Happy Tomb Sweeping Day!

There are many things one can say about China, but I think this author of a Washington Post article I read today sums things up pretty well:

In this country of almost 1.4 billion people, life is an unending struggle for resources — money, property, even spouses. And it doesn't get easier in death.

So I admit, my view of China might be very, very skewed...I loved living there and probably have permanent rosy colored glasses. Sometimes it's easy for me to forget how serious some of their problems are right now.

That is, until I read articles like this that talk about how in as soon as 5 years, some provinces in China will run out of room to bury people. I guess in theory every country would eventually run into this issue one day, but as usual, China's massive population accelerates the problem--the Chinese government predicts that by 2025 as many as 20 million people will die annually.  Knowing China, I can imagine this turning into a huge, disgusting problem. Well, if some kind of "Walking Dead" phenomena ever happens, I am going to be so happy I made my way back to America.

To deal with the space issue, the Chinese government is promoting the practice of "sea burials", and in some cases, they are giving monetary incentives to those who do them. So here comes the real reason I am writing about this post: although Dalian is not mentioned anywhere in the Washington Post article, the featured picture is purportedly from Dalian. Afterall, Dalian is on the sea, and an initiative like this actually makes sense there. yeah, dalian's great, yeah yeah yeah! Okay, I'm done. Sea burials haven't really caught on yet, so in addition to paying people to do them, the government will also apparently pay for boat trips out to sea to do the burial.  I guarantee if this catches on the next big headline about sea burial will read something about how harmful toxins from the cremated remains are destroying Chinese waters. They just can't win.

So I will put this Washington Post article in context for you since the author either forgot the impetus for writing this article or it was merely a coincidence: it is currently 清明节 Qing Ming Jie, which is usually translated as Tomb Sweeping Festival. During Tomb Sweeping Festival, you are supposed to visit your ancestors' graves to honor them, give offerings (traditionally a whole rooster), and sweep the tomb clean. Then you can go fly your kite and enjoy the outdoors. Chinese propaganda describes it best:

All in all, the Qingming Festival is an occasion of unique characteristics, integrating sorrowful tears to the dead with the continuous laughter from the spring outing.

Sounds like a great way to spend a nice spring day.  I wish I was a Chinese ancestor so someone would always tend to my tomb and give me roosters I could gorge myself on in the afterlife.

I think I was traveling during Tomb Sweeping Day when I was in China and only heard about it through stories so I guess I never really made the connection between China's massive population and what happens to that massive population when they pass on. Somehow I managed to only see very quaint little mountain graves that made me think of old times in China and ancestor worship and honor and things like that. I won't go into the story of how Tomb Sweeping Festival came about but it is so typically Chinese.  I feel like in China some of the old traditions and ideas are so strong that even when participating in Tomb Sweeping Festival now involves clearing off a few inches of tomb (if there's even a tomb at all), Chinese people think about Tomb Sweeping Festival as if it were still like this:

It's a very Romantic kind of sentiment they have sometimes, and I suppose I fell for it too. I mean, isn't life better when old men toss flower petals (?) into the wind and you can enjoy a nice bowl of rice and tea with your deceased love one in private under a tree?

Here are a few pictures of the aforementioned mountain graves I saw in China. I also saw a really creepy Russian graveyard in the middle of the Dalian but I don't have any pictures. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon these--I was probably somewhere I wasn't supposed to be because I think there are weird superstitions about mountainside graves:

I think I said this about cabbage one time, but this concludes my much lacking post on death in China.

***Side note...清明 Qing Ming actually translates to "clear bright", which refers to the idea that the festival occurs in the beginning of spring when it's a good time to get some fresh air and get rid of any debris that has accumulated on your ancestors' tomb. Sorry, I have this urge to explain the Chinese language to the public, I don't know why.