Description
Book SynopsisDeath is a topic that has fascinated people for centuries. In the English-speaking world, eulogies in poetic form could be traced back to the 1640s, but gained prominence with the graveyard school of poets in the eighteenth century often stressing the finality of death. Chinese American Death Rituals examines Chinese American funerary rituals and cemeteries from the late nineteenth century until the present in order to understand the importance of Chinese funerary rites and their transformation through time. The authors in this volume discuss the meaning of funerary rituals and their normative dimension and the social practices that have been influenced by tradition. Shaped by individual beliefs, customs, religion, and environment, Chinese Americans have resolved the tensions between assimilation into the mainstream culture and their strong Chinese heritage in a variety of ways. This volume expertly describes and analyzes Chinese American cultural retention and transformation in rituals after death.
Trade ReviewIn this book, eleven historians and anthropologists combine to give the broadest and most nuanced coverage to date of Chinese American death rituals. Recommended. * CHOICE *
This volume contains a number of invaluable reports of archaeological findings on Chinese death-ritual practices in America in the 19th and 20th centuries. It looks at the migration history of the overseas Chinese from a special angle, and sheds new light on our understanding of the living culture—through studying the dead—of the early Chinese sojourners in the West. * Journal Of Chinese Overseas *
Chinese American Death Rituals: Respecting the Ancestors is a valuable addition to the increasingly important subject of death ways. This highly readable work should be of tremendous interest to archeologists, ethnographers, folklorists, landscape historians, cultural geographers, and architectural historians. -- Jeffrey L. Durbin * The Journal Of Heritage Stewardship, Winter 2009 *
"A brand-new look at [Chinese American] history. At times it sneaks up on the reader and positively enthralls." * The Asian Reporter *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Chapter One: "What WE Didn't Understand": A History of Chinese Death Ritual in China and California Chapter 3 Chapter Two: On Dying American: Cantonese Rites for Death and Ghost-Spirits in an American City Chapter 4 Chapter Three: Archaeological Excavations at Virginiatown's Chinese Cemeteries Chapter 5 Chapter Four: Venerate These Bones: Chinese American Funerary and Burial Practices as Seen in Carlin, Elko County, Nevada Chapter 6 Chapter Five: Respecting the Dead: Chinese Cemeteries and Burial Practices in the Interior Pacific Northwest Chapter 7 Chapter Six: Remembering Ancestors in Hawai'i Chapter 8 Chapter Seven: The Chinese Mortuary Tradition in San Francisco Chinatown Chapter 9 Chapter Eight: Old Rituals in New Lands: Bringing the Ancestors to America
