Center offers crystal commemorations

Shanghai is promoting cremation jewelry as a way for people to pay tribute to deceased family members all year round, instead of just during the traditional peak seasons, such as the Qingming, or Tomb Sweeping Festival, in April, and Winter Solstice in December.

The Shanghai Funeral Service Center makes a single crystal from the deceased person’s ashes for his or her family, as long as they agree not to pay visits to the grave during the peak seasons when traffic jams are frequent and the risk of fire is higher as a result of the burning of incense and paper money believed to be used in the underworld. Both issues have become major public concerns.

The service is provided by the center’s seven subordinate cemeteries, such as Shanghai Seaside Cemetery and Shanghai West Xujing Cemetery.

Wei Chao, vice-director of the Shanghai Funeral Service Center, said the center hopes to use the service to promote an alternative to traditional mourning customs, while helping to alleviate travel chaos on days when Chinese people traditionally pay tribute to deceased relatives.

“We urge citizens to mourn the deceased on days such as Lantern Festival and Dragon Boat Festival, as a new funeral custom,” Wei said.

Despite its popularity in the West, cremation jewelry remains a relatively new concept in China.

The Shanghai Funeral Service Center started offering the service in 2016 when the crystallization technology was introduced to the city. A single person’s ashes can be made into about 100 crystals, which vary in appearance and size from person to person in accordance with their lifestyle and habits.

However, the total volume of crystals will be just 10 percent of the ashes, which means they can be housed in smaller urns than usual at home, or even carried by relatives.

If buried, the urns save a great deal of land and prevent bodily deterioration or damage.

While it costs more than 17,000 yuan ($2,704) to convert a whole person’s ashes into several crystals, it costs around 1,000 yuan to make just one larger ‘stone’, Wei said.

“The service is designed for those who desire an everlasting connection to the one they have lost — as a unique heirloom in the family for generations,” he said.

“The jewelry provides comfort and support when and where the customers need it to embrace the loved one’s memory day by day, not just during the Qingming Festival and Winter Solstice.”

A man who only gave his surname as Sun has recently chosen the cremation jewelry service for his 64-year-old father, who died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

He said he will be able to take the jewelry with him when he travels around the world, to honor a wish to travel that his father had expressed when he was alive.