Hong Kong people remember their old friends in various ways, with different feelings during the Qingming Festival

　　China News Service, Hong Kong, April 4th: Hong Kong people miss their old friends in various ways, with different feelings during the Qingming Festival.

　　China News Service reporter Liu Dawei

　　Fill in your heartfelt letter, put it in the mailbox, bow your head in silence... It is another year of Qingming Festival, outside the "ferry" located at Tsang Tsui Columbarium in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong, citizens express their thoughts and condolences to their deceased relatives in this way. bless.

　　This woodcut art installation called "Ferry Boat" was newly established this year by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) of the Hong Kong SAR Government to allow family members who have used green funeral services to commemorate the deceased, with the aim of further improving green funeral services.

　　"In the legends about death from various places, the image of boat appears in most of them. Using the boat as a metaphor not only commemorates the deceased, but also hopes to give loved ones a transitional space after separation." said Ling Zhanteng, the designer of the installation.

The picture shows Hong Kong citizens placing their wishful writings in the mailbox of the "Ferry Boat" at Tsang Tsui Columbarium in Tuen Mun on Tomb Sweeping Day. Photo by China News Service reporter Liu Dawei

　　At Tsang Tsui Columbarium, there is the largest green funeral memorial garden in Hong Kong. On the day of Qingming Festival, Ms. Chen, a citizen, came to the Memorial Garden early in the morning, gently placed flowers in front of the monument, and then put her heartfelt note in the "Ferry" mailbox.

　　Ms. Chen told reporters that both her parents died in a flower bed burial. Every year when she comes to visit during the Qingming Festival and sees the colorful flowers blooming in the flower bed, she feels as if her parents have never left her. This year, she was able to write down what she wanted to say on a piece of paper to "communicate" with her deceased relatives, which was an additional kind of spiritual comfort.

　　A staff member of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department responsible for promoting green burials told reporters that in Hong Kong, flower bed burials and sea burials are the two main green burial methods. In recent years, with the change in people's concepts, the proportion of citizens holding green funerals for their deceased relatives has gradually increased. According to statistics, only 5.5% of Hong Kong citizens chose green burial methods in 2011. By last year, this proportion had risen to 16.5%. "In contrast, people tend to choose flower bed burials so that life can continue in another way."

　　In addition to adding memorial facilities, the FEHD has also launched a number of new services this year, including providing independent rooms for family members to mourn, providing exclusive commemorative cards to family members of those buried at sea, and optimizing free ferry service measures for sea burials, making the concept of green burial more popular. .

　　"Green burial has been proposed in Hong Kong for nearly 20 years, and the public's acceptance has gradually increased. Although most people still use traditional funeral methods, Hong Kong's funeral culture is no longer limited to superficial red tape, but more Think about the meaning of life," said Wu Guilin, an industry leader who is committed to promoting green funerals. He noticed that some citizens also regard festivals such as Qingming and Double Ninth Festival as important lessons in "life and death education" for the next generation, hoping to pass on their thinking about life.

　　Paying close attention to the past, remembering old friends and expressing grief are the folk customs of Qingming Festival. On the day of the festival, the Secretary for the Civil Service of the Hong Kong SAR Government, Mrs Yeung Ho-bei-yin, stated on social media that she recently went to Hao Yuan to mourn the SAR government civil servants who died in the line of duty, and went to Jing Yang Yuan to lay flowers to pay tribute to the victims of the Manila hostage incident in the Philippines. She mentioned that the Civil Service Bureau had set up a memorial stone near Hao Yuan to commemorate the deceased civil servants who adopted green burial.

　　Since the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday in Hong Kong is only one day this year, many citizens took advantage of the adjacent Easter holiday to return home early to commemorate the event. Mr. Zhou is one of them. Mr. Zhou told reporters that his family organized a party during Qingming Festival this year, hoping to use the holiday to connect with family members and enhance family cohesion. "Although it is different from the custom of celebrating Qingming Festival in the traditional sense, our emphasis on family culture has not changed." (End)