Life, Death, and somewhere in between

I have been thinking about death and life recently, perhaps in the light of the tragic Japanese earthquake.

Interestingly enough, some of the things I have come across in China reflected this sentiment of mine. I was walking through one of the traditional Chinese hutongs (narrow alleys in Beijing) called 南锣鼓巷(nan2luo2gu3xiang4) one day when I came across something very shocking.

At the entrance of this traditional alley, there was a large area that the Chinese government was tearing down to build new buildings. But there was something else that caught my eye.

Pretty strong sentiments. The owner of this shop was violently protesting against the Chinese government's actions of tearing down houses and shops.

The owner of shop was essentially threatening the Chinese government that he and seven members of his family would commit suicide if the government tore down his shop. He has essentially created a mock funeral for himself.

What was written in front of his shop.............

Chinese locals gathering around the site

Since watching this potent message, I have been talking to some of my local Chinese friends on their views on what they thought of this shop owner's reaction to Chinese government.

Even though some were sympathetic to the shop owner, I was amazed how most of them thought that the shop owner was actually merely trying to get more money from the government by making public threats.

Upon hearing that thought, I couldn't help to wonder what money even means to our world.

Humans are helpless against natural disasters like earthquake or tsunami. Yet, even as we realize how precious and fleeting our lives are, we still self-inflict hardships to the point where fake funerals are created in public.

Lives should be treasured, not used as means to make threats&make money.

I guess I won't be sleeping much tonight..............