Agencies offer weep service for tomb sweeping

(Ecns.cn) -- As the traditional Qingming Festival approaches, business is booming for tomb sweeping agencies in north China's Tianjin, one of the country's five national central cities.

Fliers from such agencies with contact details and service categories are mainly distributed in urban communities. Services include visiting ancestral graves on behalf of clients, burning offerings, weeping (tears are guaranteed within 20 seconds) and giving memorial speeches.

The services aren't cheap: 300 yuan (US$48) will get you 10 minutes of weeping, but it will cost you 20,000 yuan (US$3,170) for the full set of services, according to enorth.com.cn on Thursday. Customers must pay 40 percent of the fee in advance, the news Web site revealed.

The Qingming Festival is one of the 24 seasonal division points in China, falling on April 4-6 each year. On each Qingming Festival, all cemeteries are crowded with people who came to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices.