China News Service, Nanning, April 6th: "Generation Z" has entered the funeral industry and is keen to spread modern funeral concepts.
Author Wei Jiaxiu Chen Yanyou
"Although my personal power is very limited, I still want to spread modern funeral concepts to more people in this position, including green funeral methods and diversified funeral services. Let the deceased die with dignity and dignity. The last journey of life is also conducive to saving resources and protecting the environment." Tian Xuejiao, a "post-95" salesperson at the funeral home of Nanning Funeral Service Management Office, Guangxi, said in an interview with reporters recently.
In recent years, as various parts of China have stepped up efforts to build public welfare ecological burial facilities, the number of people choosing ecological burial methods has been growing rapidly. Tian Xuejiao said that she has been in the funeral industry for more than three years and has found that people's concepts on funerals are gradually changing, and she has gained more understanding and respect for the industry.
“My job is not only to answer questions for family members, but also to introduce them to modern funeral policies and provide humanized planning solutions.” Tian Xuejiao said that concept is the biggest driving force in advocating green funerals. Thanks to the efforts of her and her colleagues, the proportion of people accepting and choosing green funeral methods such as flower burials and tree burials, as well as services such as bathing for deceased persons and embalming and plastic surgery, has gradually increased.
The picture shows Zeng Luhe using a model to practice shaping techniques. Photo by Chen Yanyou
Zeng Luhe, 26, is an embalmer and plastic surgeon. She told reporters that what impressed her most deeply during her career was the farewell to a little girl who died of drowning. Zeng Luhe said that under the attention of her family members, after she carefully wiped the little girl's body, put on a small skirt, and put on makeup, the family members changed from distrust at the beginning to holding her hand and saying, "Thank you for 'restoring' me. My daughter’s face allows me to take a good look at her again.”
Zeng Luhe once engaged in art teaching and has a high understanding of human body structure and color perception. "To put makeup on the deceased, you need to adjust a suitable foundation according to the skin color of the deceased. When facing some plastic surgery and makeup in unnatural death situations such as car accidents, fires, accidental injuries, etc., I can also perform stitches and stitches based on the human body structure. Shaping." Zeng Luhe said that her previous work experience allowed her to quickly adapt to this job.
There is a line in the movie "The Embalmer": "Death may be a door. Passing away is not the end, but transcendence and moving to the next journey." Zeng Luhe believes that this line also applies to the living. She hopes to use her services to help more people know how to say goodbye to their loved ones better. "Only when you say goodbye well can you start a new life better. This is also the positive side of modern funeral concepts that I think is worth spreading."
In recent years, more and more young Chinese people have chosen to enter the funeral industry, and secondary and higher vocational colleges offering funeral majors have become popular candidates. The modern funeral technology and management major offered by Anhui Urban Management Vocational College has expanded its enrollment from the initial 38 to 135 students in 2021; the funeral major of Changsha Civil Affairs Vocational and Technical College recruits more than 200 people every year, with the number of applicants reaching four to five hundred.
Xu Binxi, a post-1995 girl from Guangxi who graduated from Changsha Civil Affairs Vocational and Technical College, is also an embalmer and plastic surgeon. "Modern funeral concepts have rich connotations, including attitudes towards life and death, ways to say goodbye to the deceased, and choices of funeral methods, etc." She said: "I am also using my own way to spread what I know to the public. The acquired funeral concept allows the deceased to return to nature and the living to find comfort." (End)