A Day of Remembrance
Ritual for ancestors becomes national mourning for lives lost to the novel coronavirus outbreak
Zhang Yupeng was standing on his balcony in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in east China, waiting for the clock to strike 10 on April 4. It was the day of Qingming Festival, the traditional time to remember one’s ancestors and other departed souls and pay respects to them. Sharp at 10 a.m., air raid sirens started wailing while the traffic on the road below him came to a standstill, with the drivers sounding their horns.
“I was moved,” Zhang told Beijing Review. “I saw the traffic stand still for three minutes. It showed people’s respect for those who died in the novel coronavirus epidemic, for the work of the medical staff and for life itself.”
The Qingming Festival this year also became a day of national mourning, as people remembered the over 3,000 people who died from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), including frontline workers like doctors and nurses.
Besides air raid sirens and car horns, ships and trains also sounded their horns. The national flag flew half-mast across the country and in all Chinese embassies and consulates abroad. In Beijing, President Xi Jinping and other leaders took part in the national mourning. Public recreational activities were suspended nationwide.
In Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province in central China where the outbreak created the greatest havoc in China, city lights turned red at 10 a.m. and all road traffic came to a standstill for three minutes.
Dr. Gauden Galea, the World Health Organization’s representative to China, said on a Chinese social platform that as people continue their fight against the pandemic, they are reminded of those who are no longer fighting alongside.
“Their life, their legacy becomes part of our collective memory and effort to build a better, safer and healthier future,” he said.
As of April 7, a total of 81,802 confirmed COVID-19 cases had been reported on the Chinese mainland, and 3,333 people had died, according to the National Health Commission.
Following rituals
The Qingming Festival, also known as TombSweeping Day, is the traditional time to pay tribute to ancestors by sprucing up their graves, making special offerings and burning joss sticks and paper money for them. According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA), 9.78 million people visited cemeteries to remember departed family members in 2019.
This year, in the aftermath of the epidemic, many cities have suspended group activities to ensure social distancing and prevent cross-infections. Some burial grounds require prior reservations to control visitor numbers.
Beijing launched a reservation system for visiting graves from March 19. Visitors need to register first with their personal information and on arriving at the site, have to get their temperature checked.
Meng Xiankai, Deputy Director of the Babaoshan People’s Cemetery in Beijing, one of the largest cemeteries with over 60,000 graves, told Xinhua News Agency the average daily visits to the cemetery were around 15,000 during the period in previous years, but the number decreased this year due to the outbreak.
Those who are unable to book time slots to visit the graves can avail of remote services. Graveyard workers will clean the graves and put flowers on them if required. Some cemeteries offer livestreaming so that people can stay at home and watch the cemetery staff undergo the rituals on their behalf. This innovation has been popular much before the epidemic struck since it enables people living in other provinces or countries to observe the tradition.
According to the MCA, nearly 13.4 million people in China used online platforms to observe the ritual on April 4.
Tech meets tradition
The integration of technology with tradition is creating a new breed of entrepreneurs.
Fu Chuanyuan was a law student in 2008 when he came up with an idea to improve the traditional way of observing the festival. He created a website to provide online memorial services. Families can book a memorial room online where they can invite their relatives and friends to join in.
Due to the epidemic, cloud tomb sweeping has become a good option.
“Today, people are more willing to accept new things,” Fu told Beijing Review. “Online commemorations also save a lot of time and money for people living away from their hometowns.” His company has nearly 1 million users.
Fu attributes it to government policies and greater environmental protection awareness among people. People gathering at the graves and burning large amounts of joss sticks and paper money can affect the air quality and create safety issues.
For instance, last year, 60 percent of the forest fires in Chongqing in southwest China occurred during the Qingming Festival holiday, according to the municipal forestry authority.
In 1997, the State Council, China’s cabinet, issued regulations for conducting funerals and burials. Since then, the government has released new guidelines to manage, reform and standardize these events.
In 2018, a draft amendment to the regulations on the management of funerals and interment by the MCA proposed to establish a system providing services for an eco-friendly burial. Online funeral services are being promoted and funeral agencies are being asked to provide convenient services through websites, smartphone apps and social platforms before the end of 2020.