Photo: Screenshot of Video online

 
It seems that Ren Sainan was no different from other live-streamers, all changing into one novelty outfit after another and promoting them in front of the camera. But when you look at the introduction of the merchant on the web page, you get a shock.

As a shroud model, Ren's presentation has subverted people’s stereotypes about the alleged old, grim and staid funeral supplies. 

While marveling at the diverse and personalized development of the funeral industry, Chinese netizens have also expressed their admiration for Ren's job. 

More Chinese people are able to face death more calmly and gently, and show more tolerance and respect for those who work in the funeral industry.

Ren, who was born in Henan Province, chose a non-mainstream career despite her family's opposition, to manage operation work in an online funeral supplies store, where she often has to put on funeral clothing to show it through livestreams to consumers on e-commerce platforms.
 
In traditional Chinese culture, the discussion of death is taboo, and the shrouds, along with other funeral supplies, such as cremation urns, are things people avoided talking about in daily life. And even with good employment opportunities,  people were reluctant to work as funeral directors.

“There must be someone to do something for people to say their last goodbyes to the world,” Ren said in a video on her Weibo account, confidently and leisurely.

Ren also loves beauty and all kinds of fashion, but she has been working in the industry for four years and came to the industry by accident, spending a lot of time designing shrouds, putting them on display, and introducing the urns.

But unlike traditional shrouds, which are dark and in the style of a Chinese silk robe, the clothes Ren displayed included hanfu and qipao, styles that are varied and more like formal, daily outfits. 

Ren said that at the beginning, she even dared not look at the shrouds. “After all, it is associated with death, and there was always an inauspicious felling in my mind.”

But through interactions with her clients, Ren felt a sense of responsibility and value in helping the deceased to take the last step.

Ren recalled an elderly couple who bought a hanfu-style shroud for their daughter whose physical condition had deteriorated. Later, Ren received a photo from them showing their daughter smiling in the hospital hallway wearing the dress.

“People will wear solemn dress on many important occasions in life, and death is one of them. I hope the shroud I sell can give people consolation,” Ren said.

At the same time, friendly comments from netizens also strengthened Ren's determination to stay in the industry.

Many of the netizens believe that the connection between the “shroud model” and the internet is a kind of education, guiding people to better understand death, and respect and love life more.  

Currently, many colleges and universities offer majors and subjects in funeral services, young people’s participation have made this industry gradually enter the public's vision.

“More people are starting to look at the funeral industry rationally, rather than seeing us as ‘the god of plague,’ ” Jin Xiaozhe, an embalmer at a funeral parlor in Jiangsu Province told the Global Times.

Jin said he has never shied away from talking about his work with new friends. “Funeral service is a warm and commonplace job… and we get fewer and fewer strange eyes in recent years. I believe the future of this industry will be even better,” he said.