毕业论文（设计）B.A.ThesisAn Analysis of Traditional Chinese and AmericanFuneral CustomsB.A.Candidate:Peng DonghuiAdvisor:Yang YingchunForeign Language DepartmentJiaying UniversityMay25,2008毕业论文（设计）AcknowledgementsI would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfeltthanks to the teachers and friends who have offered me all kinds ofhelp in accomplishing this thesis.A special acknowledgement should be shown to my supervisor,Yang Yingchun who gave me kind encouragement and usefulinstructions all through the writing.I am particularly indebted toanother teacher,Tian Minggang who taught us how to do thereference last term.Finally,I wish to extend my thanks to thereference room of English Department where I found the importantinformation,and the library assistant who helped to supply me withreference materials of great value.i毕业论文（设计）AbstractThis thesis analyses the traditional funeral customs between China and America,focusing on the disparities and the similarities between them.Every culture,irrespective of their origin,has its own distinct set of customs,traditions andetiquettes,which is regarded as a distinguished feature of each culture.Yet at the sametime,some common grounds are always found in two different cultures.It is true withChinese and American culture.As part of a culture,the traditional funeral customsbetween China and America share some common characters while there are obviousdisparities existing there.Due to different cultures,China and America may have different way of thinkingwhich is embodied from respective customs,traditions and etiquettes.Morespecifically,the cultural backgrounds and individual judgment of conviction heavilyinfluence the decision-making process of the funeral etiquettes of different countries.Funeral customs are cultural history themselves.No matter what kind of culturalorigin it is from,funeral will be a must thing in people's lives.For the important statusof funeral,people in China and America all pay great respect to funeral;this isparticularly reflected in the funeral customs.However,traditional Chinese andAmerican funeral customs differ from each other by the following aspects:first,thearrangement and preparation in the funeral;second,the dressing colors;third,theconnection of religious belief and funeral place.The traditional funeral customs arechanging and keeping up with the culture life level,but they will not change thefundamental part that is based on tradition and that is suitable for native nation.