- Title Pages
- Figures
- Charts
- Tables
- Foreword
-
Introduction Cantonese Society in Hong Kong and Singapore: Gender, Religion, Medicine and Money -
Chapter 1 Some Occasional Rites Performed by the Singapore Cantonese -
Chapter 2 Chinese Rites for the Repose of the Soul, with Special Reference to Cantonese Custom -
Chapter 3 Paper Charms, and Prayer Sheets as Adjuncts to Chinese Worship -
Chapter 4 Ghost Marriages among the Singapore Chinese -
Chapter 5 Ghost Marriages among the Singapore Chinese: A Further Note -
Chapter 6 Chinese Women’s Vegetarian Houses in Singapore -
Chapter 7 Chinese Religion and Religious Institutions in Singapore -
Chapter 8 The Emergence and Social Function of Chinese Religious Associations in Singapore -
Chapter 9 The Great Way of Former Heaven: A Group of Chinese Secret Religious Sects -
Chapter 10 Chinese Religion and Rural Cohesion in the Nineteenth Century -
Chapter 11 The Role of Savings and Wealth among Hong Kong Chinese -
Chapter 12 Capital, Saving and Credit among Indigenous Rice Farmers and Immigrant Vegetable Farmers in Hong Kong’s New Territories -
Chapter 13 Some Basic Conceptions and Their Traditional Relationship to Society -
Chapter 14 Chinese Occasional Rites in Hong Kong -
Chapter 15 Notes on Some Vegetarian Halls in Hong Kong Belonging to the Sect of Hsien-T’ien Tao (The Way of Former Heaven) -
Chapter 16 Marriage Resistance in Rural Kwangtung -
Chapter 17 Chinese Traditional Ideas and the Treatment of Disease: Two Examples from Hong Kong -
Chapter 18 Cosmic Antagonisms: A Mother-Child Syndrome -
Chapter 19 Chinese and Western Medicine in Hong Kong: Some Social and Cultural Determinants of Variation, Interaction and Change -
Chapter 20 Chinese Traditional Aetiology and Methods of Cure in Hong Kong - Appendix
- Index
Ghost Marriages among the Singapore Chinese
Ghost Marriages among the Singapore Chinese
(1955)*
- Chapter:
- (p.97) Chapter 4 Ghost Marriages among the Singapore Chinese
- Source:
- Cantonese Society in Hong Kong and Singapore
- Author(s):
Marjorie Topley
, Jean DeBernardi- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
There is a form of ghost marriage which exists among the Singapore Chinese and is known as Yin Ch'u (Ts'u)[Yinqu]. This takes place at a ceremony or group of ceremonies at which two deceased peersons, or more rarely, one living and one deceased, are married. Such forms of marriage appear to be more common among the Cantonese than other dialect groups, although there are marriages being arranged for members of Straits-born Hokkien families. However, the Cantonese are certainly quite open about the fact that they perform them, whereas the Hokkiens have been most reluctant to admit it. Ghost marriages appear to take place for several reasons: to acquire a grandson after the death of the son of the family; to acquire a living daughter-in-law after the death of an unmarried son, when a younger son wishes to marry and his elder brother has died before taking a wife.
Keywords: ghost marriage, Singapore Chinese, Yin Ch'u, ceremony, deceased persons, Hokkiens
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- Title Pages
- Figures
- Charts
- Tables
- Foreword
-
Introduction Cantonese Society in Hong Kong and Singapore: Gender, Religion, Medicine and Money -
Chapter 1 Some Occasional Rites Performed by the Singapore Cantonese -
Chapter 2 Chinese Rites for the Repose of the Soul, with Special Reference to Cantonese Custom -
Chapter 3 Paper Charms, and Prayer Sheets as Adjuncts to Chinese Worship -
Chapter 4 Ghost Marriages among the Singapore Chinese -
Chapter 5 Ghost Marriages among the Singapore Chinese: A Further Note -
Chapter 6 Chinese Women’s Vegetarian Houses in Singapore -
Chapter 7 Chinese Religion and Religious Institutions in Singapore -
Chapter 8 The Emergence and Social Function of Chinese Religious Associations in Singapore -
Chapter 9 The Great Way of Former Heaven: A Group of Chinese Secret Religious Sects -
Chapter 10 Chinese Religion and Rural Cohesion in the Nineteenth Century -
Chapter 11 The Role of Savings and Wealth among Hong Kong Chinese -
Chapter 12 Capital, Saving and Credit among Indigenous Rice Farmers and Immigrant Vegetable Farmers in Hong Kong’s New Territories -
Chapter 13 Some Basic Conceptions and Their Traditional Relationship to Society -
Chapter 14 Chinese Occasional Rites in Hong Kong -
Chapter 15 Notes on Some Vegetarian Halls in Hong Kong Belonging to the Sect of Hsien-T’ien Tao (The Way of Former Heaven) -
Chapter 16 Marriage Resistance in Rural Kwangtung -
Chapter 17 Chinese Traditional Ideas and the Treatment of Disease: Two Examples from Hong Kong -
Chapter 18 Cosmic Antagonisms: A Mother-Child Syndrome -
Chapter 19 Chinese and Western Medicine in Hong Kong: Some Social and Cultural Determinants of Variation, Interaction and Change -
Chapter 20 Chinese Traditional Aetiology and Methods of Cure in Hong Kong - Appendix
- Index