Death on his hands

CHINA DAILY My Five Years of Working in the Crematorium By: Li Nansheng Publisher: Wuhan Publishing House Year published: 2012 Price: 29.8 yuan ($4.84) Pages: 215

A former crematory operator talks of life and love in his unusual career, Xing Yi reports.

It was a job that required facing death every day. A job that felt creepy at times. A job that paid little. But former crematory operator Li Nansheng tried to make the most of it, and he explores the meaning of death and life in his fiction My Five Years of Working in the Crematorium. Li, 36, seemed to be destined for the job. Both of his parents were specialized musicians who performed at traditional funerals; they not only sang funeral songs and incantations, but also performed religious rituals. His wife is a mortuary makeup artist. Li himself was born during a funeral session.

"When I was born, my ears were filled with music," Li says. "The first sound I heard was a dirge."

His first name "Nansheng", given by Li's father, literally means "birth during the incantations". When Li decided to take the job at a crematorium in 2004, his parents readily agreed. It is no easy job, as it requires being physically and mentally strong. "To learn how to operate the crematory is one thing," he says. "But to overcome fear is another thing."

Every day, Li had to deal with corpses, and sometimes he would have to fetch a corpse as late as midnight.

In his book, Li recounts many stories that were inspired by mysterious cases he encountered in his work. Some of them have scientific explanations while the reason for other "strange" happenings remains a mystery.

Occasionally, Li felt prejudice and discrimination. Many Chinese people think that working in this area brings "bad luck", which makes it difficult for people like Li to find love.

Most of the practitioners usually marry their colleagues, and so did Li. His wife used to work in the mortuary makeup department at the same crematorium.