A woman is tiding up the clothes for the dead in her own shop. Photo: Web

While people in China tend to avoid talking about death, a small village in China has made the subject the core of its identity as its residents have been making a living off the funeral business since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Mibeizhuang, a village in the Xiongan New Area, North China's Hebei Province only hundreds of kilometers south of Beijing, is famous across the country for its handicraft Chinese joss paper products, sheets of paper that are turned into objects such as houses or cars and then burnt as offerings to ones' ancestors.

"Nobody farms in our village, we all do this to make a living," Guo Li (pseudonym), a shop owner, told The Beijing News.

Villagers turn piles of joss paper into all kinds of objects, from mansions, fridges and televisions to passports to property deeds, and then sell them to people who will burn them as gifts for the deceased.

In addition to the joss paper products, the village also makes other funeral supplies such as coffins and wreaths. About 90 percent of villagers are involved in the funeral supply business, according to The Beijing News, and the village's annual output can reach 1 billion yuan ($156 million).

Although death can be a touchy subject in China, Guo explained that for them it is just business. 

"When a customer walks into the shop, I just hope they will pay attention to our products."

Though the village has been working in the industry for centuries, it has been making preparations to transform its business model to align with the government's ban on burning joss paper to promote environmental protection.

For example in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, since 2017 people who burn joss paper can be fined up to 1,000 yuan ($156).

In Xiongan, although the regulations haven't been introduced yet, the area has encouraged people for years to develop a low-carbon lifestyle when carrying out activities such as ancestral worship during festivals or funerals by not using paper products.

In order to adapt to these changes, electronic products have gradually appeared in the village to replace traditional paper.

In Feng Dawei's shop, once common paper wreaths have been replaced by rentable ones made from recycled paper with a screen inserted in the middle, said The Beijing News report.

Rumors have been lingering for years that the commercial area in the village will be demolished and businesses relocated as part of local development, so villagers worry about the future of their shops. In light of this worry, some villages have started moving their businesses online. 

One shop owner who has been in the business for 15 years told the Global Times he has opened a shop on China's e-commerce Taobao since 2019.

"Things have been doing well online. Sometimes we add some customers in our WeChat to better communicate with them and sometimes we share new products on our Moments page. But you know people outside the industry still think of these as bad luck, so we have to keep our Moments hidden."

A woman is tiding up the clothes for the dead in her own shop. Photo: Web

While people in China tend to avoid talking about death, a small village in China has made the subject the core of its identity as its residents have been making a living off the funeral business since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Mibeizhuang, a village in the Xiongan New Area, North China's Hebei Province only hundreds of kilometers south of Beijing, is famous across the country for its handicraft Chinese joss paper products, sheets of paper that are turned into objects such as houses or cars and then burnt as offerings to ones' ancestors.

"Nobody farms in our village, we all do this to make a living," Guo Li (pseudonym), a shop owner, told The Beijing News.

Villagers turn piles of joss paper into all kinds of objects, from mansions, fridges and televisions to passports to property deeds, and then sell them to people who will burn them as gifts for the deceased.

In addition to the joss paper products, the village also makes other funeral supplies such as coffins and wreaths. About 90 percent of villagers are involved in the funeral supply business, according to The Beijing News, and the village's annual output can reach 1 billion yuan ($156 million).

Although death can be a touchy subject in China, Guo explained that for them it is just business. 

"When a customer walks into the shop, I just hope they will pay attention to our products."

Though the village has been working in the industry for centuries, it has been making preparations to transform its business model to align with the government's ban on burning joss paper to promote environmental protection.

For example in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, since 2017 people who burn joss paper can be fined up to 1,000 yuan ($156).

In Xiongan, although the regulations haven't been introduced yet, the area has encouraged people for years to develop a low-carbon lifestyle when carrying out activities such as ancestral worship during festivals or funerals by not using paper products.

In order to adapt to these changes, electronic products have gradually appeared in the village to replace traditional paper.

In Feng Dawei's shop, once common paper wreaths have been replaced by rentable ones made from recycled paper with a screen inserted in the middle, said The Beijing News report.

Rumors have been lingering for years that the commercial area in the village will be demolished and businesses relocated as part of local development, so villagers worry about the future of their shops. In light of this worry, some villages have started moving their businesses online. 

One shop owner who has been in the business for 15 years told the Global Times he has opened a shop on China's e-commerce Taobao since 2019.

"Things have been doing well online. Sometimes we add some customers in our WeChat to better communicate with them and sometimes we share new products on our Moments page. But you know people outside the industry still think of these as bad luck, so we have to keep our Moments hidden."