Tomb-sweeping service available on taobao

Taobao.com, China's largest domestic online shopping website now provides tomb-sweeping services for those who are too busy or unable to pay their respects at the graves of their lost family members or friends.

The annual tradition Tomb-Sweeping Day (on April 5 this year) is for Chinese people to pay respect and grieve, but the congestion of people and vehicles at cemeteries has made it a painful experience for most of the visitors during the brief period.

On Taobao.com, there are more than 20 online stores offering Tomb-Sweeping services ranging from 100 to 3000 yuan. Most of them had zero customers.

People who want to show their respect can pay an average 500 yuan for a flower basket and three bows. Videos or photos of the ceremony will be sent to the clients to show that services have been rendered. Other customized services will cost extra money.

The idea of tomb-sweeping by proxy has raised concerns about the commercialization of the festival and declining filial piety.

"Tomb-sweeping is supposed to show one's love for the deceased. If one cannot be there, no filial piety is shown at all," said a man surnamed Zhang, who refuses to use the service.

A netizen slammed the idea on the microblogging site Sina Weibo, writing: "Those who hire tomb-sweepers are more despicable than those who don't even bother to sweep the tombs."

Another Weibo user said: "I was hospitalized and it's really inconvenient to ask people to roll me to a cemetery. Why are people getting upset with me?"

Professor Yu Jianrong from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences thinks it is acceptable to ask other for help in tomb-sweeping.

"Asking others to sweep tombs has been seen throughout our history. For example, if someone is far away from home, he can ask friends or family to do it for him. There were not many cases of this, but they did exist. So there is no need to be alarmed or surprised."

However, regarding people trying to profit off the festival, he said, "The commercialization of the festival is surely out of place. The nature of tomb-sweeping is to pay respect, which is totally lost in piety by proxy."