Why is this Hongkonger helping people mourn their dead relatives with virtual gravestones and shrines?
Digital start-up founder says what was once unthinkable is being embraced in a city facing exorbitant burial costs
Hongkongers may well be paying their respects to deceased relatives at a virtual gravestone in a few decades’ time, according to Anthony Yuen Sze-ming, who heads the digital memorial start-up iVeneration.
In a city rapidly running out of space for the living – let alone the dead – iVeneration promises to be a convenient, low-cost and eco-friendly alternative that can bring together relatives scattered across the world.
“It’s very hard to gather relatives together for venerations and ancestor worship,” says Yuen, referring to traditional Chinese memorial practices that are heavily associated with filial piety.
“We have Ching Ming and Chung Yeung [tomb-sweeping] festivals for this purpose, but not everybody can come back.”
Instead, families can build a virtual shrine to honour long-lost loved ones, complete with clickable graphics of flowers, candles and offerings common to various religious traditions. The service is free at the moment, with a “few hundred” families as customers since its launch last year.