Under the epidemic, "cloud tomb sweeping" has become popular during the Qingming Festival, but don't let "ranking" hurt the pure filial piety

Wang Zhongxuan liked to bray like a donkey. After his burial, Emperor Wen came to see him and said to his fellow travelers: "Wang liked to bray like a donkey. Let's each make a sound to send him off." All the guests made a sound like a donkey. - A New Account of Tales of the World: Mourning the Death of a Child

Qingming Festival is a traditional festival in my country. At this time, people often visit graves to express their grief for the deceased. However, in the past two years, as the epidemic has not subsided, the gathering of people during grave-sweeping may increase the risk of transmission. Therefore, under the regulations and initiatives of many places, the form of grave-sweeping and worship has also changed.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, online worship has become the choice of more people. According to data released by the industry-renowned online worship platform Si Nian Tang, more than 300,000 people performed online worship on the platform on the day of Qingming Festival last year. According to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, on the first day of the Qingming Festival this year, there were 2,304 online worship platforms across the country, and the number of online worship participants reached 6.95 million, an increase of 275.7% over the same period last year.

This method may seem frivolous at first glance, but just like Cao Pi, who took a group of people to Wang Can's tomb to learn the donkey's bray that Wang Can loved to hear most after his friend Wang Can passed away, behind the unconventional form lies a full and sincere longing for the deceased.

Ma Jin, associate professor at the Center for Ethnic Studies at Minzu University of China, said: "No matter which method is used, during the tomb-sweeping process, we should inherit and pass on the core concept of Qingming Festival - respect for ancestors and predecessors, the sense of seeking roots of 'carefully remembering the dead and remembering the ancestors', and the value and significance of cherishing the new life and promoting life."

However, with the interweaving of merchants' profit-seeking instinct and consumers' competitive mentality, the originally simple cloud tomb sweeping has gradually changed.

During the Qingming Festival this year, many cemeteries and platforms launched services such as tomb sweeping on behalf of customers and cloud tomb sweeping. On a certain platform, there was a tomb sweeping service with a price of up to 5,000 yuan per time, which could provide a series of services such as offering flowers, pouring wine and even chatting. Some online tomb sweeping platforms allow consumers to create a virtual memorial hall for free, and then charge for "tributes". What's more, some even provide an annual package of "Supreme Memorial Hall", including "exclusive music", "exclusive memorial skin" and other "privileges". Even lighting the eternal lamp has been made into a "subscription" service, charging 300 to 600 yuan per year.

In order to induce consumers to consume, some platforms have also launched a "ranking" function similar to the live broadcast platform. Every The more "sacrifices" one buys, the higher the "filial piety value" of the virtual memorial hall created will be, and the higher it will rank on the list. After the comparison psychology of some consumers is aroused, they will really fall into this consumption trap and spend thousands of yuan to "rank" the memorial hall.

Cloud tomb sweeping not only stimulates some irrational consumption behaviors, but also leads to the leakage of personal information and damage to reputation rights.

Currently, most cloud tomb sweeping apps require registrants to provide their mobile phone numbers, but sensitive information such as the name, photo, date of birth and death of the deceased can be filled in and published at will, lacking formal review and comprehensive protection measures. Some consumers have reported that such platforms can successfully create a "memorial hall" even if they upload photos of pets and make up a name at will. What's worse, some people upload photos and information of living people for the purpose of pranks, causing extremely bad effects.

It is not difficult to see from the interfaces of these cloud tomb-sweeping platforms that they are all crudely made, but filled with various charging items. Therefore, it is easy to infer that these platforms are likely to "run away with the money" after operating for a period of time. At that time, in addition to economic losses, consumers are likely to face the risk of comprehensive leakage of their own and their deceased relatives and friends' personal information.

Since "cloud tomb sweeping" is a new form that has only appeared in the past two years, and my country's current "Regulations on Funeral Management (Draft for Soliciting Opinions on the Revised Draft)" was issued in 2018, there are no regulations on online tomb sweeping, which has given some businesses with ulterior motives an opportunity to take advantage of it.

At present, the competent authorities in many places have successively launched formal cloud memorial platforms, so consumers do not need to download those informal platforms. Regarding the supervision of online memorial platforms, Liu Junhai, director of the Institute of Commercial Law of Renmin University of China, believes that since consumers pay for the platform, it should be included in the consumer rights protection system.

However, it is precisely because these online memorial platforms are not formal that it is more difficult to regulate them. In this regard, Liu Junhai also gave his own suggestions. He believes that many of these platforms are closely connected with cemetery management, so the relevant departments can follow the clues and carry out timely and accurate rectification. Some practitioners in the funeral industry also suggested that the relevant departments should use their own information advantages to strengthen review and website construction.

Whether it is online or offline, the essence is to remember the deceased, so the form is not important. Even without the smoke of burning incense and paper, the yearning can still be expressed. However, spending a lot of money to "rank" only satisfies one's own competitive mentality and the greed of unscrupulous businesses, which undoubtedly runs counter to the original intention of Qingming Festival.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.