WITH TOMB SWEEPING day approaching, Changsong Temple Public Cemetery in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, is allowing people to pay their respects to their ancestors using the social media app WeChat. People can post a message on a special WeChat account, which will then be displayed on an electronic screen in front of the tomb. Beijing News commented on Tuesday:

It is customary for people to pay their respects to their ancestors on Tomb Sweeping Day in early April, and people will usually go to cemeteries and tidy the graves of their ancestors themselves. However, many people who have left their home towns find it hard to return on the day nowadays, and new ways for people to pay their respects, such as WeChat tomb sweeping, are emerging.

Society is rapidly changing, but people still want to observe the traditional customs such as tomb sweeping. This has led to customs such as tomb sweeping being revamped for the digital era.

If some judge those who adopt new ways of observing the tradition of tomb sweeping as not fulfilling their duty, it will inevitably lead to them being overwhelmed with criticism and abuse.

Yet the new mode of sweeping tombs on WeChat is quite a considerate method as it helps those who cannot get to the graveside to carry out the custom.

Although people are not at the graveside in the flesh, these digital tribute enables them to be there in spirit.

(China Daily 03/22/2017 page8)