TIANJIN, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Nie Zhongliang and his wife Wang Tingting usually fail to give a quick answer when being asked what they do.
The couple worries their job as morticians may make the conversation embarrassing, as talking about death is still a taboo for many Chinese.
Nie, 38, has been a mortician in charge of cosmetically restoring and cremating the deceased for 15 years, and Wang is responsible for arranging funerals. They work in a funeral home in northern China's Tianjin Municipality.
From the very beginning of the couple's mortician life, there were many obstacles. In 2001, Nie and Wang were admitted to the same college with funeral services, strongly opposed by their families.
"Every job is equal," Nie said, adding that it is a good choice for the high employment rate.
Some people turned a cold shoulder to funeral service workers, and the couple was seldom invited to any auspicious events like weddings because they were customarily regarded as ominous.
However, these misunderstandings did not lessen their love toward the job.
Wang talks a lot to the family of the deceased before arranging a funeral to make sure every detail is perfect.
A lady, advised by Wang, read a letter for her deceased father, an eminent expert in his field, at his funeral.
"One man may differ in the eyes of different people. There is an idiom in China -- one cannot be fairly judged till he died. Through a good funeral, people can know more about the deceased," she said.
Some people have even become Wang's friends after the funeral. "As people's mindset toward my occupation has changed a lot in recent years, morticians have gained more social acceptance and respect," Wang said.
As tomb-sweeping day, an occasion when Chinese honor their ancestors, ended last week, life and death re-emerged as a topic for discussion across the country.
Talking about death was a cultural taboo in China. However, more and more people are breaking the taboo, like choosing a job related to funeral services and making arrangements for life after death at a younger age.
According to a white paper released by China Will Registration Center in 2019, the average age of testators was 71.26 years in 2018, down from 77.43 years in 2013, based on analysis of more than 120,000 wills.
For Nie, what makes his job worthwhile is helping the deceased leave the world peacefully.
He still remembers one incident when a 4-year-old boy fell from a balcony. After Nie carefully stitched together his wounds and provided funeral make-up, the boy's grandpa said in a chocked voice, "Thank you... thank you for making my grandson look like he used to be."
Partly driven by China's aging population, there is a rapid growth in demand for death care services across the country. Many vocational schools started offering educational programs related to funeral services.
To improve the expertise of the morticians, a national professional funeral service competition is held annually in recent years.
Nie is renowned in this industry after he won the top prize in the competition last November. And Wang ranked the first in the same contest two years ago.
"For me, doing a good job means paying respect to the deceased," Nie said. "I want to change people's mindset toward morticians and even their attitude toward death." Enditem
