “permanent markers tend to follow local practice,” Terry Abraham reports of Chinese burial sites in the American midwest (62). In Northern Australia, sheet metal from a remote mining camp is used as grave markers for Chinese miners instead of the usual, “scarce wood,” due to the former’s durability (62). Despite efforts to maintain connections with one’s familial ancestry, changes to burial customs in these instances reflect an acculturation to the host community’s dominant religion and resources, derived from the desire for social acceptance.
Funerals and other memorialisations effectively became manifestations of changing diasporic identities. Dying “far from [one’s homeland]” consequently “[allowed] a margin for ritual innovation,” and as overseas Chinese proliferated, these changes were expedited by urbanisation and modernisation (Havik 67). Tourism and public image were especially influential factors moulding Chinese traditions abroad. In San Francisco and New York, American cities with concentrated Chinese populations, “Chinatowns” function as both an ethnic enclave and tourist attraction. The deceased’s family are thus bound by both formal and social influences, including business associations, regulatory agencies like the police, and non-Chinese public opinion (Crowder 459). For example, the traditional funeral procession, which involves its mourners walking
barefoot in unkempt hair and loose white mourning robes, was deemed “bad for the image of Chinatown” and a “shabby…old-style village custom” in this newly urbanised context (462). Moreover, animal rights concerns were raised over the sacrifices of and uncaged parades of animals, which were soon “modified to conform to the tastes and legalities of American society” (454) Similar to the assimilation in earlier, rural communities, diasporic Chinese developed a distinct sense of self-consciousness: aware of how individual expressions of “Chineseness” might be misconstrued by the non-Chinese public. The Chinese-American therefore “must negotiate their personal and collective identities” with the “multiple identities and contemporary circumstances” of American society (452).
The result is a modified set of “hybrid ceremonies” with distinctly recognisable Chinese and Western elements: the barefoot procession, for instance, was replaced with a mounted photo on a convertible, and traditional Chinese instruments with a Western brass band (461; Fig. 11). Traditionally, a “sound barrage” of dissonant instruments were used to sonically divert malicious spirits away from the deceased’s soul (Kaminski 85). In New York, where the firecrackers used in traditional sound barrages are banned, the military brass band is seen as an accepted counterpart and replacement (85; Fig. 12). These modernised processions exemplify the migrant communities’ adaptability, having become a “publicly integral part of Chinatown dynamics” and identity (Crowder 452). Furthermore, the services for Chinese-American funerals are diverse: Chinese families with divergent religions (e.g. Buddhist parents with Christian or atheist children) commonly
organise a public, Christian service open to non-Chinese friends and relations, alongside a private, Buddhist-style wake to honour the older generation’s wishes (456). Chapels with burning facilities are repurposed to burn joss offerings and sacrifices (454). Across generations of modified funerary rituals, this syncretic, American-Chinese ritual style takes precedence—further reflective of how diasporic Chinese “negotiate their identities” while being self-conscious of the public image they uphold (454).
Despite these transformations, Gil-Soo Han notes that the symbolic importance attached to mortuary rites persisted, but “[underwent] changes” in modern, anglophone societies like Australia (761). For many generations of immigrants, the gravesite represents a “communication juncture” between one’s ancestral past and future, and funerary customs are upheld in the interest of filial piety (764). Notably, migrants’ sense of their divergent identities in the “non-Chinese territory” is what compels an obligation and loyalty to tradition (766). Even so, Han marks a generational simplification of the practices themselves: while mainland Chinese funerals take several days, the process is streamlined to a one-day itinerary in Melbourne (767). Younger generations cite their dependence on funeral directors’ guidance, attesting to a growing unfamiliarity with folk customs (766). In place of these extensive rites and ceremonies, their core values remain: “Chinese traditional values were maintained but also modified,” Han confirms; “Filial piety and family values are now practised differently” (773). Regardless of urban acculturation and secularisation, Chinese graves are consistently constructed with familial legacy and the desire to be visited by descendants in mind.
Across the diaspora, these mortuary sites continue to function as a “transnational juncture…[linking] kin to the past or to a future homeland,” as well as a symbol for the “legacy of [Chinese] movement and communication” (770).
In the cases of countries with dominant Asian populations, such as Singapore and Malaysia, Chinese communities exhibit similar retention of funerary superstitions, despite simplifications of the rituals themselves. Singaporean religious specialists report that younger family members have “very little knowledge of ritual procedures” but still fear “negative consequences for the deceased” (Kiong 86). Furthermore, Singapore’s dense urban population prevents dramatic processions or the construction of ancestral halls, structural limitations that compromise elements in the original funerary process (87). Though modernity and urbanisation have thrown traditional rituals into a secular, decontextualised state, the acknowledgement of superstition and core values still lingers amongst the people.
Penang, Malaysia marks an exceptional case where Chinese mortuary beliefs were revived as a result of urban politics. The Hungry Ghosts Festival, celebrated in the seventh lunar month, is a major Chinese festival where ghosts are “released from hell” and ancestors revisit their home to collect offerings (DeBernardi 25). These offerings of food, robes, and paper facsimiles of wealth (money, houses, servants) are believed to expedite the soul’s journey through hell (27). Thus,
communal festivities are held for “hungry ghosts” — spirits with no kin or altar—to benefit. In 1974, the Central Committee of Penang began investing in the festival’s observance, transforming “peasant customs” into a “progressive” effort to harmonise Malaysia’s stratified migrant population (25). Conscious of dissonant Chinese religious alignments (Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, and Taoist Chinese coexist in Penang), folk religious frameworks became a political tool to dissolve their discordant tensions (33). The new holiday lasted 3-5 days, boasting shelters for paper effigies, stages for opera and Mandarin pop performances, a community banquet, and over 130 markets spanning across residential Penang (28; Fig. 13). For lower and middle income families, the festival presented a chance to build community and connections across socioeconomic boundaries, while allowing upper-class individuals to elevate their reputation through welfare contributions and charity work. Citing their aim to “present to the world an image of the Chinese community as strong and unified,” the Central Committee of Penang’s actions reiterate the consciousness of public image previously explored in Chinese-America, as well as the inherently communal functions of Chinese funerary ceremonies (27). Though younger cosmopolitan generations are largely disconnected from ritual practice, they remain aware of their symbolic importance. Evidently, the preservation of tradition and sociopolitics are interdependent, allowing diasporic Chinese to unify their community while cultivating an expression of identity for the rest of the world.
Lastly, host countries with religious backgrounds adjacent to the Chinese, as well as growing multicultural values, produced a more compounded intermixing of funerary traditions. Victor Turner suggests that rituals assume a perpetually transformative state; in migratory contexts, traditions are constantly subject to this “process of redefinition”(Havik 67). The diasporic legacies of these folk rituals, for example, stem from the fragmentation of traditions brought on by the Cultural Revolution, and coincide with their “recent revival and reinterpretation” (67). This is demonstrated in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and its notable vitality of Chinese culture. 1962-1992 saw the construction of 12 ritual halls out of the city’s total of 14 (Hill 315). The prominent visibility of Chinese culture in Thai society can be attributed to the success of migrant Chinese businesses and other similar economic contributions (323). The participation of Chinese citizens in local politics fosters an increased receptiveness to expressions of Chinese identity, and Chinese mortuary traditions are easily observed due to complementary beliefs and rites in Thai Buddhism (317, 324). Furthermore, the “ethnic pluralism” of Chiang Mai, whose tourism industry thrives off of its own cultural customs, creates an environment especially conducive to the performativity of Chinese ritual traditions (324). Contrasting San Francisco and New York’s negative view of the “old-village custom,” Chinese-Thai funeral rites are held in Thai Buddhist temples, and made frequent and visible to passersby (316). Hence, the rich celebration of Chinese death traditions can be attributed to the availability of resources due to cultural similarities, and Thailand’s self-exoticising tourism industry. However, Ann Maxwell Hill reaffirms a younger
generation largely unfamiliar with and indifferent to these “waning conventions of the older China-born generation” (322). Belief systems have eroded significantly, and instead, mortuary observances function to reiterate one’s ancestral roots in mainland China, while reinforcing a sense of Chinese identity overseas.
Similar circumstances have unfolded in Hawaii, whose migrant Chinese population boast a “unique social position” relative to the islands’ other multiethnic communities, and—consequently—more social influence relative to other American states (Lau 129). This is evident in Hawaii's celebration of Qingming, another major celebration for ancestor veneration: essentially a grave-sweeping ceremony, it involves the weeding and upkeep of burial sites, re-painting grave markers, and burning incense and offerings on the ancestral altars (131). In Honolulu, however, this festival has evolved into a public, communal spectacle, attracting non-Chinese locals and tourists alike (129). The diverse festivities incorporate practices unique to Honolulu, such as Hawaiians’ affinity for music and performance, as well as the local “social protocol” of “inviting neighbours and friends to attend cultural and familial events” —as with family luaus (134). Featuring performances of Japanese taiko drummers, alongside a Scottish bagpipe band and the traditional Chinese ensemble, this rich juxtaposition of musical styles and customs “reaffirms…Hawaiian multiculturalist ideology” (130). It also attests to the fluidity of diasporic Chinese traditions, demonstrating its ability to absorb and harmonise with outside influences. Though rare and emergent, host communities that exhibit growing multiculturalism have the ability to cultivate
Lastly, host countries with religious backgrounds adjacent to the Chinese, as well as growing multicultural values, produced a more compounded intermixing of funerary traditions. Victor Turner suggests that rituals assume a perpetually transformative state; in migratory contexts, traditions are constantly subject to this “process of redefinition”(Havik 67). The diasporic legacies of these folk rituals, for example, stem from the fragmentation of traditions brought on by the Cultural Revolution, and coincide with their “recent revival and reinterpretation” (67). This is demonstrated in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and its notable vitality of Chinese culture. 1962-1992 saw the construction of 12 ritual halls out of the city’s total of 14 (Hill 315). The prominent visibility of Chinese culture in Thai society can be attributed to the success of migrant Chinese businesses and other similar economic contributions (323). The participation of Chinese citizens in local politics fosters an increased receptiveness to expressions of Chinese identity, and Chinese mortuary traditions are easily observed due to complementary beliefs and rites in Thai Buddhism (317, 324). Furthermore, the “ethnic pluralism” of Chiang Mai, whose tourism industry thrives off of its own cultural customs, creates an environment especially conducive to the performativity of Chinese ritual traditions (324). Contrasting San Francisco and New York’s negative view of the “old-village custom,” Chinese-Thai funeral rites are held in Thai Buddhist temples, and made frequent and visible to passersby (316). Hence, the rich celebration of Chinese death traditions can be attributed to the availability of resources due to cultural similarities, and Thailand’s self-exoticising tourism industry. However, Ann Maxwell Hill reaffirms a younger
generation largely unfamiliar with and indifferent to these “waning conventions of the older China-born generation” (322). Belief systems have eroded significantly, and instead, mortuary observances function to reiterate one’s ancestral roots in mainland China, while reinforcing a sense of Chinese identity overseas.
Similar circumstances have unfolded in Hawaii, whose migrant Chinese population boast a “unique social position” relative to the islands’ other multiethnic communities, and—consequently—more social influence relative to other American states (Lau 129). This is evident in Hawaii's celebration of Qingming, another major celebration for ancestor veneration: essentially a grave-sweeping ceremony, it involves the weeding and upkeep of burial sites, re-painting grave markers, and burning incense and offerings on the ancestral altars (131). In Honolulu, however, this festival has evolved into a public, communal spectacle, attracting non-Chinese locals and tourists alike (129). The diverse festivities incorporate practices unique to Honolulu, such as Hawaiians’ affinity for music and performance, as well as the local “social protocol” of “inviting neighbours and friends to attend cultural and familial events” —as with family luaus (134). Featuring performances of Japanese taiko drummers, alongside a Scottish bagpipe band and the traditional Chinese ensemble, this rich juxtaposition of musical styles and customs “reaffirms…Hawaiian multiculturalist ideology” (130). It also attests to the fluidity of diasporic Chinese traditions, demonstrating its ability to absorb and harmonise with outside influences. Though rare and emergent, host communities that exhibit growing multiculturalism have the ability to cultivate
“bifurcated” sentiments of “belonging and exclusivity” (130). Rather than rejecting or replacing certain aspects—such as the Western brass bands in San Francisco and New York—Hawaii’s receptiveness to tourism and multiethnic influences facilitates the coexistence of Chinese funerary customs with otherwise disparate cultural practices. Hawaii’s Chinese are politically active and make up a significant portion of the population—23%, compared to 3% in California and 6% in New York (130). This, Frederick Lau affirms, is what allows them to use their “privileged social position” to “assert their right and ethnic identity, rather than collapsing themselves into the category of a generic Asian American as in the mainland US” (141). It is in Hawaii and Thailand, too, that Chinese traditional omega-shaped graves and elaborate altars are much more common, in contrast to the Westernised grave markers and tendency to accommodate local customs in Canada, Australia, and a majority of the US (Abraham 62; Fig. 14). Nonetheless, the enduring resourcefulness of Chinese ritual traditions—namely, their ability to absorb and adapt to surrounding cultures—highlights the “collectivist” ideals of the Chinese diaspora (Lau 132). Mortuary rites reflect fluctuating reassertions of Chinese identity, reinforcing a sense of community amongst a displaced people.
Clearly, a higher concentration of overseas Chinese is positively correlated with the retention of authentic burial rites due to access to resources and general social tolerance of multicultural customs. Chinese mortuary
rituals are “modulated through interaction with the host community,” whose sociopolitical zeitgeists determine the extent of these transformations over time (Abraham 67). The visibility of Chinese beliefs corresponds with a sense of acceptance and identity: Irene Rodrigues, in one case, references the “invisibility” of Chinese deaths in Portugal (Havik 56). Despite Portugal’s population of 21,402 Chinese in 2014, censuses reported only 3 to 11 deaths per year, suggesting a lack of self-reporting from the Chinese community (60). Indulgence in rituals abroad coincides with a “relatively recent growth of the sense of community” among Chinese in Portugal (67). Rodrigues argues this increasing sense of tolerance from the surrounding community induces a desire to “share stages of life,” inspiring Chinese migrants to take on more public roles in community life (Havik 67). Moreover, the political limitations on displays of wealth and prestige—established during the socialist reforms of Mao’s China—are significantly more lenient in Portuguese society, granting a greater ritual freedom enjoyed by the migrant population (68). As previously explored in Thailand and Hawaii—communities where Chinese citizens demonstrate successful social lives and community integration—the vitality and preservation of cultural traditions directly depend on the diasporic population’s sense of identity within the host environment.
From the first lone migrant labourers to generations of overseas families, the Chinese have retained varying degrees of mortuary traditions across its diaspora. From
these migrations emerged distinct cultivations of identity through their exposure to surrounding cultures, whose influences have been harmonising at times, and discordant or dominating at others. Major factors like urbanisation and multiculturalism have proven that cultural customs and politics are inextricably linked. Moreover, whether examining the revival of folk traditions in Post-Mao China and Malaysia, or gradual secularisation in rural and metropolitan North America, the transformations of rites and rituals hardly follow a linear trajectory. Nevertheless, the volatile nature of the migrant’s identity in a foreign space prompted these mortuary rituals to function as reaffirmations of cultural identity to the non-Chinese public, and a preservation of familial legacy for one’s descendants. Across generational divides, eroded methodologies give way to a persisting symbolic importance—namely, core values of family and filial piety. In Chinese culture, where the “world order and social structure of the living” culminates in the “manipulation and preservation of the dead,” ritual studies reveal their greater ethnological significance: from elaborate courts systems in the Taoist underworld, or complex karmic retributions in Buddhism, spiritual folklore has always mirrored the lived experiences of Chinese society (Watson 157). These representations, alongside the human desire to be remembered beyond death, become all the more significant in diasporic contexts. After all, when seeds of a culture are scattered far from their roots, final resting places function as a continual dialogue between the dead and living—not simply between an individual and their descendants, but between a vagrant people and all the fragmented histories and homelands that came before them.
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