More ways to pay respect to the dead

A WOMAN, who works in Beijing, couldn't return to Kunming, capital of Yunnan province in Southwest China, to sweep her parents' tombs. She hoped to find a tomb-sweeping service to do it for her but failed. Public cemeteries in the city have stopped the service for some time because there was little demand. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Monday:

When companies offering tomb-sweeping services first emerged, they initially drew attention because of their novelty. However, there was more criticism than praise for them, and most of them soon went out of business as few people wanted to use such services.

This is a good thing in terms of preserving the tradition of tomb-sweeping, as commercializing the tending of graves and hiring strangers to show respect to the deceased do not honor their memory.