China provides a strong test case for the study of afterlife beliefs due to unique cultural and historical influences which have impacted the nation, contributing to a low rate of organ donation, traditional philosophical beliefs emphasizing holism, and a belief in vital energy. The data we analyzed was taken from a set of two studies, both of which were similar in methodology. Participants in both studies were children ages 4-12 and adults from the United States and China. They were presented with three vignettes about a person who died. There were three versions of these stories. After each vignette, participants were presented with questions about the character's emotional, cognitive, psychological, and biological abilities and questions about the existence of their energy and location after death. The first study examined how filial piety might impact beliefs about the continued abilities of the main character following death. The follow-up to the first study did not examine filial piety as a variable, but instead featured an organ that was donated by the deceased. This was to determine further whether the participants believed in the separation of the body and mind. 

Researchers hypothesized that younger children would have more indiscriminate continuity responses overall than their older counterparts, a finding which was seen. It was also expected that there would be fewer continuity responses for biological functions than there would be for cognitive and emotional functions, which was an accurate finding. It was further hypothesized that culture would affect responses, with U.S. participants having greater continuity responses than Chinese participants, and that participants in rural China would have greater continuity responses than those in urban China, a hypothesis that was only partly supported. It was also expected that the condition featuring organ donation in the vignette would influence continuity responses for the functions associated with the organ being featured. Filial piety was predicted to lead to higher continuity scores for the condition in which the deceased character in the story was a relative rather than a neighbor. However, findings did not support this. This study could have positive implications for mental health professionals seeking to aid in grief trauma through a culturally sensitive lens and for those looking to help children manage grief in developmentally appropriate ways. It could also offer a deeper understanding of why the organ donation rate in China is low through the lens of afterlife beliefs.