Abstract:

In modern society, the scope of the flow of remains is continually exceeding the boundaries of family organizations and being taken over by larger and impersonal social organizations. Under the trend of the medicalization of death, the hospital has become the focal point of death and dying. As a spatial device of medical knowledge and a constituent of the hospital system, the mortuary has become a place for taking charge of patients’ remains. In the mortuary, there are two concepts of remains: one pertains to the Western medical system’s knowledge and cultural tradition that objectifies and dissects dead bodies, the other is the emotional, ethical, and mutually permeable concept of remains within the context of Chinese social thought. Despite the tension between them, anthropological research finds that these two concepts can be reconciled in commercial activities in the mortuary.

Key words: mortuary, concepts of remains, the medicalization of death