(ECNS) -- A large cemetery in East China's Nanjing City has promised to help honor the deceased at grave sites on behalf of those who can't be present and broadcast the activity live on the social networking app WeChat as proof, drawing mixed reaction from the public, most of which are negative.
Yuhuatai Cemetery covers 20 hectares on Shitou Mountain and includes the grave sites of a number of celebrities. It said people could apply for the service through the cemetery's WeChat account and get a password to watch the live broadcast at a given time.
To mark Qingming Festival, which falls on April 4 this year, people usually pray before their ancestors, sweep their tombs and offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks or joss paper.
The cemetery said its services include both indoor and outdoor rites to honor the deceased.
Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communications Law Research Center at China University of Political Sciences and Law, said honoring the deceased by proxy makes the festival less solemn. He also warned of possible privacy leaks.
In the Chinese e-commerce marketplace, it's easy to find proxies to help in a broad range of memorial services including burning joss paper at a starting price of 150 yuan ($22). These services also include photos or videos.
But many think the proxy service too light-hearted. A man in his 60s said sweeping tombs is part of traditional culture and involves ethical beliefs so substitutes should not be used.
A woman surnamed Li, born in the 1980s, said she can't understand such activities. Tombing sweeping is a very private thing and such proxy services are a mere formality, she said.
