Scythe and the city : a social history of death in Shanghai / Christian Henriot.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Henriot, Christian, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Death--Social aspects--China--Shanghai--History--19th century.

Death.

Death--Social aspects--China--Shanghai--History--20th century.

Shanghai (China)--Social conditions--19th century.

Shanghai (China).

Shanghai (China)--Social conditions--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The issue of death has loomed large in Chinese cities in the modern era. Throughout the Republican period, Shanghai swallowed up lives by the thousands. Exposed bodies strewn around in public spaces were a threat to social order as well as to public health. In a place where every group had its own beliefs and set of death and funeral practices, how did they adapt to a modern, urbanised environment? How did the interactions of social organisations and state authorities manage these new ways of thinking and acting? Christian Henriot's pioneering and original study of Shanghai between 1865 and 1965 gives new insights into this crucial aspect of modern society in a global commercial hub and guides readers through this tumultuous era that radically redefined the Chinese relationship with death.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Introduction

1. Scythe and the City: The Measure of Death

2. Guilds, Charities, and the Community Management of Death

3. Funeral Companies and the Commoditization of the Dead Body

4. A Final Resting Place: From Burial Grounds to Modern Cemeteries

5. Foreign Cemeteries and the Colonial Space of Death

6. Invisible Deaths, Silent Deaths

7. Funerals and the Price of Death

8. The Cremated Body: From Social Curse to Political Rule

9. The Management of Death under Socialism

Conclusion

Abbreviations Used in the Notes

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780804798747

0804798745

OCLC:

1198931675