Understanding the Structure and Transformation of Concepts Related to Death in Modern City: In the case of Shanghai

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370953
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cultural anthropology
• Research Institution: Tokyo Metropolitan University
• Principal Investigator: HE BIN 首都大学東京, 人文科学研究科, 教授 (50305405)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 中国 / 上海 / 葬送民俗 / 都市民俗 / 葬儀 / 墓地 / 上場企業 / 都市化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Since 1950s, mortuary houses and crematories had provided service as a kind of welfare facilities in China, and the facility was simply equipped and its service fee was cheap. In 1990s, people who worked in this funeral field in Shanghai began to provide more substantial service and expensive burial place. They increased the service fee, and the funeral industry was developed as normal enterprise. This study aims to elucidate the formation and the structure of the funeral industry in Shanghai and to analyze how it changed form the pervious national-owned welfare facility into a commercial enterprise. Over 3 year, through conducting interviews and distributing questionnaires, data from enterprisers and citizens were collected. The researcher found out the distribution of mortuary houses, crematories and burial grounds in Shanghai, as well as their business details. Living in the big city, Shanghai, people required different kinds of funeral service in different periods of time.

Free Research Field

民俗学