Rent a wail

An article in today's Times claims that Chinese entrepreneurs are offering their cash-rich, time-poor compatriots an opportunity to escape the obligation of sweeping their ancestors' tombs at the Qingming festival. At Qingming, people return to their villages and for many workers on the coast, this can mean a long journey inland. They can avoid this, however, by paying £32 for a sombrely dressed mourner to stand in their place by the graveside and to weep for ten minutes. A video of the performance will be sent to the client. For £100 the stand-in will also cut the grass around the tomb, light candles, burn incense and read a eulogy. Additional services include burning a paper image of a servant to ensure the dead are waited upon in the afterlife, making a toast to the departed, kowtowing three times and bellowing a specified name into the air in an anguished cry of despair.