Duong, Tra Huong Thi2015-07-012020-05-252015-05-24https://hdl.handle.net/1813/40329In this thesis, I have combined a historical analysis of traditional Chinese death rituals in China with an ethnographic record of contemporary death rituals practiced in the Chinese Hoa community in Ho Chi Minh City. At its core, this thesis is a study of Chinese Hoa cultural resilience, adaptation and the use of death rituals as a process of "reinscription" of Chinese Hoa cultural identity through the maintenance of traditional customs and practices. During my research it became evident from the traditional and contemporary rituals (analyzed here) that contemporary death rituals are in many ways more complex, albeit generally less onerous, than their traditional predecessors. Rather than adopting Vietnamese traditions and incorporating them into their own death rituals, the Chinese Hoa people in Ho Chi Minh City have instead modified and re-invented old rituals and situated them within a modern context as a means of maintaining their ethnic identity.en-USdissertation or thesis