The Interweaving of Rituals: Funerals in the Cultural Exchange between China and Europe

1 / Chinese and European Funerals

10 1 / Chinese and European Funerals Prescriptive texts influenced, but not necessarily fully controlled, the actual performance of both Chinese and European funerals before their encounter in the early seventeenth century. Such texts are a good starting point for understanding what anthropologist James Watson calls the “elementary structure” of funeral rites—the coherent package of actions, routines, and performances that constitutes the structure of these rites.1 Much can be inferred from the contents of these texts, not only about the rules that came to be accepted as orthoprax, but also about the various ways these rules diverged from contemporary customs at various social levels.2 This variation can also be illustrated by the historical evolutions funeral traditions underwent. They demonstrate, in the Chinese case, how the prescriptive text was used to bring unity into the varieties of ritual and, in the European case, how the text that standardized the practices represents the culmination of quite radical changes in views on death and funeral liturgy that took place in the period between the tenth and the sixteenth centuries.3 chinese funeral rituals The Chinese funeral rituals that are the starting point of this book are those of the Confucian tradition as practised in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).4 The origin of this tradition goes back to early texts, such as the Book of Rites (Liji) and the Book of Ceremonies (Yili), both probably compiled in their present form in the first century b.c.e.5 These classical writings contain detailed instructions about how to conduct a funeral, from the initial stages, such as the ritual washing of the corpse, to the final burial. In the Song dynasty (960–1279) these texts were revisited by scholars of the Neo-Confucian movement (the Daoxue or the learning of the Way), who aimed at reviving the orthodox Confucian tradition. An important contribution of Song thinkers such as Zhu Xi (1130–1200) was to havesoughttoreplaceerrantritualpracticesamongcommonerswithapproved classical rites.6 When the first emperor of the Ming dynasty and his successors chose interpretations of the Confucian teaching contained within the Four chinese and european funerals 11 Books and Five Classics as orthodox curriculum, they continued this reorientationtowardthepropagationof standardsthatwouldcoverbothcommonerand gentleman-o‹cial. Because of the unique combination of a central examination system and the early development of printing, Neo-Confucianism reached a wide radius of scholars and commoners, even if it never became a fully single -minded orthodoxy.7 This spread of Neo-Confucianism also aªected the normative texts for funerals, composed by the same Song scholars. The Major Chinese Prescriptive Text The most important Chinese prescriptive text concerning funerals in the Ming dynasty was Family Rituals (Jiali), compiled by the Song scholar Zhu Xi. It is a manual for the private performance of the standard Chinese family rituals— capping, wedding, funeral, and ancestral sacrifice—with one chapter devoted to each rite. Judging by chapter length, funerals are by far the most important of the rites of passage in China.8 Funerals were indeed the quintessential expressions of “filial piety” or “reverence toward parents” (xiao), a value that by late imperial times was embedded in the core of the orthodoxy and orthopraxy accepted by most Chinese.9 Through funerary rites, filial sons could fulfil their duty to repay the kindnesses they had received from their parents, a duty that did not end with death.10 The elementary structure of these funeral rites comprises the two principal moments of enco‹ning and burial, which are separated by the condolence rites. Family Rituals stipulates a precise sequence.11 Once the dying person has expired, the mourners wail and perform the calling-back ceremony. The presiding male mourner, the presiding female mourner, the funeral director, the letter recorder, and the gift recorder are all identified. The family alters their clothing and stops eating. The co‹n, usually bought well in advance, is prepared , and announcements of the death are sent to relatives, colleagues, and friends. Attendants immediately prepare the corpse for eventual enco‹ning, the first major event in the funeral sequence. They wash and dress the body and then move the bier on which it rests to the central hall of the house, where an oblation is then set out. The soul seat (tablet), soul cloth, and inscribed banner are made. The next morning the attendants arrange the clothes and shrouds for the preliminary laying out (xiaolian, or “dressing the corpse”). The family makes an oblation for the dressing of the body...