Publication Type

Book Chapter

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

1-2017

Abstract

In many Asian cities, particularly those that confront increasing land scarcity, the conversion from burial to cremation has been encouraged by state agencies in the last several decades. From Hong Kong to Seoul to Singapore, planning agencies have sought to reduce the use of space for the dead, in order to release land for the use of the living. More secular guiding principles regarding efficient land use in these cities had originally come up against the symbolic values invested in burial spaces, resulting in conflicts between different value systems. In more recent years, however, the shift to cremation and columbaria has been marked and even voluntary. In still more recent years, even columbaria have become overcrowded, and sea burials (the scattering of ashes in the seas) are being encouraged, as are woodland burials (the scattering of ashes in woodlands or around trees) in places like Hong Kong and Taipei. Indeed, the latter has been promoted as the “new eco-friendly burial method.” As burial methods change, so too do commemorative rituals, and the annual Qingming Festival (tomb sweeping) has seen the rise of new online and mobile phone rituals in China. This paper traces the ways in which physical spaces for the dead in several Asian cities have diminished and changed over time, the growth of virtual space for them, the accompanying discourses that influence these dynamics, and the new rituals that emerge concomitantly with the contraction of land space.

Keywords

Qingming festival, Necrogeographies, Columbaria, Virtual space, Netor

Discipline

Asian Studies | Human Geography | Place and Environment | Urban Studies

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

Place/no-place in urban Asian religiosity

Editor

Joanne P. Waghorne

First Page

49

Last Page

70

ISBN

9789811091483

Identifier

10.1007/978-981-10-0385-1_3

Publisher

Springer

City or Country

Singapore

Copyright Owner and License

Author

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0385-1_3

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