Abstract

How the survivor deals with a man’s death says a great deal not only about the deceased individual’s life but also about the survivor and his society’s approaches to death. All announcements about death are subsumed under “Obituary” section, which is a very prominent feature of most Western newspapers. Chinese newspapers, however, pay less attention to this section due to various reasons. Thus, this thesis will focus on the obituary difference in newspapers from structure to content, analyzing the viewpoints on life and death, affected by Confucianism in China and the Enlightenment in Western world. Examples are to be given of the figure in China and his or her counterpart in Western world of the same field or industry in order to come to the conclusion that Chinese cherish social value of the dead, while the Westerner personal feeling and contribution. Besides the figures, the unknown ones will also be mentioned as they are the majority in daily obituary.

Keywords: obituary; Chinese and Western newspapers; view of life and death; cultural difference

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1.Introduction1

2.Literature Review2

3.The Obituary’s Structural Difference between Chinese and Western Newspaper2

4.The Obituary’s Content Difference between Chinese and Western Newspaper (Analysis Based on Excerpt Obituaries).4

4.1 Politics — a constant theme in both4

4.2 Confucianism and its influence 5

4.3 The Enlightenment and its influence...9

5. Conclusion.11

Works Cited...12