In many of the specific examples I have thus far given of separation and reunion in China – for instance, the case in chapter two of the nephew who visits his father's sister, and quietly eats and drinks as his aunt strives to ‘accompany’ (pei) him – my descriptions have turned, often sooner rather than later, to the sharing of meals. Needless to say, more than food is being shared, and of course the centrality of food to Chinese culture makes it difficult, if not impossible, to discuss any major topic (whether kinship or religion or politics) without questions of eating and commensality coming into play (cf. Chang 1977 and Anderson 1988). Food is redundantly a central aspect of Chinese kinship symbolism: e.g. to be a family is to eat rice together, whereas to ‘divide the family’ (fenjia) is to divide the family's stove, and so on. Familial rituals of the life-cycle, perhaps especially the sending-off of the dead (songzang), entail food symbolism of a remarkable complexity and sophistication (cf. Thompson 1988). Local popular religion also routinely involves food-based sacrifice and commensality on a grand scale (cf. Ahern 1981; also see my discussion of the Penghu ‘sending-off’ in chapter three). Meanwhile, the ‘art of social relationships’ in China, at least in public and formal terms, is intimately linked to the arts of gift-giving (the gifts are often food) and banqueting (cf. Yan 1996 and Yang 1994).