Inside the life of a professional mourner

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Jin Guihua, a 42-year-old woman from Huayang Town of Chengdu, in southwest China's Sichuan Province, entered the mourning business 19 years ago, when her father passed away. [Photo: West China Metropolis Daily]

April 2 marks the beginning of the 3-day Qingming Festival holiday, during which Chinese people go to sweep tombs in memorial of deceased friends and family members.

But this year, Jin Guihua, a 42-year-old woman from Huayang Town of Chengdu, in southwest China's Sichuan Province, felt too tired to go out. As a professional mourner, she had just participated in a mourning ceremony in exchange for 120 yuan (US$18.6). "There isn't a fixed price for our mourning services. We take however much the family members of the deceased wish to pay," she said.

Jin entered the mourning business 19 years ago, when her father passed away. In line with local customs, her family paid a large sum of money for mourning and funeral services.

The idea of forming her own mourning service company entered her mind then. She and her husband were both good at singing and playing some musical instruments. They thought that if they formed a band they could make enough money for the family's expenditures.

After Jin's father's funeral, the couple gathered together some friends who could sing and dance to form the Furious Wave Band, and started offering services for funerals and weddings.

She performed her first professional mourning when she was 23 years old. Standing before the image of the deceased, she felt nervous and frightened. "I was a young woman at that time, intimidated. I feared dead people and darkness," said Jin. But knowing that she had to persevere to make a living, she began to cry out in mourning.

Dressed in a white robe with her hair curled into a bun, Jin Guihua looked like a female character from a traditional Chinese opera. As soon as the master of ceremony announced that the time for mourning began, Jin knelt down before the photo of the deceased. While the troupe started to play, Jin chanted the mourning stanzas accompanied by wailing. Her wails influenced the others, who also started crying.

"In our mourning services, we bring in true feelings to make it powerful," said Jin, adding that professional mourning is not as easy as ordinary people may think. Jin's mourning usually has three parts: recounting hardships that the deceased person undertook while raising children, expressing the grief of the deceased person's family members, and wishing the decreased person a pleasant journey.

A good 19 years have passed since she entered the business. She is 42 years old now with a 21-year-old daughter, who works at a wedding planning company.

Her 19 years of experience have put her in constant contact with smoke and fire, causing significant damage to her eye sight. Since 2010, she has been seriously myopic.

There is no strict price for her mourning services. "We take however much the family of the deceased person wishes to pay," said Jin, noting that her payment for each service ranges from 100 to 1,000 yuan (US$15.6-156). Her clients are mainly from rural areas or suburbs. "Urban people seldom come to me; they don't value such formalities," she said. Jin said that her most important task is directing people's emotions, letting them relieve their sorrows through crying aloud.

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