I know the number of 400 million deaths in China has shocked many people. I myself was greatly shocked too. I must admit that I can’t prove this number is true. But, what many people haven’t realized is, we cannot prove that it is untrue as well. Only one thing is true: We don’t know the true numbers. So today I will present several other facts and estimations, and most importantly, I’d like to explain why it’s hard to use what someone knows about and has experienced in other countries to imagine, or make judgments about things in China. If you don’t know anyone from China it might be challenging to get an accurate idea of the unique differences. I’d like to share some of these differences with you. So make sure you stick around till the end.
Sharp Population Decline in 3 Counties in Sichuan Province
We talked about how it took the CCP 5 months to polish its 2020 population numbers in 2021. Why did it take so long in such an advanced big-data age? Because it is difficult to fake a whole set of everything without leaving some loopholes.
However, with some local governments, they don’t have to consider how to balance the overall figures. So when they release their population numbers, they might not have that big of a need to create fake ones.
So let’s check the population numbers of 3 counties in Sichuan Province. The data came from the local government’s own website. Some of the census bulletins have been taken down, but are still available via stored records on the internet, such as Baidu’s web snapshot.
So this is the 2020 resident population number of five counties in Bazhong (巴中市) City in Sichuan Province. See the highlighted number in yellow. 521,875, that’s the population of Tongjiang County in 2020.
This is the table for Tongjiang County in 2019. At the end of 2019, there were 723,126 people on the household registration, but only 670.6 K permanent residents. So we will take this number for comparison purposes.
These are the numbers for three counties in Sichuan Province: Tongjiang County (通江县) , Nanjiang County (南江县), and Pingchang County (平昌县).
You can see for Tongjiang County, the population dropped from 670.6 K in 2019 to 521.9K in 2020. That’s a 22% drop.
In Nanjiang County (南江县), the population dropped from 670.2 K in 2018 to 467.6K in 2020, that’s a 30% drop.
In Pingchang County (平昌县), the population dropped from 790.4 K in 2018 to 658.6K in 2020. That’s a 17% drop.
Take Tongjiang County for example, the 670.6 K was the number at the end of 2019. The 521.9K was the number by Nov 1, 2020. This is to say, in only 10 months, this county lost 148.7 K people.
You might say that some people might have left their hometowns to work in other cities. But remember, COVID broke out at the end of 2019, and at that time, because of the Chinese New Year and the lockdowns, many migrant workers chose to go back to their hometowns, and didn’t leave after they spent the New Year with their families.
See this screenshot from a Baidu search. The two reports in the red circle at the bottom were all from TongJiang government’s website, both published in Mar 2020, and both say that many peasants came back to Sichuan to farm, instead of going to Guangzhou to work.
The strange, and not too strange thing is, when I clicked on the two reports, what I got was the same thing, the report was not available. Why?
Anyway, this confirms the fact that farmers in Tongjiang County were going back to Tongjiang from other cities in 2020.
The title of the second report says this, “Tongjiang County has helped 46 K migrant workers to resume employment.” The report says that one villager called Pu Jiahe initially planned to go to Guangzhou to work, and was convinced by a village leader to stay, and would grow green peppers at home instead, etc.
So from these, we can reasonably say that the loss of 148.7 K, or 22% of people in 10 months in this county was mainly caused by the pandemic.
If one county could lose 22% of its population in 10 months, is it that hard to imagine that the entire country could have possibly lost 30% of its population in 3 years?
Cremators, Employees, Enterprises, and a Possible Death Number
Now, let’s check the numbers of cremators, employees in the funeral service industry, and funeral service-related enterprises in China.
These are the numbers of cremators in China, from 2010 to 2021. You can see that the number for 2021 is 7043.
These are the numbers of employees in the funeral service industry in the past 10 years. You can see the number peaked in 2015, and went down till it reached a new low in 2019. Then it jumped sharply to a new record high in 2021.
These are the numbers of registered funeral service-related enterprises in China from 2015 to 2022. It shows steady growth until 2021.
So if the number of cremators, employees, and enterprises all started to grow in 2019, it means that the funeral industry has been operating at its full capacity, right? Otherwise, you don’t need to buy new cremators and hire new employees.
So let’s do a most conservative calculation. Suppose each cremator only works for 8 hours per day. And each body needs 45 minutes to cremate.
So 7043 cremators can handle 27.42 million bodies a year.
Given the cremation rate is 58.8%, so the total death number is 46.63 million a year.
And in 3 years, this number is nearly 140 million.
But we all know that since Dec last year, all the crematoriums have been overwhelmed. They have been operating 24 hours a day, and sometimes several bodies were cremated together. So the actual cremation number could be doubled, or even tripled.
Well, that’s a little bit of calculation based on the cremator number.
Instinctive Reaction and Rational Thinking
When people heard the number 400 million, the first reaction could be it is too hard to believe, or this is just impossible. For many people, this might be either an instant and instinctive reaction, or a judgment based on their current knowledge and experience.
I think the main reasons why many people find this number hard to believe are: 1. It is impossible to hide such a large number of deaths. 2. It is impossible for society to maintain normal operation with so many people dying.
Well, for the first reason, I discussed in my last show how the three main channels to gain information are blocked. So it might not be that hard for the CCP to hide things from the world. Don’t think it is impossible.
I remember in the days when the Internet first thrived in the world, people were hopeful that the internet would bring free information and thus freedom and democracy to Chinese people, as the foundation of the internet is that everything is inter-connected, and there is no way to block information on the internet.
Well, after only some 20-30 years, the CCP proved to these people that they were wrong. The CCP can cut Chinese people off from the internet outside of China, and create a closed environment with the Internet for Chinese people.
So don’t assume that the CCP is not able to cover up the deaths of 1/3 of the population.
The second basis of disbelief is: Society won’t be able to operate with so many people dying.
Well, we all know that it was widely reported that as many as 75% of Twitter employees planned or threatened to leave the company after Elon Musk purchased it.
This report says 1200 employees left Twitter.
My point here is, if the media has not talked about this, and you don’t know any Twitter employees or their friends or relatives, although you are using Twitter every day, will you feel or know that so many people have left Twitter?
No, you won’t. Twitter is still operating well after losing so many people.
A popular Chinese language YouTuber, professor Zhang Tianliang at Fei Tian College, also shared his personal experience in his show. He said he once worked for the IT department at a hospital in China. There were about 20-plus people in his department when he first started to work there. But after a while, many people left. At one point, only 5 or 6 people remained. So they became extremely busy. But they managed to maintain normal operations, and people outside his department knew nothing or very little about the fact that they had lost so many people.
So, the two main reasons for us to not believe the number may not be that reliable or solid.
On the contrary, if you think rationally, you may find that you have no way to disprove the number.
So the rational thinking is, we don’t know the true number, so we’d better not dismiss any numbers unless we can disprove them.
Two Logics, Two Worlds
Next, I’d like to talk about 2 personal stories to demonstrate why one can’t use what he or she knows from the western world to judge or imagine things in China.
The first one is very recent.
The other day when I tweeted this video showing many people lining up outside a crematorium with coffins, someone left a comment, saying “If they have coffins why are they lining up to be cremated?”
I simply replied, “They have a coffin, but they don’t have grave land. Grave land can be very expensive. Most people can’t afford that. Watch this.”
Then I posted a video showing people in Shenyang City digging holes in the ground and selling them for 20-30 K each.
Perhaps many people don’t know the living conditions and environment in China.
Many years ago, in 1997, I was still living in an apartment in Beijing.
We threw away the trash through such a hole that went all the way down to the ground level, to the trash bin there. There was no requirement that we separate recyclable items.
But there were people like him who traveled through apartment buildings and collected paper boxes, books, and other recyclable items. Actually, we sold those things to them, and they would then sell them to factories at a higher price. So these people made a living out of this.
Anyway, I had a large amount of not-too-good books, which I wanted to get rid of. I didn’t want to sell them, as I didn’t want other people to read them. So I decided to destroy them.
I first tried to soak them in water. But I didn’t have big enough containers to hold all the books. I later tried to burn them in the hallway next to the garbage outlet and then throw them down the hole. However, that almost caused a fire inside the garbage bin on the ground floor, and somebody protested loudly against it.
What could I do? Later I had to put all these books inside my car, drove dozens of miles away from the city, and finally found a place where I could burn these books without causing any trouble.
If I didn’t have a car, and had to take a bus to travel away from the city, that would be more of a hassle.
Anyway, my point here is, even trying to burn a bunch of books was a big challenge in a city in China, so how can you easily deal with dead bodies? City people don’t have one inch of land on which they can bury anything.
Another story happened many years ago.
You know, I escaped from China to Australia in 2001 after being nearly tortured to death in a Beijing Female Labor Camp for practicing Falun Gong. I later gained refugee status from the Austrian government.
Before the book was published, my publisher had an editor edit the manuscript I submitted. There was such a sentence in my book, “In 1981, I moved from Hanwang Town to Mianyang City with my father. ”
Without consulting me, my Australian editor crossed out the “father” and changed it to “parents”. So the sentence became “I moved from Hanwang Town to Mianyang City with my parents. ”
In her opinion, if I moved from one city to another, I should have moved with my parents instead of with my father. The whole family should move together. So she thought I might have confused “parents” with “father” because my English was not good enough.
I said to her, no, please change parents back to father. She did not know, in China, at that time, anyone who worked for a state-owned workplace needed the government’s permission to move. My mother didn’t have permission. So she couldn’t move with my father.
I have two sisters. So my younger sister stayed with my mother in Hanwang, while my elder sister and I moved to Mianyang with my father. Until I left Mianyang for Beijing for my university education in 1984, my mother was still in Hanwang. It took her 4 years to get permission to join my father in Mianyang.
So that’s the reality in China. So it’s not that my editor could correctly edit my book only based on her English skills. She could get something wrong simply because she wasn’t familiar enough with Chinese society, and make judgments based on her own life experiences in Australia.
I know many experts say that millions could die in China during this wave of the pandemic. All of their models were based on figures from other countries. So their bases could be all off, to begin with.
People sometimes say, there are two types of logic in the world. One is logic, another is CCP logic.
I totally agree with this saying. So to expand it a little bit, we can also say there are two kinds of worlds on the earth, one is the CCP’s world, one is the non-CCP’s world.
Do you agree?
Well, that’s all for today. Thank you very much for watching. Please don’t forget to subscribe to my channel if you haven’t. If you are already subscribed, please like and share my content, and double-check that you are still subscribed.
Also, if you could, please go to my website at jenniferzengblog.com, sign up for a membership, or make a donation to support my truth-telling efforts.
Today I will talk about two related issues: China’s first population decline in 6 decades, and an astonishing death toll revealed by a low-key person who almost never talks to the media, but whom the CCP hates most. Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong, told the Chinese edition of the Epoch Times that 400 million Chinese people have died during the past 3 years. Is that possible? I will discuss this today.
Today (Jan 17), the CCP’s National Bureau of Statistics reported that China’s population was 1.41175 billion people at the end of 2022. And this was a decrease of 850 K from the end of the previous year. There were 9.56 million births — a record-low birth rate of 6.77 per thousand — and 10.41 million deaths.
So this is the first population decline since the Great Leap Forward movement in 1960, when tens of millions starved to death.
I will talk about the population decline and its relationship with the pandemic in a moment.
Have 400 Million Died?
Two days ago, on Jan 15, the Chinese edition of the Epoch Times published an astonishing report with an astonishing title: “Founder of Falun Gong: The CCP Covers up the Pandemic, Death Toll in China Hits 400 Million”.
I tweeted this report and a simple translation of several main figures in the report, and have received a lot of comments, retweets, and likes.
I read through the first 200 comments. Almost all of them are negative, saying that they don’t believe the numbers at all.
So today I’d like to talk about why I tweeted this article, and why it is important for us to know that we don’t know.
I don’t want to try to convince anybody, but I do strongly feel a desire to share what’s in my mind and heart, and why I took the risk of being called an idiot, a liar, to tweet about such a shocking report.
Three Main Informations Channels-All Unreliable, Blocked, or Only Fragmented
First of all, we must admit that we have no idea what the true numbers are at all.
The CCP was still saying that there were only 37 deaths in one month on Jan 8. Then, only 6 days later, on Jan 14, the number suddenly jumped to 59,938. From 37 to nearly 60 thousand, no explanation at all why the gap was so huge.
We usually have 3 channels to get data: the official statistic, media reports, and hearsay, or what you personally experienced, or learned from people around you.
But with the COVID-related numbers in China, none of the three channels are reliable. The CCP has been lying the entire time, and the media is not allowed to report the truth whatsoever.
In contrast to the first two channels, it is the third one, the hearsay, that gives us some fragmented facts. From various social media posts and videos, we can learn a little bit of something here and there.
However, every individual can usually only get access to a few facts or some hearsay here and there, which all have limitations.
So overall, we must, first of all, admit that we don’t know the numbers. Since we don’t know, we should not easily or readily reject any new numbers we hear. How can we say a number is NOT true when we don’t know the true number to begin with?
The capacity of Cremators in China
Secondly, let’s look at the numbers and capacity of cremators in China.
According to the CCP’s official numbers, in 2021, the year-end national population is 1.416 billion, with 10.14 million deaths. So the mortality rate is 7.18‰.
On March 18, 2022, the official website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs announced that the total number of cremated bodies in 2021 was 5.963 million, based on this calculation, the cremation rate in 2021 was: 5.963/10.14=58.8%
How many cremators are there in China? The official website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs announced that by the end of 2021, there were 7,043 cremation furnaces in the country.
Usually, 45 minutes are needed to cremate a body. Recently, almost all cremators in China are operating 24 hours every day. Sometimes several bodies are cremated together, sometimes bodies are discarded before they are fully cremated.
1. Warning. Graphic. At Zhumadian Xiangshan Crematorium in #Henan Province (河南驻马店香山火葬场), #China, human bodies were not thoroughly cremated and the remains were discarded. The man shooting this video also complains about the pollution. pic.twitter.com/f82YWC7jG5
— Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng 曾錚真言 (@jenniferzeng97) January 5, 2023
Let’s suppose the current wave of outbreaks will last 4 months, and one body is cremated every 30 minutes. Then how many bodies can be cremated in China?
It is 7043*24*2*120=40.57 million
As the cremation rate is 58.8%, so the total death number could be 40.57/58.8%=68.99 million.
So this is a rough number for the current wave of outbreaks over a period of 4 months. If the outbreaks have lasted for three years, then the number can easily surpass hundreds of millions.
Population Decline
Now let’s look at the population numbers.
We all know that China started to establish the “One Family, One Child” policy as a basic state policy in 1979. It is estimated that during the several decades this policy was in effect, as many as 400 million unborn babies were killed. In those days, having a second child could be regarded as a criminal offense.
So in those years, to stress the achievement of adopting the “One Child” policy, local officials and the CCP tended to underreport the population.
Former law professor Yuan Hongbing mentioned in his book “The Taiwan Crisis” that he learned from a senior official of the CCP’s Ministry of Civil Affairs that the actual population of China was 1.53 billion in 2005. But the CCP claimed then that China’s population was 1.3 billion. On the one hand, the CCP wanted to boast about its “success” with its “One Child” policy, on the other hand, it didn’t want to alarm the world. In 2006, the world’s population was 6.67 billion. If China had 1.53 billion, that would account for 23% of the earth’s population. The world might be alarmed by this number and raise concerns of a possible food crisis.
By the way, the book “The Taiwan Crisis” was first published in 2009.
I don’t know how many people still remember that in 2021, the CCP delayed the release of its 2020 census results on more than one occasion, and was only able to finally release the numbers in May. Usually, this number is released in January. I did a show to talk about this. Why did it delay the figures again and again? Because it needed to polish the numbers, and it took 5 months to polish the numbers for 2020. Why?
The CCP later said that its population was 1.41 billion.
However, as early as Nov. 16, 2020, a well-known demographer and author Yi Fuxian said that he projected the actual population of China in 2020 to be about 1.26 billion, and isn’t likely to exceed 1.28 billion.
In June last year, he insisted that China only had less than 1.28 billion people.
In July last year, a hacker claimed to have stolen personal information from the Shanghai police on one billion Chinese citizens. This is said to be one of the biggest data breaches in human history.
Yi Fuxian later said, this data theft on 1 billion Chinese citizens confirmed his view that China had less than 1.28 billion people. His reasoning is, if there were only 1 billion personal records in that database, it indicated that China had only 1 billion people.
An IT engineer also said that when one used the Elastic Search server to build a big data search system for the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, all the data needs to be sent to ElasticSearch for the system to analyze and sort. And only that way can one do a complete search. So the data was complete.
As a matter of fact, the database only contained information about 970 million people. That could probably be the true population of China.
So if China had 1.53 billion people in 2005, but only has 1 billion, or 1.28 billion people now, what happened to 500 million people between then and now?
Mr. Li Hongzhi also said in the Epoch Times report that “over 200 million people in China died during the SARS epidemic between 2002 and 2004. Years later when the CCP noticed the dwindling population, it abandoned its one-child policy and started encouraging couples to have a second or even a third child. ”
This is consistent with China’s family plan policy. The CCP first relaxed its “One Family, One Child” policy in Nov. 2013, and introduced a new policy, which allowed couples, who were both the only child of the family, to have 2 children.
Two years later, in Oct 2015, the CCP allowed all couples to have 2 children.
And in Oct last year, it allowed all couples to have 3 children.
8 days ago, a group of Chinese demographers led by Liang Jianzhang published “China Education and Population Report”. The report says that the excessive education burden is too heavy for families, and is the most important reason for China’s low fertility rate. So the report suggests abolishing the secondary school entrance examination and shortening the school year by 2 years.
What does this mean? It means cutting the current number of school years from 12 to 10, so that students can graduate from high school at the age of 16 instead of 18. Then they can quickly get married and have children.
The report has so far received a lot of public anger and criticism. It shows how desperate the CCP is to increase its sharply dropped population.
Death of Celebrities
I shared on Twitter the news of many celebrities’ deaths recently. I said that “celebrities’ deaths are more difficult to hide, as their workplaces or families usually publish the news to show respect.”
In the first 10 days of 2022, only 12 Chinese celebrities died. In the same period this year, Wikipedia published 209 Chinese celebrities’ deaths. That’s 17 times the number of last year’s.
If the annual number of deaths in China is about 10 million during normal years, 10 million times 17 is 170 million. If this number is multiplied by 3, it is 510 million.
Survivorship Bias
Some people ask, is it possible that 400 million have died in 3 years? That’s over 365 K people per day. How can so many people disappear without being noticed by the outside world?
Well, first of all, dead people don’t talk. They won’t tell you that they have died.
Secondly, there are 2843 counties in China. So 365 K with 2843 counties, that is 128 persons per day. 128 persons in one county is not that terribly hard to imagine.
We know that about 14% of people in the former Soviet Union died during WWII. Did anybody outside of the Soviet Union feel much from the deaths then?
One might say it is nothing strange for people to die in a war. As a matter of fact, in human history, what’s caused the most deaths has been pandemics, not war.
Thirdly, let’s look at this table.
This is the per capita monthly income and the percentage of China’s population in 2019.
The top row shows that there were 5.46 million people in China who had less than a 0 yuan income in 2019, and that’s 0.39% of the population.
The second row shows that there were more than 215 million, or 15.42 % of people in China, whose monthly income was between 0–500 yuan, that’s less than $73.81.
And look at the two rows at the bottom in the red circle. These are people whose monthly income is above 5000 yuan, or $738. Only these people are the most likely to have access to the internet and a smartphone, and only these people are likely to have a voice on the internet and in public venues.
And these people only account for about 5% of the population. These people enjoy the best living standards and best medical conditions in China. And they might not accurately speak for the rest of the 95% of people, or even know what happened to them.
In the past two days, I tweeted quite a few cases of 3, or even 6 members of one family dying within 5 days or a very short period of time.
1. 3 members of 1 family died in 5 days: grandpa (in his 90s), dad (48 y/o), & mom (46 y/o). 3 boys left behind. Eldest one in hospital. Youngest boy 18 y/o. Neighbors tried to help
Vid shot on Jan 3, at Xiaoheba, Luwang Township, Yiliang County, Zhaotong, Yunnan Province… pic.twitter.com/LNtZLeHDuQ
— Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng 曾錚真言 (@jenniferzeng97) January 16, 2023
Another vid of the same case shows the eldest son rushed to the hospital in critical condition. pic.twitter.com/HzzXZZKOJO
— Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng 曾錚真言 (@jenniferzeng97) January 16, 2023
1. 3 coffins from the same family on the way to graveyard.
Story: father died, 48 y/o son rushed back from the army to deal with the funeral, died too before funeral was organized, then his mother also died.
Gov. document admitted 3 members of the same family died and… pic.twitter.com/avNM0JXpq3
— Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng 曾錚真言 (@jenniferzeng97) January 16, 2023
Back in 2020, there was a true case of 4 family members dying out within 15 days. As one of them was a 55-year-old movie director, whose name was Chang Kai, this case made media reports.
Again, Chang Kai’s story became known because he himself posted on social media about the deaths of his parents and sister before he died himself. If he hadn’t done that, perhaps nobody would know that this family had died out.
In China, there are about 509 million people living in the countryside. Whatever happens to these people, city people might be clueless. So who can make noise for these people? Probably no one.
Mr. Li Hongzhi also said, when the pandemic is over, 500 million people in China will die. I think this 500 million also includes the 400 million who have already died. So another 100 million will die.
Mr. Li didn’t disclose how he knew about the numbers. The reason I am talking about this is, if 500 million really die, how will that impact China, the CCP’s regime, and the Chinese economy?
If China really only has 1 billion people, instead of 1.4 billion now, how can its labor-intensive industries, as well as the real estate market sustain itself? All these will have a profound impact on the world.
We are really living in a fast-changing world. Maybe we need to prepare ourselves for even more shocking numbers and facts.
Well, that’s all for today. Thank you very much for watching. Please don’t forget to subscribe to my channel if you haven’t. If you are already subscribed, please like and share my content, and double-check that you are still subscribed.
Also, if you could, please go to my website at jenniferzengblog.com, sign up for a membership, or make a donation to support my truth-telling efforts.
Two days ago I saw a friend recommend “Avatar 2: The Way of Water” on Facebook, so yesterday I went to the cinema with someone to see it.
前兩天在臉書上看到有朋友推薦《阿凡達2：水之道》，昨天便與某人一起去電影院看了。
After watching it, I asked him: What do you think?
看完出來，我問他：你覺得怎樣？
He said: “It’s so long ……”.
他說：「好長啊……」
I immediately understood what he meant. He must not like this film, but because I said it was good and dragged him there, he was too polite to say directly that he did not like it, so he came up with “It’s so long……”
In fact, I was very disappointed too. So I directly expressed what I thought, so that he didn’t need to feel embarrassed to speak about his disappointment. He echoed what I said, and ended with one simple sentence: “There is no story.”
其實我也是大失所望的，於是便把他不好意思說的話說了出來。他一邊附和，一邊又來了一句：「There is no story.」
I nodded, and thought this sentence could be served as Avatar 2’s “final judgment”.
就這一句話，應該就把《阿凡達2》給「蓋棺定論」吧。
Yes, there is no story, no substance, no human value, or anything that can touch people’s heart.
我不知道怎樣翻譯「There is no story」，才能準確表達他的原意。我想，他是想說，這部影片並無內涵，並無人文價值，並無引人入勝的故事情節吧。
Yes, I admit that the film has done a perfect job in terms of sensory “excitement”. The scenes in the sky, in the mountains and in the deep sea can be described as perfect and beyond reproach. The fantasy and magnificence of the “other world” that does not exist in the human planet, but was produced by computer technology, does look so stunning, and so breath-taking.
However, these are about all the “good things” I can say about this blockbuster.
然而，這些，就是我能對這部大片所說的「好話」的全部了。
Computer technology and computer special effects that were introduced into the movie industry, have indeed brought a lot of new sensory enjoyment and stimulation, especially so at the beginning stage. They were so exciting, so new, and so inspiring.
However, with the appearance of “masterpieces” such as “Avatar 2”, I have to say that I’m afraid the computer technology and special effects might have been abused; and the path of relying too much on special effects and sensory stimulation to attract audience may have come to a dead end.
At least, for me, I have had enough of that. My sensory organs have been stimulated to numb; and I no longer want to have more such stimulation.
至少，對我來說，我已經受夠了，我的感官已經被刺激到麻木了，不再希望有更多這樣的刺激了。
Some people say that “Avatar 2: The Way of Water” has very deep philosophy in it, but I am afraid that I have to disagree with that too.
There are indeed several water-related lines in the film, such as there is no beginning, no end, no life, no death, etc. They sound quite philosophical, quite connotative. But unfortunately, these lines sound like just that they are just “borrowed” or “copied” from somewhere. They don’t belong to the movie at all, and they
cannot be integrated with the rest of the film, cannot become part of the “story”. So they sound awkward, like a reckless boorish man who has to recite some beautiful poems that he doesn’t understand.
All in all, I still miss the old and good movies that are full of humanity, wonderful stories, and happy or sad romances, that can touch people’s hearts or trigger them to think.
總之，我還是懷念以前那些充滿人文情懷，能觸動人的心靈，或引發人的思考的老電影、好片子。
The other thing is, it seems that “Avatar 2” cannot escape from the “fate” of what we Chinese call “adding a dog’s tail to the sable coat” either. Why do we have to “stretch” a successful work and come up with a sequel? The “stretch” may be able to succeed commercially with the fame of the first episode. But artistically, at least, both that “someone” and I will turn around and forget it in no time. We probably won’t go back to the cinema again for a long time. After all, spending three hours just for sound and visual stimulation is not that wonderful an experience that we want to repeat.
On February 15, 2022, a large number of people lined up for appointments outside the funeral home in the eastern suburbs of Beijing. Screenshot from Taiwan ET Today. 2022年2月15日，北京東郊殯儀館大爆滿大批人在門外排隊預約。東森影片截圖
In Memory of My Uncle: A Personal Story of How I Struggle to Get Cremation Service in Beijing
(Jennifer’s note: This is the English translation of a Chinese article, which was once widely circulated on Chinese social media platforms and then deleted from Chinese websites.)
By Li Ji | Translated into English by Jennifer Zeng 文：李驥 | 英文翻譯：曾錚
On December 18, 2022, my third uncle, unfortunately, passed away, very suddenly. Because of his previous history of cancer, he died in his sleep. On the 19th, I was informed by my sister (about his death). I was surprised beyond words. I learned that he would be cremated on the 20th. I was still thinking about whether it is better to mourn him for three days before we cremated him. On the 19th, at 5:00 a.m. I rushed to Guang’anmen Hospital with sadness. What happened next will be something I will never forget.
First of all, (I learned) that the cremation site would be at Miyun Funeral Home. I asked my sister why we should go to such a faraway place. My sister said: I’ve been calling all the funeral homes in Beijing since yesterday. An appointment is required at all of them. For places like Babaoshan, the earliest available time is more than a month. The shortest waiting time would be a week.
Yesterday when Uncle died, I had been calling 120, but no one came. The answer was no hospitals are able to store bodies, they’re all full. I was surprised and asked, then what can we do? I was told to keep it at home. This made me panic. Keep it ourselves? Put it in the refrigerator? I began to beg and promised that I am willing to pay as much as possible. I wanted to at least get the body to a morgue for storage.
There was an unknown female comrade, I guess she is practicing bodhisattva, she said that we should find a one-stop shop funeral service company, to see what can be done. Then I hurried to contact one, once I did, I was told that we can get the body to Guang’anmen Hospital.
I felt a little peace of mind, and then I was told the price for the one-stop-shop service company is, 38,000 yuan ($5442), non-negotiable. Services include getting the body to the crematorium for 10,000 yuan, crematorium queue (to ensure that you can have the service) for 3,000 yuan, and 5,000 yuan for storage at the mortuary for one night. I calculated the numbers and thought that they didn’t add up. So I asked about it, but was told, up to you! Who cares (whether you hire us or not)? Now the crematoriums are completely maxed out. Some people can not even get into line and can only keep the body at home. Some have kept bodies at home for a week. When I asked what else was included, I was told that the urn was not included, nor was the cremation fee. These were not included in the 38,000. This was followed by a question: “You want to take to body away or not? “ “Yes, yes, yes, I do!” I was very grateful and felt that I was lucky.
The next day, Guang’anmen Hospital, the hearse came very early. A tall, thin man silently threw coffins into the elevator, one, two, three, four …… We were immersed in grief, and were all silent. Then the driver said, hurry up, get down and carry the bodies up.
Everyone rushed to the elevator. Suddenly the driver shouted something. Because I did not hear clearly, plus he has an accent, I asked loudly, what did you say? He didn’t say anything at first, but then he followed up with, “Hurry up, don’t dawdle!”
I said to myself, “Why is this man so nasty? “All the families were in grief, but he was treating us like idiots. Wasn’t he afraid of being beaten?
我心說，這哥們兒怎麼這麼喪啊？家屬都在悲切中，他跟訓三孫子似的不怕挨揍嗎？
But time was tight, I didn’t have time to care too much. When we got down to the morgue, I don’t know what words to use to describe it. There were bodies all over the place, no, to put it more precisely, the ground was densely covered with bodies on top of bodies. I initially thought the deceased would be put in those small freezers like before. While I was feeling puzzled, a worker at the morgue said, “There are too many. Seize your time, and take a last look at your deceased loved one. Don’t stay for too long. “
Then I found out that my uncle’s body was already put into a hearse, instead of being placed on the ground. I thought this must be the VIP treatment we paid 38,000 for. We hastily tidied things up a little and closed the coffin cover. Everybody worked together to get the coffin into the hearse. During this time, the driver had been directing some temporary workers who had little experience on what to do.
After completing this process, the driver said, hurry up and set off, today we need to go to Miyun County to do the cremation. Don’t blame me if we are late and can’t get into line. I could not help but feel the anger in my heart. This guy talked so nastily. But then I remembered what my sister told me about the situation, and didn’t dare to talk back. I was really afraid that he would throw my uncle’s body out and drive off.
We each drove our own cars all the way [to the crematory] in the early morning. We left at 5:00 am and arrived at the Miyun Funeral Home after 6:00 am. I could see that there were a lot of people from out of town. We went over and asked around, and were told to line up. We rushed to stand at the end of the line.
Shortly afterward, the bad news came. They said we can only cremate forty bodies today. The latter can only be lined up for tomorrow. I looked at the not-too-straight queue, and rushed to count the number of people. According to incomplete statistics, we were about 42 or 43. My sister rushed to contact the driver. The driver said, it was fine yesterday, but the rules were changed today. If you can’t get it done there, we can go over to Huailai County to do it. Then he said, let’s wait a moment, till their boss comes so we can ask. I can’t describe how I felt at that moment. I was nervous, anxious, bewildered, helpless, and everything.
At this time, I saw people trying to have some other people cut into the queue, and many people started protesting.
這時候看見有人在隊列四周往裡安排人，周邊不滿之聲四起。
A guy wearing a mink coat said, they are one family, this person has been standing in line all night. He cannot stand anymore, so we are getting someone to replace him, this won’t affect your position in line. Shortly after, with the same technique, he replaced 3 or 4 people in the line. He also had a form in his hand, and he kept making phone calls to ask where are you now? Have you arrived?
I said to my sister, this super smart guy who is like a ticket scalper should have a way to help us skip ahead in line. I went over to say hello to him, but he ignored me. He was busy making phone calls. I had thought, I would pay him money, more and more money. But I didn’t even have a chance to talk to him.
After a while, the hearse driver walked up slowly. We immediately surrounded him. He said, don’t worry, I’m looking for my boss.
又過了一會，司機緩緩而來，馬上圍過去，他說沒事，我在找我們領導。
When he stood beside the guy wearing a mink coat, I somehow felt a sense of security from the bottom of my heart, as if I had finally found my own organization that I can belong to.
當他和貂兒站在一處那一刻，我不知怎麼竟會由衷升起一種找到了組織的安全感。
He checked our names, and counted the number from the begging of the line to the end. He got us to move up for a bit, and repeatedly urged us to guard our position, don’t let others cut in line.
對名字，又從前排往後數了一遍，把我們插到了稍稍提前的位置，反復叮囑，站好了，別讓人插進來。
Cut in the line? No way! At that moment, I felt I was willing to defend my position with my life. I felt both solemn and magnificent.
插進來？放心，我當時都有誓死捍衛305高地的悲壯感……
Shortly after that, a lady who originally stood behind us walked forward, and accused us: How can you move forward? Mr. Mink Coat explained, as usual, no, we were just replacing someone in line.
站定不一刻，原先站在我們後面的一個女士大步上前，指責我們怎麼能往前挪，貂總解釋如常，換人而已。
The lady didn’t accept this, and loudly scolded us. My sister wanted to explain, but I quickly stopped her: Don’t say anything. Just stand in line, don’t try to explain. The more you say, the harder it will be to explain.
女士不干，大聲呵斥，沒人應答，我妹妹想解釋，我趕緊拉著她，別說話，就這排著，不分辨，越描越黑
At that moment, I was suddenly overwhelmed with sadness. When I was a teenager, I read Lu Xun ‘s literature. I was so young, so proud, and so spirited. I looked down upon and blamed everyone. Lu Yun said, “The Chinese do not dare to look squarely at all aspects, and will always use concealment and deception to create a wonderful escape route. They think they are on the right path. In fact, on this road, it precisely proves that our national nature is cowardly, lazy, and cleverly slippery. They are easily satisfied and extremely easy to degenerate.”
At that time, I felt that I was beyond this commonplace and despised extremely the foolishness of all beings. But at this time, I felt so complacent after gaining some vested interests. I counted the heads from the beginning to the end of the line, and ensured that we were before number 40. Around me were all my family members and friends. They acted as guardians to ensure that no one could cut in line.
We waited from 6:00 am until 8:00 am. A staff member shouted with a loudspeaker, saying, “All lined up, all lined up! Today’s quota is 40. We are a small size site, we have only three furnaces, they have been overloaded these days. Forty is already the maximum number. Do not cut in line. Register with the staff a little later.”
At this point, I saw Mr. Mink Coat and several others who looked like the head of some teams get together to verify their name lists. How many people do you have? Have they come or not?
此時我看到貂總和幾個形色各異的頭臉人物湊在一起對名單，你幾個？我幾個，都來沒來。
I went close to them to listen. There were 11 people on Mr. Mink Coat’s list. Yesterday they hired some idle men from a nearby village, and paid them 500 yuan per day for them to stand the line for the whole night. On the following day, any VIP who had paid for his one-stop-shop service could get a spot in line at this most critical place that everyone was fighting for. The method was just The Great Replacement Way. Just replace the person in the line. Although this method invites scolding, outsiders have no way to deal with it. They indeed didn’t cut in line. I vaguely remembered the one-stop-shop fee did include the cost of 3000 for a spot in the crematorium queue.
After 8:00 am, finally, a staff member came out to maintain a little order. He just used a loudspeaker to shout, “Stand in one line. Only one person [per family] in line. We will start the registration soon.”
Then each family selected a representative, and the rest of the family surrounded the representative to guard their spot. During that period, the heads of the groups fought with one another a little as they couldn’t distribute the spots well. In front of these vested interests, this was so very “natural”, as everybody wanted to ensure that they can pocket their money safely.
As no one wanted to go to Huailai after already spending 38,000, I re-counted again. We were no. 36. I felt a little peace of mind.
因為沒人願意花了三萬八還要去懷來。我又重頭數了一遍，三十六號，心中稍安。
After about an hour, it was finally our turn. We were №38. I didn’t know how two more people got in front of us.
四刻後，終於統計到我們，代號三十八號（中間如何被鑽進去倆家沒有看到）。
The families that were more than 2 numbers behind us became very agitated. They said they had been in line since 4:00 am, how come they were behind others?
我們後面倆家之後群情激奮，說自己四點就來了，如何反而排名靠後？
Someone said I just counted a while ago, I was still №38. Somebody has jumped the line, I can’t accept that!
有人說我剛剛數過我是三十八號，有人加塞不干不干！
When I heard this, I used my arms to protect my sister, saying, “I don’t care what your number is. We’ve already registered. If you are upset, go talk to those in the front.”
我一聽用手護住妹妹，您愛幾號幾號，我們登記了，您有情緒找前面發去。
At that moment, all my knowledge and wisdom gained through years of learning suddenly became nothing. I fought like a village woman, feeling I was willing to die to defend my vested interest.
此一刻，多年所沉淀學識化為烏有，皆村婦吵架，為既得利益悍不畏死之感。
The people behind us could not prove who had jumped the queue and resentfully found the family who was №40, who were very frightened. They hurriedly said, “We didn’t jump the queue, we didn’t jump the queue, we have been in the queue since yesterday.”
They sounded slightly funny. The guy said, “I’m just asking, you’re at the end of the line this time, right? I’ll wait behind you. Nobody can cut in line. I’ll just stand here all night to see if tomorrow I’ll be №1.”
Later on, I learned that this guy had been here for 3 days. No wonder he was so upset. But, I couldn’t give my spot to him in a situation like this. I felt very sympathetic to him, but I could only lower my head and say nothing.
後來細問，已經三天了，確實著急，想想這事也不能讓，滿眼同情低頭不語。
After that, it was a long wait until it was time to register. At about 10:30 am, a staff member asked about our numbers, and everybody eagerly reported their numbers. The staff member said, go eat something. There is no way we can finish registration this morning.
We asked, “When can it be done?” The answer was, it depends on luck, if the furnace is not broken, and doesn’t need to be repaired, you guys at the back of the line may get it done at 6:00 pm o 7:00 pm.
問：幾何能辦完？答：看運氣吧，如果爐不壞，不用維修，你們靠後的這些六七點能完事。
Seeing that she looked very tired, and listening to her complaining about being overloaded with work, we didn’t have the heart to question their efficiency.
看著工作人員疲憊神態，聽著她嘴裡抱怨著早就超負荷了，我們不忍心再去糾結她效率的問題。
We then went to eat, taking turns, so that we still kept our spot in the line. At about 4 p.m., my sister was finally able to enter that sacred office hall. Then it was checking, registering, filling out the forms, and waiting. After half an hour, she finally finished all the procedures. I was asked to go get the body.
I immediately moved my already frozen legs to run over, the driver was very impatient, saying, “Why are you so slow? I’ve been waiting for you for ages!”
我馬上挪動凍僵的雙腿跑過去，司機已不耐煩，說我，這麼慢？等你們半天了。
I said, don’t talk nonsense. What is the use for me to come if we haven’t got the registration done? I thought to myself, if this guy says one more ugly sentence, I will throw him into the furnace too.
我說廢什麼話，不辦完手續我過來有蛋用？當時想，這小子再多一句廢話我把他也擱爐子裡。
He looked a little surprised. Maybe he saw that I was in as ugly of a mood as him, he gave me a smile and didn’t say anything. He helped to lift the body off the hearse, saying he will leave now if nothing else. So he finally finished his job for the day. When he turned to leave, I nonetheless murmured, thank you. It’s been hard.
Since the circumstances were abnormal, all of the families could only use a small hall to have a last look at our loved ones. At the urging of the staff, we hastily said goodbye to our uncle, which lasted two minutes, because there were still people lined up behind us.
At this stage, all kinds of childhood memories became to my mind. Once my uncle took me swimming. I collided with another kid. And my uncle went to take revenge for me.
小時種種此刻映入腦海，帶我去游泳，我和一個小孩子撞到了，他去替我報仇。
Seeing that the kid was diving at the bottom of the pool, he stepped on him, and waited until bubbles came out of the kid’s mouth before he lifted his foot. The child stood up, and saw an adult in front of him. My uncle then apologized to him, saying, oh baby, I am sorry, I didn’t see you, go over there to play.
The kid who drank a mouthful of water with bleach in it was at a loss. He cried and looked for his father.
喝了一嘴漂白粉的小子一時無措，哭著找他爹去了。
After swimming, we went back home, but we didn’t have money to buy bus tickets. My uncle actually used my childhood cute little face to please the young female conductor. So we successfully had a free ride.
游完泳回家時沒錢買公共汽車票，他居然用我小時候乖巧可愛的小臉去討好年輕女售票員，結果成功蹭了個車。
Once he took me to the seaside, we didn’t get to swim, but ended up poking a hornet’s nest.
帶我去海邊，沒游著泳倒是一起捅了個馬蜂窩。
All sorts of memories came to mind. My uncle wasn’t a very reliable person since his youth. He loved to brag, feared troubles, talked a lot, and did very little. However, whenever I thought about him, it was all happy and playful times, as well as my childhood memories. [I said to him, ] I am sorry, we can only say farewell to you in such a manner. But don’t feel vexed. After all, you are №38. You are so very lucky compared to some other people.
After 7:00 pm, the cremation was completed. I then remembered that Mr. Mink Coat had a list of 11 people today. I did a rough calculation. If everybody paid him 30,000 yuan, he earned 330,000 today. And if he works like this for a month…and it is all in cash too, and everybody was so eager to pay.
I think the satisfaction of counting the bills will surely clear away the gloomy and depressing atmosphere around this crematorium.
我想，當滿手的鈔票數起來時的那種滿足感，肯定會化解這火葬場裡的陰郁之氣。
By this point, I would like to use this way to remember my dear uncle. I used to call him Uncle Hauzibai when I was a kid. May he’ll be well in heaven.
到這裡，我想以此方式來緬懷我親愛的三叔，小時候經常叫他華子伯（bai），願他在天堂安好。
Also, tell your friends around you that health is really important, don’t treat it casually because now you may not be able to afford to die.
另外，也要告訴身邊的朋友，健康真的很重要，不要隨意對待，因為現在你可能死不起。
In addition, yesterday I heard a notice that since December 21, 2022, this funeral home will no longer accept bodies coming from Beijing. After hearing this news, I couldn’t help but worry about those who have nowhere to go.
Of course, I’m not worried about Mr. Mink Coat’s small team, they can always seize an opportunity to make piles of money. And because of this work attitude of being able to stretch and bend, they will surely be able to set up a new business empire in Huailai.
四億死亡‧証實與證僞‧火化爐之數量級推算‧「強大的疾病」與推特粉絲感謝信：我幫了川普？‧從「六四」開溜到坦然入獄‧我爲何被法輪功吸引：從「假說」到「定理」‧四億三退數怎麼來的‧法輪功爲何不推翻中共？
對不起，很久不做視頻了。先給大家拜個年！祝大家新年平安、向善得福！ 今天的話題主要圍繞兩個近日很熱事件：法輪功創始人說中國疫情三年死了四億人，可能嗎？
#疫情 #四億死亡 #法輪功
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