Burial Culture And Beliefs Of The Hokkien Community In Kuala Lumpur

The grave reflected the history of an ethnic group.Gravestones as entities of burial cultures,its forms,inscriptions and decorations,reflect the values of people towards funeral cultures.In the same time,it also reflects the political,economic,religious and customs of different era and society.In this dissertation,Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Cemetery as research subject to study and analyze burial cultures and beliefs of Hokkien community in Kuala Lumpur sourced from graves and gravestones.Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Cemetery with 120 years of history is supervised by Selangor and Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Association(SKLHA).It is 148 acres graveyard with more than 30 000 graves which located at Jalan Kerayong,Kuala Lumpur."Yishan"(??)means public cemetery for Chinese immigrants,"Yi"(?)means obligation towards public welfare.In 19th century,Chinese immigrants uprooted from Fujian Province to Nanyang and seek for the survival and livelihood in a new environment.Life and death issue are importance to the Chinese immigrants,therefore Selangor and Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Association was founded in 1885 to take care the Hokkien community and ensure their deceased members had a proper burial.This research is about analysis and discussion based on fieldwork data collection and documentation in Hokkien Cemetery.Data are collected from fieldwork,documentation,depth interviews and participant observation.Besides,the details and information of the religious services and ceremonies are collected by attending the events.The dissertation is divided into three parts.The first part is introduction of the research and determined the meaning of "Hokkien" in this research."Hokkien" in Malaysia means immigrants from the southern region of Fujian Province(????)rather than people from all areas of Fujian Province.Besides that,it also included research methods and literature reviews about Chinese cultures,Chinese cemetery and gravestones' research.The second part is main content of this research and it divided into three chapters.First chapter focused on development and preservation of Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Cemetery.It sorts out the relationship among the Hokkien community in Kuala Lumpur,SKLHA and Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Cemetery.It also discusses about origin and management of cemetery which included burial procedure and cemetery information.Lastly,it focused on the relocation and development issues of the cemetery from the social's perspective.The second chapter is about burial cultures and its connotation of Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Cemetery.It explores burial cultures and social development of Hokkien community from grave evolution,gravestone inscriptions and cultural implications.Data from gravestones will combine with social conditions to deliver nation identity and religious identity of immigrants.It included a case study to proof the relation and ties between Nanyang immigrants and China's hometown.The third chapter discusses the worship of god and ancestor in Hokkien community.The worship of God can be explained through the existence of Feng Shan Temple and "Hou Tu"(??)at the grave.Besides that,ancestor worship of Hokkien community can be explained by filial piety and Autumn Religious Service.The last part is conclusion of this study,included conclusion of the second part and discuss about value and preservation of cemetery.