Ning Zhou | 念nian: translating the ritual practice of ancestral worship in China

 
Usually held in homes or temples, ancestor worship in China is a ritual practice in which family members gather to prepare meals, burn paper money, and pray to the deceased family members on specific dates. Served as communication to the deceased members, the practice is based on the religious belief that the deceased family members have a continued existence spiritually which will look after the living ones, with the ability to influence the fortune of their lives. However, huge changes took place when Chinese society went through the process of modernity with the rapid development of science and technology. On the one hand, commented as superstitious and backward, the ritual practice has lost much of its significance in Chinese people’s life, especially among the young generations. At the same time, the ritual practice has extended itself by transforming into different forms with the application of multi-media and the widespread social media platform in the new digital era. The project strives to bring in new reflections on the ancestral worship culture and more broadly, the fact of death. Furthermore, it also poses questions on how would the old ritual be perpetuated or transformed in the near future. How would we be remembered or forgotten?

Throughout the working process, I have encountered various difficulties and stages of doubting and anxiety. What brought me back to the track is a small break from the computer screen and a return to the origin of my intention of doing the project. I went back home and talked with my grandparents about the ritual practice. What I got from them is not only the informative background knowledge and personal history of the transformation of the ritual but also the experience of conducting deep conversations with my family members about their past and the family history that I have never heard about. At that point, I grew the feeling that the project had become something more than a project of live performance that I have been doing, but deeper broader research that I‘m doing together with my family members. To add more of those personal elements to the project, I recorded my grandmother’s voice of the praying lines she constantly says when burning paper money. The content is mainly about calling the deceased family members, the wishes that are hoped to be realized with their blessings, and hoping for them to have a good meal and return.