Beijing Mourning

Every day I come across something that reminds me that I'm in China and that things are different here. This evening as I was returning home I came across a woman burning a pile of paper on the sidewalk. Just behind her was a teenage girl crouching near the edge of the street consoling an older gentleman whom was doubled over sobbing quietly. I realized that the woman stoking the fire must have been the mother thus completely the family. Each of their faces was somber and you could tell they were in mourning.

Burning piles of paper is very common practice in China. Typically it is paper money or paper representations of other material objects being burnt as a way to send it to the deceased such that they may enjoy their after life. Tomb sweeping day (清明节) is the time of year when almost the whole of China performs this ritual but it is not unusual to see it during other times of the year often on the deceased birthday. Its entirely possible that the person they were mourning has passed on years before although their expressions seemed to reflect something much more recent.

It was a somber reminder of what life is as I walked home from a long day of working and planning in my head what work I was going to do once I got home. Instead of working I uploaded this short video.