Chinese Afterlife

This is one of hundreds of 60-second radio spots created by the Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) for Kansas Public Radio (KPR). The purpose of this outreach program is to introduce the people of Kansas to the culture and current issues of East Asia.Broadcast Transcript: Is the afterlife, like, the best vacation spot ever or is it just your standard bureaucracy with a rigid power structure and officials ranked according to seniority? Written evidence from the Shang Dynasty of 3000 plus years ago indicates that the Chinese came down firmly on the side of a bureaucratic system with a set up that was pretty much the same here as it was in the hereafter. The junior dead, the more recently ancestorized, took care of the small stuff while the senior dead, those with more death experience, took care of the bigger things. Ancestor worship itself was not about remembering people as they were in life but rather about currying favor among the more influential members of the deathocracy. Knowing who to approach was key: you might ask a newer ancestor to make an offering on your behalf to an even older ancestor. Welcome to hierarchy on the higher plane. #ceas #china #hacker #green