How Long Did It Take to Plan a Funeral? Liu Kai’s (947-1000) Experience Burying His Parents

Abstract

Since ancient times, the Confucian Classics gave detailed guidelines regarding a son’s filial obligations toward his parents. The son, for example, was instructed to devote himself to his parents’ physical and emotional wellbeing. At the time of their death, he was expected to wear mourning clothes made from coarse linen, to live in isolation, and to deprive himself of material comfort. Among a mourning son’s most sacred duties was giving his parents a proper burial, which would effectively transform them into ancestors. Such classical prescriptions aside, actual filial practice varied greatly over the course of Chinese history. Using Liu Kai’s experience, this case study aims to illustrate the tremendous challenges that sons and other family members faced in funeral planning during the Northern Song. It especially highlights the extent to which office-holding and government policies affected elite family life and the tension between fulfilling familial obligations and official responsibilities.

Keywords

Northern Song / Liu Kai / death / burial / filial piety / ancestral graveyard

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2019 Higher Education Press and Brill