How Chinese Traditions View The Death of a Loved One: Beyond Mourning

Death is something that all people will experience one day. The death of a friend, family member or even an acquaintance will most likely effect life many times during a person’s lifetime. But what if people weren’t allowed to talk about death? In Chinese culture, mentioning death is a way to interrupt the inner harmony of life. This essay about the death of a loved one explores the Chinese culture's unique approach to mourning and celebrating the deceased person, including rituals such as cleaning the body and space left behind, dressing the deceased in their finest outfit, and even placing a mirror and a bag of grain inside the coffin to guarantee their well-being in the afterlife.

When a person dies, funeral rituals are performed to reestablish balance, order, and harmony. When a person dies at home, it brings bad luck to the remaining family members in the household. In Western culture, we typically cremate or embalm the deceased, all while mourning the loss of the loved one. In Chinese culture, the death of a loved one is perceived much differently. Instead of mourning the death of a loved one, Chinese culture celebrates the deceased person and performs multiple rituals on the body of the deceased and on the space left behind, in order to eliminate any negative energy or bad luck left behind.

Celebrating a person’s life can be something extremely hard to do, but when you have a strong support system and set rituals that ensure that the deceased is being taken care of, then it becomes more of an honorable task. If a person dies at home, their family members remove any and all things that may have been tied to the deceased person. This includes opening windows, replacing beds and mattresses, sweeping and cleaning the floors and walls, getting rid of pictures and even burning the deceased clothing. This traditional ritual is supposed to eliminate any negative energy that may have been left lingering around.

Next, it is important to prepare the deceased body so as to ensure a positive afterworld for them. Rituals such as cleaning the body, and the casket and dusting it with talcum powder, and then dressing them in their finest outfit is an honorable way to prepare the deceased. Red is the one color that should be completely avoided when dressing the deceased, as it can lead the person to become a ghost. Men are often buried with coins, while women are often buried wearing jade, as a token of respect. Inside the coffin, a mirror and a bag of grain are also sometimes put inside with the body of the deceased, to lead the way and guarantee that they are well-fed in the afterlife. When sealing the coffin, red paper is left behind in the crevices to keep bad spirits away from the body. Once in the hearse, a lion, if the deceased is male or a crane, if the deceased is female, is placed on the top of the hearse to honor the male or female.

In Chinese culture, colors are an important way to symbolize different events, traits, and spirits. When someone passes away, either a red or a white banner is hung over the main entrance of the home of the deceased to show that someone has died within the home. A red banner stands for good fortune and vitality. A white banner stands for purity, courage, and strength. People are expected to wear white to funerals. Along with banners, mourning pins, which are colored cloth pins, are worn from the first day of the funeral up to one-hundred days after the funeral. If the deceased was male, then the pin is worn on the left sleeve. If the deceased was female, then the pin is worn on the right sleeve. Another traditional ritual that is performed at a funeral is the burning of symbolic paper money. This ritual ensures that the deceased will be financially taken care of in their next life.