Death on his hands

A former crematory operator talks of life and love in his unusual career, Xing Yi reports.

It was a job that required facing death every day. A job that felt creepy at times. A job that paid little. But former crematory operator Li Nansheng tried to make the most of it, and he explores the meaning of death and life in his fiction My Five Years of Working in the Crematorium. Li, 36, seemed to be destined for the job. Both of his parents were specialized musicians who performed at traditional funerals; they not only sang funeral songs and incantations, but also performed religious rituals. His wife is a mortuary makeup artist. Li himself was born during a funeral session.

"When I was born, my ears were filled with music," Li says. "The first sound I heard was a dirge."