The aftermath of the “Body Buying Case” at Shanxi Aorui Company continues to reverberate. Recently, a funeral home in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, introduced a service allowing relatives to witness the cremation process of their loved ones, stating openly that it was in response to the negative impact of the “Body Buying Case”. Opinions among netizens are divided on this move, with some questioning whether the funeral home is simply trying to prove its innocence, but how can people bear to witness it?
In early August, it was exposed that a state-owned enterprise under the Communist Party of China, Shanxi Aorui Company, was involved in the illegal sale of over 4,000 human remains from four crematoriums, sparking public outcry. The authorities swiftly suppressed reporting on the incident and downplayed its significance, but there have been no further updates on the illegal sale of human remains case.
In an attempt to mitigate the impact of the scandal, the funeral home in Gansu introduced a new service. According to reports by various mainland media outlets such as Dafeng Net and Jiu Pai News on the 24th, the funeral home in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, recently launched a service allowing relatives to witness the cremation process of their loved ones, sparking discussions among netizens. The Civil Affairs Bureau of the city issued a press release stating that the viewing of the cremation process is free of charge, limited to one family member per session, and claimed that the “first family member shed tears and felt satisfied”.
The funeral home also mentioned in its response to the media that allowing family members to witness the cremation of the deceased is primarily to reassure them so that they “will not misunderstand the cremation process due to the news surrounding the Shanxi Aorui ‘Body Buying Case'”.
This move has stirred up discussions among netizens. Some believe that it alleviates concerns about the bodies being sold, while others question the deliberate promotion of the service: “Couldn’t we always view it before?”
“Absolutely should not set this precedent, traditions, religions, morals…””Always felt uneasy about it.” “Seems like the promotion is a bit too much.””What if we can’t see and they get sold?” “Isn’t it because of the recent sale of bodies?””The timing of this release, somehow feels like a means of self-justification.””It’s so difficult, how can anyone bear to witness it…”
“Family sheds tears of satisfaction?””Being able to confirm that it is indeed their loved one, not sold, is also good.”
Some also question the lack of updates on the previous case of illegal sale of human remains: “When will they report on the investigation progress of that previous incident?”
On August 23, Sina officially launched a poll regarding the “Lanzhou cremation process open for viewing” incident, with over two thousand netizens participating. Among them, nearly forty percent of the respondents believed it was “good and should be promoted nationwide”; while about fifty percent expressed that they “feel uncomfortable watching”; and around ten percent said “hard to say”. However, the poll data indicated that the majority of participants were young people, with over 80% being born in the 1980s and 1990s.
The case of Shanxi Aorui Company illegally buying bodies to produce medical materials for profit was exposed on August 8 by lawyer Yi Shenghua online, causing a stir and prompting the authorities to suppress related reports. Subsequently, Yi Shenghua was summoned by the Beijing Judicial Bureau, and his related posts on Weibo were deleted. It was later rumored that Yi Shenghua had “resigned” from his position as director of the Beijing Yongzhe Law Firm, and his current status remains unknown. The authorities have yet to report any progress on the case.
According to the disclosed information, in addition to the crematoriums, the source of the human remains also included over a dozen human skeletons purchased by Li Zhiqiang, deputy director of the Organ Transplant Center at the affiliated hospital of Qingdao University, with each skeleton priced between 10,000 to 22,000 yuan. Observers believe this involves a “case within a case”.
Host Tang Jingyuan, with a medical background from the program “Far-sighted Commentary”, previously told Epoch Times that the dozen or so bodies obtained by Li Zhiqiang were most likely living individuals from hospitals who had their organs forcibly removed, and after death, their bodies were sold to Shanxi Aorui.