Why the demise of China's strip shows are a more fitting send-off to the afterlife

In mainland China, some people had their lives ended, quite literally, "with a bang". Not anymore.

For years, strip shows have been a part of some rural funerals, where barely-dressed dancers stripped on stage against a picture of the deceased with cheering mourners, including families and children, watching.

Allegedly a decades-old practice in Taiwan, strippers were there to draw a crowd. "It is to give the family 'face'," a villager explained, alluding to a traditional belief that a large turnout for someone's funeral bodes well for the afterlife and prosperity of the living. "Otherwise no one would come."

Yet, officials have begun clamping down on the increasingly widespread and lucrative trade. According to a CCTV report, performances can cost around 2,000 yuan (HK$2,533), with many strippers staging as many as 20 shows a month.

As early as in 2002, the ministries of culture and public security instructed all responsible units to ban strip dances or any shows that "contaminate the culture", but to no avail. It wasn't until an online video featuring a stripper removing her bra at a funeral in Hebei province went viral in March that the Ministry of Culture decided to pull the plug on the "obscene performances".

In February, authorities in Hebei and Jiangsu provinces invoked public security and commercial performance laws to punish those found to have staged erotic dances at two funerals. In the former incident, the person in charge of the strippers was reportedly detained for 15 days and fined 70,000 yuan.