Funeral of Mr. Wang : life, death, and ghosts in urbanizing China / Andrew B. Kipnis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kipnis, Andrew B., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Funeral rites and ceremonies--China--21st century.

Funeral rites and ceremonies.

Death--Social aspects--China.

Death.

Social change--China.

Social change.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 163 pages) : illustrations, maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Funeral of Mr. Wang

Place of Publication:

Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2021]

Summary:

"In rural China funerals are conducted locally, on village land by village elders. But in urban areas, people have neither land for burials nor elder relatives to conduct funerals. Chinese urbanization, which has picked up drastically in the past decades, has involved the creation of cemeteries, state-run funeral homes, and small private funerary businesses. The Funeral of Mr. Wang examines social change in urbanizing China through the lens of funerals, the funerary industry, and practices of memorialization. It analyzes changes in family life, patterns of urban sociality, transformations in economic relations, the politics of memorialization, and the echoes of these changes in beliefs about the dead and ghosts"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The funeral of Mr. Wang

Of transitions and transformations

Of space and place : Separation and distinction in the homes of the dead

Of strangers and kin : moral family and ghastly strangers in urban sociality

Of gifts and commodities : Spending on the dead while providing for the living

Of rules and regulations : governing mourning

Of souls and spirits : secularization and its limits

Of dreams and memories : a ghost story from a land where haunting is banned

Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

OCLC:

1236900649