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Gallery|Coronavirus pandemic

In Pictures: Remembering China’s coronavirus dead

Taoist priest honours China’s coronavirus dead with memorial tablets.

Taoist temple Jiuyang Palace and Jiuyang Pagoda stand in Laiwu of Jinan city, Shandong province, China, September 1, 2020. The monastery complex, where a small community of priests lives, sleeps, eats
Taoist temple Jiuyang Palace and Jiuyang Pagoda stand in Laiwu, Shandong province, China. The monastery complex, where a small community of priests lives, sleeps, eats and worships, is spread across a rocky hill. [Tingshu Wang/Reuters]
Published On 10 Sep 202010 Sep 2020
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Standing in neat rows in a room at a hillside Taoist monastery in China’s Shandong province are 558 memorial tablets bearing the names and hometowns of people who died due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Some, like Li Wenliang, are household names in China. Others, like Liu Hewei, are not.

“A person’s true death is when the whole world has forgotten them,” said Taoist priest Liang Xingyang, who started the collection on January 29, shortly after Chinese authorities announced that the virus could pass between humans.

“No matter what religion or beliefs they hold, their spirit deserves to be passed on. In fact, they live on in our hearts,” adding that Taoists use memorial tablets to give souls a place to rest after death.

Taoism, or Daoism, is a philosophy-turned-religion that has tens of millions of followers in China and is one of the country’s five officially sanctioned religions.

The monastery complex, where a small community of priests lives, sleeps, eats and worships, is spread across a rocky hill. In a hall perched high up, reached by a steep flight of stairs, the ornate gold and blue slabs stand in neat rows.

An act of remembrance on such a scale is unusual in China – Liang believes his is the only such collection linked either to Taoism or Buddhism.

China, where the coronavirus was first recorded in the city of Wuhan late last year, has held remembrance events arranged by the government, and some museums have asked the public to donate items to commemorate the country’s fight against COVID-19.

As of September 8, there have been 85,146 confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland China, of whom 4,634 have died. Globally, more than 27 million people have been infected, more than 18 million recovered, and at least 897,000 people have died from COVID-19.

Of those honoured by the tablets, only a minority died of COVID-19. Most died from other causes, like exhaustion from overwork, Liang said, adding that he compiled his list of “heroes” based on state media reports or government notices.

Liu, for instance, was a 42-year-old government official from Inner Mongolia who died in February of a heart attack after working 20 days consecutively as a deputy director of a large local market.

“I think that enabling them to see each other in this way, enabling relatives to discover that after one of their family had lost their life, someone else remembers them, I think this is the greatest comfort to me,” Liang explained. 

Memorial tablets are seen inside a hall at a Taoist temple Jiuyang Palace, in Laiwu of Jinan, Shandong province, China, September 7, 2020. A collection of 558 memorial tablets are inscribed with the n
A collection of 558 memorial tablets are inscribed with the names and hometowns of people who died after contracting the coronavirus or while battling the pandemic. [Tingshu Wan/Reuters]
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Taoist priest Liang Xingyang, 41, pays tribute to Taoist gods before moving tablets on the day of Hungry Ghost Festival, at Taoist temple Jiuyang Palace, in Laiwu of Jinan city, Shandong province, Chi
Taoist priest Liang Xingyang, 41, pays tribute to Taoist gods before moving tablets on the day of the Hungry Ghost Festival. [Tingshu Wang/Reuters]
The widow of Liu, 42, attends a memorial ceremony to see her late husband''s tablet on the day of Hungry Ghost Festival, at Taoist temple Jiuyang Palace, in Laiwu of Jinan city, Shandong province, Chin
Liu's widow, 42, attends a memorial ceremony to see her late husband's tablet during the Hungry Ghost Festival. [Tingshu Wang/Reuters]
Priest Zhang Zongyan, 27, a politics study graduate, arranges memorial tablets at Taoist temple Jiuyang Palace, in Laiwu of Jinan city, Shandong province, China, September 7, 2020. During her studies
Priest Zhang Zongyan, 27, a political science graduate, arranges memorial tablets at Taoist temple Jiuyang Palace. [Tingshu Wang /Reuters]
Priests use their phones as they rest after a memorial ceremony at Taoist temple Jiuyang Palace, in Laiwu of Jinan city, Shandong province, China, September 2, 2020. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang SEARCH "TAO
Priests look at their phones while resting after a memorial ceremony at Taoist temple Jiuyang Palace, in Laiwu, Shandong province. [Tingshu Wang/Reuters]
Priest Xia Shiran, 25, holds scripture books and offerings in preparation for a memorial ceremony on the day of Hungry Ghost Festival, at Taoist temple Jiuyang Palace, in Laiwu of Jinan city, Shandong
Priest Xia Shiran, 25, holds scripture books and offerings in preparation for a memorial ceremony on the day of the Hungry Ghost Festival, at Taoist temple Jiuyang Palace.[Tingshu Wang /Reuters]
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Priest Deng Shiquan, 28, a former restaurant worker, pushes a shopping cart next to priest Cao Shijing, 45, outside a supermarket after buying groceries to take to the Jiuyang Palace, a Taoist monaste
Priest Deng Shiquan, 28, a former restaurant worker, pushes a shopping cart next to priest Cao Shijing, 45, outside a supermarket after buying groceries to take to Jiuyang Palace. [Tingshu Wang/Reuters]
Priest Shang Shishen, 27, carries a basket with food as he climbs up the stairs leading to Taoist temple Jiuyang Palace, in Laiwu of Jinan city, Shandong province, China, September 6, 2020. Shishen is
Priest Shang Shishen, 27, carries a basket of food as he climbs up the stairs leading to Taoist temple Jiuyang Palace. Shishen is a priest studying in his second year at a Taoist college at Wudang Mountain in Hubei province. [Tingshu Wang/Reuters]
Priest Chen Hongyu (R) and priest Shang Shishen, 27, (L4) bow to priest Liang Xingyang as they leave the temple for returning a Taoist college for the new semester, at the entrance of Taoist temple
During a recent visit, priests moved across the monastery's colonnaded courtyards in their distinctive robes and black caps. [Tingshu Wang/Reuters]


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