Hakka Funeral Dress, Ritual Process, and Clan Order

Based on the Dongyuan cases examined here, this article analyzes Hakka funeral attire as a material system that regulates ritual action. It draws on ritual texts, local gazetteers, costume studies, fieldwork conducted in March 2026 in Dongyuan County, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province, and digital garment reconstruction. Rather than claiming a single uniform Hakka funeral system, it focuses on recurring patterns in the distinction between shouyi for the deceased and for the living. The Dongyuan materials suggest that funeral dress structures touch, sequence, visibility, and social judgment during mortuary practice. Attire localizes Confucian mourning codes while mediating lineage hierarchy, gendered labor, and natal-affinal negotiation. The article contributes to death studies and material religion by showing how clothing can manage transition, evaluate kinship obligation, and preserve moral order at the boundary between body, household, and ancestorhood.