As if Chinese people didn’t have enough problems, the government has started a campaign against the traditional practice of having strippers perform at funerals.
Why Have A Funeral Stripper?
- While funerals in these parts are more likely to feature gospel singers than exotic dancers. Strippers performing lap dances on mourners are not uncommon in China. In fact, it’s a kind of status symbol. An X-rated version of memory boards and videos.
- Hiring funeral performers like singers and comedians, or even acrobats, has long been a custom in China. Much like throwing an elaborate wedding in the U.S., the more you spend on entertainment the higher the status of the family. Families will sometimes spend several times their annual income to make sure their funeral will draw a big ground of mourners.
Embarrassed Officials
Sometimes at the beginning of the 21st century, exotic dancers got added to the mix of performers. Well, it took off like a rocket. With the rise of social media, videos of strippers at funerals began to turn up everywhere
The Chinese government, especially the Ministry of Culture, took notice of this change. They were embarrassed by these shenanigans.
The Crackdown
That’s when the Ministry of Culture began their campaign to do away with a practice they felt corrupted people. They promised to punish anyone who used a stripper to encourage people to show up at events.
- Many Chinese people felt the strippers were just an example of how modern consumerism has corrupted traditional Chinese society. But many more Chinese people say there’s no harm as long as people are enjoying themselves.
- As you might expect in China, authorities opened up a special hotline to allow people to turn in their neighbors for engaging funeral strippers.
- But the practice still remains pretty popular, especially among rural Chinese. Just like here, country folks tend to do pretty much what they want.
Scioto Strippers?
I checked with an inside source in the funeral home business to find out if they had ever heard of these kinds of goings-on in our area.
Not surprisingly, they really didn’t want their name mentioned in connection with funeral strippers but did agree to talk to me.
I was told it’s not something they’ve seen in their long career in the industry. They are pretty sure local laws about erotic performances might make it impossible to allow.
“Personally, unless it was a private funeral, I would be tempted to ask the client to take their business elsewhere as I feel it would be inappropriate for a public service.”
