Chinese people spend a lot of money on online graves

Online burial is no longer a new activity in China. Travel restrictions due to the pandemic have made online services for the Qingming Festival gradually become popular.

However, this year, online grave-digging activities are no longer just a way to help people show respect to their ancestors, but also become a race on the rankings. For application developers, this is a money-making service, so they also think of many ways to withdraw users’ wallets.

Sina Last year, online graveyard services were quite simple, users could burn incense or light candles on the app to remember their deceased loved ones. And this year, more rich activities are launched by the developers. For example, on the Xin Ji Dian app, users can create a free stone monument engraved with a loved one’s photo and name on the memorial. But if they want to offer incense, candles, flowers, offerings…, they have to pay a fee.

In addition, the application also has a “premium memorial room” with functions such as music, exclusive ceremonies… for 270 yuan (nearly one million dong) for a year or 1,440 yuan (5). million dong) for 10 years. If hanging lanterns, users have to pay 28 yuan (more than 100,000 dong) for seven days and 288 yuan (more than one million dong) for permanent lighting.

Not only that, users can also “offer online” high-end items such as planes, private jets, luxury cars, luxury villas… with the mentality that the more valuable the worshiper is, the more it shows. piety. To encourage users to spend heavily, the application also makes rankings for memorials, to see whose descendants are more “filial” to their ancestors.

In addition to Xin Ji Dian, in China, there are about 6 online tombstone applications with a similar operation. On the Wynn application, users who want to activate all services will have to spend nearly 5,000 yuan (nearly 18 million dong). Sina quoted one person as saying that in order to prove to his friends his filial piety, he was willing to spend thousands of yuan to “get a name”. Although April 5 is only the Qingming Festival, right now Weibo is flooded with pictures showing ancestral memorials online.

However, the online grave cleaning service is also becoming a controversial topic on social networks. In the process of “building” the memorial, apps allow users to upload any image they like. Some people upload photos of pets like cats and dogs, but others take it as a joke when uploading memes. Many people even worry that at some point, their social media profile picture may also become a “worship photo” in some application.

Khuong Nha