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Q: Could someone explain this to me ?
Why are Chinese people, in general, so scared to even talk about death ?. It really amazes me how they feel that in order to die you must be old (no younger persons die in China?), equating somehow older age with death. Maybe this is why they are so reluctant to grow older.
In my eyes, death is the only thing that will, for sure, happen, in life. There is no way out of it. So, I do not mind talking about it, planning for it, having my affairs in order for that moment, so when it happens, those behind will not have too much problems. Yet, for Chinese persons, any mention of any of these subjects is totally tabu.
I have a dear and close friend, she is 37 years of age. Her 51 years old brother just passed away a few days ago. The guy got up one morning, and after breakfast went to his car, started it and before driving away to his factory, died inmediately. Indications show maybe a heart failure, but no autopsy allowed by family. She is devastated, spends all her time in bed crying her heart out. And all she repeats is why, he was not old yet. I tried hard to explain to her that you do not need to be old to die, just be alive and you could be dead in a second. But no, she rejects that notion in her mind.
Why here, (and I am sure that many Chinese die at many different ages) there is so wide spread notion that only very old persons die ?.
12 years 7 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
I think it is just the shock because not many people expect to die soon. We all hope to live a full long life. The loss of someone close is never easy and very difficult to accept. This even extends to pets. If you have alot of grief over a death, there is a ceratin amount of denial and questioning. It's not something easy to accept, the loss of someone close..this is true every where.
My thought on this is that Chinese have a strong family culture and to talk about death is seen as bringing bad luck to them and family.
But when its your time its your time.
The communist motto is ignorance is bliss so why remind people that they die, not very blissful.
That's why I enjoy telling Chinese that life is a disease and it's terminal, you begin to die the day you're born, when and where is up to fate.
That and what brisguy mentioned. It's part of their culture to believe in bad luck and speaking about death is bad luck.
If you talk about death, Death will come and pay you a visit just the same way we react when we hear someone mention our name...
