A worker with Shengjing Cemetery in Shenyang told Xinhua that over a dozen QR code stickers have been put on tombstones since the cemetery started offering such services for free just over a month ago. Most of the applicants are aged between 35 and 45.
"We have been receiving inquiries. When more people know about the technology of QR codes, the service will definitely find a growing market," said Li Yinqi, an official at the cemetery.
The machine-readable barcode, invented in Japan in the early 1990s, is now widely used for product tracking, document management and marketing purposes.
The latest application of the code came as no great surprise in China, which has become familiar with cyber-mourning in recent years.
While older generations of Chinese would go to shrines and graves to remember dead relatives, modern urban Chinese are turning to virtual memorial halls. They light candles for their deceased family members and lay virtual wreaths in the online structures.
Chinese officials have been advocating the virtual drive out of concern over dwindling burial space, as well as air pollution and fire risks stemming from the tradition of burning paper "hell money" for the dead.
Although the number of tombstone barcode users is far smaller than that of people observing the tradition more conventionally, some have worried that modern technology will weaken China's entrenched culture of ancestor worship.
However, Yan Xuefei, an official with the Shenyang Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, dismissed such criticism, arguing that the new tech better serves people's emotional needs.
"It does not matter how you worship your family members, realistically or virtually," he said. "What really matters is your feelings toward the deceased."
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