Beijing lifted pandemic restrictions in December 2022. Weeks later, satellite images captured cars swarming parking lots outside funeral homes across the country.
A photo of a funeral house in Beijing before the restrictions were lifted. Around two weeks later, there’s the lot filled with cars.
A funeral home in Southeastern Zhejiang looked relatively empty in early January and just two weeks later, the parking lot was filled.
Similar contrasts played out in Tangshan, a town in northern Hebei province, and outside a crematorium in Shanghai, mourners piled wreaths on a cart. One of them was weeping.
NTD called several funeral homes in Shanghai at the time. Staff members told us that they were overflowing. To protect their identities we’ve distorted their voices.