While death is scary in almost all cultures and civilizations, there are different views of taking and accepting this debilitating truth of life. In Western societies, death is almost forbidden, and it entails a process of profound bereavement and grief, sometimes unnecessarily. By contrast, Chinese embrace death by finding a solace in the fate. This paper, having referred to the relevant literature, presents a holistic account of the variations between these two cultures.
Phillippe Aries' book, Western Attitudes Towards Death from the Middle Ages to the Present, highlights a comprehensive chronology of death as considered by Westerners. While they accepted death nonchalantly in forth through eleventh centuries, the culture stepped into the period of forbidden death in the 20th century. Now, natural death evokes intense feelings of unease and denial. This period makes a sharp wedge between the living and the world of the dead. As Geoffery Gorer has conceded- death is avoided in western nations as intensely as pornography. This trend is more specific to European nations than their American counterparts.
It seems that technological strides in Western countries have made it difficult for people to come to terms with death. They die with less equanimity than their grandparents. Meeting it with fear and despair slip them into hopelessness and depression. The Journal of Clinical Ethics mentions that efforts are undergoing to modernize the art of dying inclusive of palliative medicine, advanced directives, and hospice care. However, more than 50 percent Americans die in hospitals though most of them wish to die at homes. Death, in America, also signifies the inefficacy of physicians. Ironically, Kubler-Ross blames medical advancement, which provides the hope for longer life, for fearful death.
Unlike Western thinking, waiting for the destiny is the model that best explains the Confucian idea of death, fate, and destiny. The theory recommends people to leave the things on the fate that are beyond their control. As such, people take life and death as the verdict of Heaven; it makes their grieving and bereavement less intense than they would have felt without succumbing to the idea of fate.
In Western and Chinese culture, the fundamental difference is 'existential'. While Western cultures emphasize individual existence, existence for Chinese is embedded in the family. They rely on the concepts of the afterlife to mitigate the agony of the deathbed. Apparently, different existential perspectives facilitate Chinese to cope with grief in a more humble way than their Westerner counterparts. The three aspects that help elderly from East Asia to 'embrace' death are the relational autonomy of the family, self-transformation to sagehood, and Confucian ethico-religiosity. Chinese conceive immortality through virtue-building, preserving, and achievement. When an East Asian man follows the Confucius path of self-transformation to sagehood, he prepares himself to face death with no fear and boredom. Furthermore, East Asian people believe that they are enabled to keep their spirits live through family names and rituals. Thus, a person is not forgotten. While Chinese embrace death, Westerners reject it.
The difference occurs not only in approach but also in practices both cultures follow. Cremation is the method most common in the Europe societies, and dead bodies are buried in a grave in the cemetery. At times, burial occurs in chamber or vaults. Bodies are placed on its back with extended legs. However, there are many variations in minor practices as Buddhists put the head to the North and Christians put the feet towards East. Chinese don white clothes and transfer food, money, and goods. They use light music to accompany the corpse and facilitate the settling down of the spirit. Having sealed the corpse in an air-tight coffin, they expulse it from the community.
Explicitly, the Western concept of death is actually distorted. The greatest example of it can be seen in the way they cope with the death of celebrities. Elvis Persley, The "King of Rock and Roll", was a national icon who fetched more attention than any other cultural icon of that time. His death in 1977 not only affected Americans; it, rather, challenged the whole American culture. Fans began questioning whether he had actually died. Even after the burial, fans continued to throng the cemetery searching for the 'relics.' They kept asking a plethora of questions concerning his last days and the death certificate. The primary reason might be the change in Elvis' physique due to drug addiction in recent years. His body in the coffin, thus, did not resemble the image that fans remembered. They theorized that Elvis had faked his death to pacify the pressures of life. They even claimed the possibility of his comeback. Succinctly, Elvis was suspected of cheating death; it is the prime example of the non-acceptance, denial, and discomfort existing in the attitudes of Westerners.
The extreme negativities concerning death can be, to some extent, ameliorated by the cultural exchange and an integrated view. Persuading people to shun extreme individualism to connect themselves to the family will help them cope the stress in a better manner. Additionally, spiritual or psychological support to the dying will also solve the purpose to an extent. Hospices are the right approach, especially for patients with cancer and AIDS. Finally, people need to learn more about other faiths and their good values and try to imbibe those in their thinking.
References
Goldin, P. R. (2014). Confucianism. New York: Routledge.
Gorer, G. (1965). Death, Grief, and Mourning in Contemporary Britain. London: Cresset Press.
Johnson, J. A. (2014). Denial: The American Way of Death. Retrieved September 1, 2016, from orthodoxytoday.org: http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles4/JohnsonDeath.php
Lee, S. K. (2009). East Asian Attitudes Towards Death- A Search for the Ways to Help East Asian Dying in Contemporary America. Perm J , 55-60.
Philippe, A. (2010). Western Attitude Towards Death: From Middle Ages to the Present. JHU Press.
