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Ancestor worship in the age of COVID: Guangzhou limits grave sweeping groups

蘋果日報 2021/03/19 06:41


The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou is seeking to restrict the number of people who gather around ancestral graves for the traditional tomb-sweeping festival next week.
Visitors to graves will be asked to register their names, and limited to groups of five at a time. Though no explicit link was made to COVID-19, Chinese authorities are keen to restrict large gatherings of people.
Chinese people traditionally sweep the graves of their ancestors on the Qingming Festival next Monday, with the date offering families an opportunity to gather together. But authorities in the Guangdong provincial capital announced on Wednesday night that people could only do so by booking one of four two-hour slots each day between March 20 and April 30.
People must book with their real names on their identification documents, or fill in the details of the ancestors and the graves. Only one booking can be made for each person on each day.
Edlerly people who do not know how to get online and do not have relatives to help would be assisted by cemetery staff, the Guangzhou government said.
Similar measures were also announced in Beijing, Shanghai, Ningbo and Wenzhou. Beijing has also made a new platform for people to make online offerings to their ancestors of words, virtual flowers, incense and candles.
In Hangzhou, 25 large scale public cemeteries have said people can book for slots between March 27 and April 5. The booking system will show the number of people who have reserved slots, and there would not be a limit. Phone booking would also be allowed.
There was some dissatisfaction from Chinese internet users in Guangzhou, with some saying the five-person limit was too strict, while others said it was ridiculous having to book at all.
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