Chinese children's understanding of death

This paper investigates young children’s understanding of death. Research on this topic among preschool children is limited, especially in the context of Chinese culture. A total of 26 young children aged five to six years, drawn from two classes at a preschool in Hong Kong, participated in the study. In documenting children’s views on death, this study contributes to an understanding of death education in a preschool context, and explores possible ways of helping children to cope with the associated emotions. Through the use of open-ended measures, the children were asked to describe their experiences and views related to death. The children’s conceptions could be grouped into four themes: causality; emotional reaction; death-related sociocultural practices; and character status. Finally, the various factors that contribute to children's understanding of death and use of coping strategies are discussed. Copyright © 2010 Early Childhood Australia Inc.