Cemetery offers tomb-sweeping live streaming services
                 Source: Xinhua | 2017-04-01 14:53:04 | Editor: huaxia

Cemetery workers are live streaming tomb-sweeping on behalf of customers in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Xinhua/Han Yuqing)

A cemetery in the capital city of Jiangsu Province, east China, has launched a live-streaming service to help those who are unable to visit the graves of their relatives.

According to The Beijing News, Nanjing Gongdeyuan cemetery is offering the new service this week in the run-up to Tomb-Sweeping Day on April 4, when Chinese traditionally pay homage to their dead relatives with flowers and incense.

The service, according to the cemetery, will help those who are unable to pay their respects in person.

Employees of the cemetery, dressed in black suits, will sweep the tombs and lay flowers on behalf of the customers, who can watch a live-stream on WeChat, China's leading instant message service.

There will be no extra charge other than the cost of flowers, according to the cemetery.

The times have changed and the way people follow customs should, too, according to Hu Jing, manager of the cemetery. Hu also said they had already received many applications online.

Back to 2009, some public cemeteries in Hefei, capital city of east China's Anhui Province, have offered to sweep tombs on behalf of those unable to do so themselves, but the feedback was not good. Few people paid for the service, and some people voiced concern that the "service" was disrespectful to the dead.

"Tomb sweeping is a tradition. It is how we remember our dearly departed relatives, and it is not how it is done, but rather the thought and the heart put into it," said sociologist Wang Kaiyu.

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Cemetery offers tomb-sweeping live streaming services

Source: Xinhua 2017-04-01 14:53:04

Cemetery workers are live streaming tomb-sweeping on behalf of customers in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Xinhua/Han Yuqing)

A cemetery in the capital city of Jiangsu Province, east China, has launched a live-streaming service to help those who are unable to visit the graves of their relatives.

According to The Beijing News, Nanjing Gongdeyuan cemetery is offering the new service this week in the run-up to Tomb-Sweeping Day on April 4, when Chinese traditionally pay homage to their dead relatives with flowers and incense.

The service, according to the cemetery, will help those who are unable to pay their respects in person.

Employees of the cemetery, dressed in black suits, will sweep the tombs and lay flowers on behalf of the customers, who can watch a live-stream on WeChat, China's leading instant message service.

There will be no extra charge other than the cost of flowers, according to the cemetery.

The times have changed and the way people follow customs should, too, according to Hu Jing, manager of the cemetery. Hu also said they had already received many applications online.

Back to 2009, some public cemeteries in Hefei, capital city of east China's Anhui Province, have offered to sweep tombs on behalf of those unable to do so themselves, but the feedback was not good. Few people paid for the service, and some people voiced concern that the "service" was disrespectful to the dead.

"Tomb sweeping is a tradition. It is how we remember our dearly departed relatives, and it is not how it is done, but rather the thought and the heart put into it," said sociologist Wang Kaiyu.

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