Jurnal Bahasa dan Budaya China

Through the inscription on the tombstone, the identity of the tomb owner, and even the source of the ancestral homeland can be clearly informed. Knowledge about the elements and writing structure of the inscription is very important for the Indonesian Chinese to trace their origins.This folklore study adopts a mixed research method to analyze 50 Chinese inscriptions in Tanah Gocap Cemetery in Indonesia, which are divided into two types: single-owner and double-owner (usually for couples). The analysis results show that the tombstone inscriptions of the single-owner and the double-owner have the same necessary elements, including information about hometown, identity of the tomb owner, date of birth and death, and the person who erected the tombstone. The writing structure is also similar. However, some inscriptions of the double-owner are influenced by the tradition of male-dominant, so that some elements only contain information about the male tomb owner.