A "pet cemetery" outside the Sixth Ring Road in Beijing. China Youth Daily Zhongqing Online Reporter Xuan Zengxing/photo
Liu Dazhuang was buried in a poplar forest outside the Sixth Ring Road in Beijing.
A path leads to the valley. All the way down, into the forest covering an area of more than 100 acres, you will find a tombstone under each tree. Many names engraved on it are overlapping words, and most of them are inscribed with "Mom and Dad".
In the past three years, Ma Ying, a 60-year-old Beijing citizen, has driven more than 20 kilometers to visit the grave almost every weekend. At first, she put gloves, rags and other tools in the car. Later, for convenience, she simply put the tools in a bag and tied them on the poplar in front of the tomb.
Thanks to careful cleaning, Liu Dazhuang’s cemetery is very clean. The glass cover protects the black marble tombstone from the rain, surrounded by green grass and bright fake flowers. Sometimes, Ma Ying will put a bowl of boiled eggs and some ham sausages in front of the tomb.
"Take care of yourself, baby. We love you forever." This gentle exhortation is engraved under a photo on the tombstone.
The photo has faded, but Liu Dazhuang’s true face can still be recognized: a white puppy.
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With more than 4,000 other pets around — — Mostly cats and dogs — — Similarly, Liu Dazhuang was buried in this place called "Pet Paradise". These four words were painted on the low yellow brick wall, which was inconspicuous. During the day, "pet paradise" has the unique quiet atmosphere of the cemetery.
But at night, this is another world. Many tomb owners’ "parents" will install street lamps in front of the tomb, and after nightfall, the Woods will light up with little lights. There is even a solar-powered "chanting machine" that automatically plays scriptures for those dead animals.
According to the Report on the Survey and Forecast of China Pet Market from 2014 to 2019 released by a research organization, the number of pets in China has reached 100 million in 2015, and there are more than 1 million pet carcasses to be disposed of in a year. Graveyards similar to "pet paradise" are found in many areas.
Liu Dazhuang lies in an exclusive coffin. In "pet paradise", the price of a "cemetery" ranges from 2000 yuan to 5000 yuan. The cost of coffin, tombstone and base is calculated separately, and there are different grades to choose from. Tombstones come in two sizes, the small one is 1200 yuan, and the big one is 1600 yuan. 100 yuan, the base made of cement, costs 1600 yuan for marble.
If you choose to cremate, there is a cremator next to it. The cost is calculated according to the weight of the pet, and the weight under 20 kg usually does not exceed that of 1000 yuan.
There is a price list posted in the office of this company. When asked whether the pricing had been audited by the Price Bureau, a staff member said that these charging items were not within the scope of the audit, and "the Price Bureau could not manage them".
"Pet Paradise" obtained a business license in 2005, but the business scope marked above is "selling animal funeral supplies". The staff of the Funeral Department of Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau said that "pet funeral" is not within the jurisdiction of the department.
The "pet cemetery" was a fantasy in the past, but now it is developing with the blowout of the whole pet industry. Some researchers who pay attention to the relationship between owners and pets have noticed that while the social fertility rate is declining and there is a phenomenon of "fewer children", the pet business is very prosperous. According to an industry report, keeping pets is becoming a "lifestyle" for Chinese people with economic growth, increasing urbanization rate and aging.
Pets enter the family step by step, and photos of different ages show this process: in previous photos, pets were always kept in outdoor fences, and then they gradually entered the room. A paper on this issue from the Department of Psychology and Business Consulting of Taipei University of Education said that people’s motivation to keep dogs has changed from warning dogs and guarding the house to looking for "companion animals" to comfort their souls.
Liu Dazhuang was a white "Jingba". He was 12 years old when he died, which was regarded as "old age" among dogs. It takes the surname of "Dad". It was originally named Dazhuang in the hope that it would be healthy and strong. In the end, it died of heart disease. Ma Ying said that it was sick because it was fed too much and it was too fat.
In the last few years of his life, Liu Dazhuang often screamed and rolled around because of severe pain. Ma Ying had to get up in the middle of the night to soothe her like nursing her crying child more than 30 years ago. She picked it up from the soft kennel and patted it, and even fed it the Chinese medicine "Quick-acting Jiuxin Pill".
Liu Dazhuang carries two "light quantum energy chips" on his chest and back, which Ma Ying bought at a health care product marketing activity. One piece is worth 15,800 yuan. She has always been superstitious, and Dazhuang can live for two more years, "thanks to these two chips."
The day the dog died was June 15th, 2015. When Ma Ying came home from the supermarket, she saw her wailing "heartbreaking", and she would get sick every few minutes. She picked her up and ran to the pet hospital, whispering in her ear, "Don’t worry, Zhuang, mom will save you."
She finally failed to save this "child" who is equivalent to a human life span of more than 60 years. The oxygen mask has failed for Da Zhuang, and it has been transferred to a box full of oxygen, but it is also in vain. "It is said that when he died, he was bleeding from seven orifices." Ma Ying stood outside the door and didn’t dare to watch the last scene.
It was after 9 o’clock in the evening and she had been in the hospital for more than four hours. "That day was really torture," Ma Ying thought before, and that day would come eventually, "but I didn’t think so soon."
Her daughter found "Pet Paradise" temporarily on the Internet, and the website of this animal burial center said: "Find a home like this for pets who have left their loved ones."
Ma Ying’s family of three immediately drove there. On the way, Da Zhuang was lying on the driver’s "dad", as if he were asleep, but his body temperature gradually dropped.
The arrival of the car at night caused the dogs in the "pet paradise" to bark and bark. They are one of the few of their kind here who are still alive and kicking. However, they are not pets, but "watchdog". There is a big difference in treatment between the two. Watchdogs can only eat leftovers at ordinary times and are not eligible to enter "heaven" after death.
Cost is not Ma Ying’s first consideration. She just wants to find a place to rest for her children. She was taken to a room full of black wooden coffins, chose a medium coffin from three models: small, medium and large, and gently put Dazhuang with its blankets and toys.
The staff chose a place less than one square meter and dug a deep pit, just enough for the coffin. Ma Ying touched Da Zhuang for the last time, and the earth soon filled up the pit.
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Zhang Youwang is usually the one who digs the hole. At the age of 54, he has worked in "pet paradise" for more than 10 years. From guarding the "cemetery" to repairing water pipes and carving tombstones, he did everything, and his hands were almost always stained with black ash.
Here, Zhang Youwang has seen all kinds of sad people: some couples have no children, and have raised cats and dogs as children for more than ten years, and often add flowers, drinks and fruits to their graves. Some young people came alone at first, then occasionally "brought a friend" and later became a person. There are also two girls or two boys coming together. He sometimes asks them, "Which one of you keeps this pet?" The other party smiled: "We raised it together." He also didn’t ask.
For three years, he has seen Ma Ying almost every week. He has never seen Da Zhuang, but he knows from listening once a week that he eats two meals a day in the morning and evening, likes ham sausage, drinks milk and doesn’t like sports. He goes downstairs and takes a bath once a week on average.
Da Zhuang was just bought by Ma Ying from the pet market with 300 yuan money. He was only two months old and only two palms big. At that time, it was a "gift" from Ma Ying to her daughter who was preparing for the college entrance examination. It’s just that my daughter goes to school during the day, and my husband who does business goes out early and comes back late every day. In the end, Ma Ying, who just retired, is the only one who cares for her.
Before that, she never had a dog, and she didn’t like to have a dog, which made her feel troublesome. Da Zhuang urinated everywhere at home at first, and he didn’t understand the instructions. Ma Ying was so angry that she patted him on the head, taught him to pee in the newspaper and bought him a "pet-only toilet".
"At first, I thought it was a gadget," Ma Ying said. "Later, I couldn’t live without it and began to raise it as a child."
In the next 12 years, whenever Ma Ying went home, she always saw Da Zhuang lying at the door, wagging his tail to meet her. Sometimes when she travels for a few days, she "regrets it as soon as she leaves" and can’t bear it. Later, as long as the suitcase was pulled in front of it, it was "anxious" and bit her clothes to prevent her from leaving.
"When I saw it, I always felt that there was nothing to worry about. I felt itchy and liked it." The smile on Ma Ying’s face only lasted for a few seconds. "But I can’t come back."
Zhang Youwang knows the "itchy" feeling. His hometown is in the countryside, and he had a yellow and white cat at home. I don’t know who gave it to him, and no one named it. In winter, the family sleeps on the heatable adobe sleeping platform, and the cat always likes to drill into the bed. He also dug a hole in the door for the cat and covered it with a curtain. Cats often open the curtain with their furry heads and "whew" into the house.
Later, his family also had a yellow dog, which had no name, and died of old age when he was 19 years old. Zhang Youwang likes painting. When he was young, he often rode his bike for more than an hour to Badaling and Juyongguan to sketch. After graduating from high school, he did wrought iron, painted ceramics and carved jewelry in state-owned units. Later, the factory closed down, and he also went to a private beverage factory and pressed the caps on the glass bottles one by one. His family introduced him to a girl from a neighboring village, and he married and had children locally. In the 19 years when these things happened, the yellow dog was always with him.
It’s just that for Zhang Youwang, cats and dogs are never pets, let alone "children", just "gatekeepers". He will play with them for a while, and more often he doesn’t care about their existence.
More than 10 years ago, he was introduced to the "pet paradise", where he lived day and night because he needed to look after the cemetery. There are piles of brushes, drawing paper and clothes, and even pots and pans in the room of more than ten square meters.
When he is free, he will squat in front of a tombstone and copy the pet photos on it. Some tombstones have built a delicate wooden house. Some people bought two or three "graveyard" locations for a pet in order to be spacious. In addition, in front of the tombs, the pillars of white marble are "as thick as one side in the Forbidden City". Up to now, the works he copied have been filled with eight or nine folders, each of which is carefully wrapped in plastic film.
Before and after the burial of Liu Dazhuang, it cost more than 10,000 yuan, which is not expensive here, nor is it a luxury for the Ma Ying family, and even the price is not comparable to the chip it hung before its death. A few years ago, the "pet paradise" did not allow customers to build small houses or tall fences outside the cemetery privately. All tombstones were the same shape and material except for different sizes. According to Zhang Youwang, it was the previous media reports that brought some public pressure. "Some people say that dogs are more expensive than people," he said.
Some time ago, a client took his pet’s ashes to be buried. Looking at a pair of stone lions in front of the tomb not far away, he muttered, "If they don’t let it be done now, mom would like to make you a more expensive and better one." Others specially made a body beauty for the dead pet. Compared with ordinary pet grooming, the price of body grooming should at least double.
Of course, some people have just finished the cemetery and regretted it. They feel that it is "too formal, and they can commemorate it by putting a photo at home".
Zhang Youwang feels that he understands these "customers". "People have different economic conditions and different ideas. There is nothing incomprehensible. It is all out of necessity," he studied his paintings hanging all over the room. "People who engage in art are romantic, and I can understand everything."
He dug hundreds of graves for others and never thought of putting his dead dog in them. Once upon a time, the yellow dog died. He was very sad. He thought about it and dug a hole under the peach tree in his yard and buried it.
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In recent years, burial in a "pet paradise" is no longer allowed, and all animal remains must be cremated before burial.
The Regulations of Beijing Municipality on Animal Epidemic Prevention stipulates that animals should be treated harmlessly after death, and no unit or individual may dispose of them at will. Han Lei, deputy director of the Veterinary Management Department of Beijing Agriculture Bureau, told the media earlier that pet carcasses may carry pathogenic microorganisms, causing the spread of pathogens.
From January 1, 2017, the harmless treatment system for animals in Beijing was officially put into operation. Nearly a thousand temporary collection points have been set up in the city, and the animal carcasses that need to be treated harmlessly are delivered or put into the temporary collection points, which are cleared and disposed by the sanitation operation company, and the expenses are borne by the public finance, and the citizens do not need to pay. However, there are still many pet owners who choose to bury their pets themselves or send them to places like "pet paradise" for cremation.
At present, the pet funeral industry in some countries and regions is relatively mature. France, Singapore, Japan and other countries stipulate that pet corpses must be cremated. There are more than 320 pet crematoriums in Britain. In Hong Kong, if a pet owner litters and buries a dead pet illegally, he will be fined up to HK$ 25,000 and imprisoned for six months. Japan’s pet crematoriums not only provide pet cremation services, but also provide farewell ceremonies, ashes storage and other services, and even temples dedicated to pets.
After the death of Da Zhuang, Ma Ying often fell into remorse and regretted not being able to "hug him more" before his death. "I used to think that more than ten years was particularly long." For a time, Ma Ying didn’t even dare to look at its photos. Now its photo is on the cupboard at home, and occasionally she will block this one with other photos. Remembering that she had beaten Da Zhuang, she felt "unable to forgive herself".
After blaming herself for a long time, Ma Ying tried to comfort herself again. "It’s good to go, it can suffer less." Sometimes she will wipe the glass cover on the tombstone and say, "It’s your own heart disease, which is not bad for anyone." Da Zhuang spends at least 200 yuan on dog food every month, and tens of thousands of yuan on an operation. She feels that she is "worthy of it".
"Let’s go, no one can accompany anyone forever." Ma Ying sighed. There are about 30 years left in the land lease of "Pet Paradise", and few people have thought about what to do after it expires. "I guess it will be gone by then." She said.
At first, her husband and daughter often went to the grave with her. Later, they always said that they were too busy at work, so she had to go alone. My daughter is in her thirties this year. She works as the chief financial officer in a company, rents a house outside and keeps a Shiba Inu. In Beijing, the mother and daughter talk on the phone about once every half month, "I don’t usually contact much when I have nothing to do."
Zhang Youwang doesn’t live with his family either. His wife lives in a village hundreds of meters away and often comes to see him. My son rents a house in downtown Beijing, and the room is smaller than his. My 80-year-old mother still lives in the village and finds a job as a mountain guard, sitting at the foot of the mountain all day every day. A family of four, scattered in different parts of Beijing.
Recently, someone wanted to auction Zhang Youwang’s paintings. He picked a few and took them to his son by bike for more than 20 kilometers, asking him to help him deliver them. This is the first time he met his son after the Spring Festival, and he also brought a big bag of newly picked willow buds. My son checked out fatty liver. He heard that eating willow buds can "get rid of fire".
He also said that whether a son is married or not has "little to do with himself". Now he just wants to sell more paintings and save some money to see Huangshan. Living in his fifties, he has hardly traveled. There is a crumpled poster on the bedside with tape, and the Huangshan Mountain is shrouded in clouds.
Ma Ying doesn’t intend to keep any more pets. "After keeping them for more than ten years, she will suffer.". Several cats and dogs in "Pet Paradise" became her new "children". Every week when she goes to visit the grave, she cooks the broth in advance and feeds it to a "black back" in the yard. The dog has no name. She always calls it "Little Black". Considering that there are seven or eight cats here, she will also bring cat food. Occasionally, several cats were killed by passing cars, and Zhang Youwang buried them in the peach forest across the road. He said, when you think about them, just look up.
A Dalmatian dog in the yard got breast cancer. Ma Yinghua paid nearly 10,000 yuan to treat it, but it was in vain. Zhang Youwang buried it in a highland near the gate and joked, "This dog guarded the door when he was alive, and he guarded the door when he died."