Article

Folkways of Abandoning the Aged in Ancient China and Korea: Focusing on ‘Ji-Si-Yao’ and ‘Go-Ryo-Jang’

Author

段曉紅(Xiaohong Duan)

Information

pp. 85~97 / 2018 Vol.27 No.2

Abstract

The immoral deed of discarding older adults in ancient society was a kind of customs that were existed in many cultures. The classical examples of the deed were ‘Ji-Si-Yao’ in China and ‘Go-Ryo-Jang’ in Korea. Most of Korean scholars have denied the existence of the ‘Go-Ryo-Jang’ in Korea, but the existence of the ‘Ji-Si-Yao’ has been proven through a number of field studies in China. According to the studies, the ‘Ji-Si-Yao’ was a custom of making the aged dead unnaturally, one of ordinary matters, and a kind of burial services. Ruminating the ancient custom, people in the era of population ageing should be concerned about low quality of life for contemporary older adults.

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