June 15, 2010--Cyber Offerings

Not only do the Chinese hold most of our debt and make most of the things we buy, but now they're beating our time when it comes to memorializing the dead.

And, silly me, I thought we'd always be Number One in that regard. After all, for a half million or so you can have your loved one's ashes blasted into outer space or for about the same amount you can get yourself frozen literally stiff and then get defrosted when science comes up for a cure for what killed you. And you'd have good company while waiting--there's Walt Disney on ice and the great Boston Red Sox slugger, Ted Williams in the freezer chest. Though I think they only froze away his head.

I suppose this means that we're still hegemonic when it comes to what to do with remains. But what the Chinese have apparently perfected is how to pay tribute to the departed, wherever they are and however they've been interred or flash frozen.

I understand that this is a big deal to them. They do after all revere old people and remain very fond of their ancestors, doing all sorts of things to honor them. Especially children honoring parents since they brought them into the world and nurtured them. Thus, after the parents have passed on, it is the children's filial duty to tend to them by visiting their grave sites regularly and bringing them offerings, including food.

If it is thought that one's loved one is in the netherworld, or hell, elaborate or even creative offerings such as toothbrushes, combs, towels, slippers, and water are provided so that the deceased will be able to have these items now that they are no longer around or, where they now sadly are, are not readily available.

But this is 2010 and for some these practices feel a little old fashioned. For them, then, the government has set up a Web site where relatives and friends of the deceased can send them cyber-messages. All free of charge. That's socialism for you. The government gets involved in everything. From cradle to beyond the grave. I wonder if Obama got something like this hidden in the recently-passed health care reform bill. I wouldn't put it passed him. He's so sly.

If you want to look in on this, or, better, participate, the Web site is memorial.gov.hk. (For more about this see the linked New York Times article.)

The Web site is the brainchild of some faceless bureaucrat in the Honk Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, the organ of government in charge of the dead. Surprisingly, it was not designed by a hotshot 20-something.

Via the Web address, family members can choose from a variety of layouts for their messaging, add appropriate background music, and send along photos and videos. For food, the living still have to go to the cemetery. The Web site doesn't do takeout. Yet.