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March 15, 2016

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Home » District » Songjiang

Successful women contribute to the rich fabric of society in Songjiang

PAN Yahong, 35, mortician

For Pan Yahong, death is the beginning of her work. The 35-year-old undertaker worked at the Songjiang Funeral Home for 10 years, preparing the dead for their last journey.

“To be honest, I don’t think this job is so different from others,” she said, referring to social taboos that still circle around death and funerals. “Every life should be respected. We want people to leave this earth with the dignity they and their families deserve.”

In 2003, Pan, a native of Zhejiang Province, graduated with China’s first modern funeral administration major at the Changsha Civil Administration College in Hunan Province.

What made a young girl decide to work with the dead? It all started with her grandfather’s death as she was preparing to take the national college entrance examination.

“His death deeply affected me,” she said. “Funeral services in my hometown were cold and rudimentary. The body just sat there for days before it was cremated without respect. That’s why I decided to enter the field and try to change things.”

At college, Pan learned how to do cosmetic surgery on disfigured faces. She learned how to clean and dress a corpse and how to add just enough makeup to give a pleasant glow to death. She was taught how to operate a cremation machine, host a funeral ritual and even write couplets in Chinese characters to complement a service.

“The most important thing I learned, over and over again, was that a corpse is still a person, not just an item,” she said. “We were taught to handle them with care and respect.”

Her first corpse was a female university student who had been murdered and dismembered. Pan spent several hours reattaching the body parts and then reconstructing the torn face.

“Even the smallest wounds needed to be fixed, and scars needed to be covered with special makeup,” she said. “I felt like I was doing a surgical procedure.”

The makeup she uses is not the stuff off cosmetic counter shelves. It’s a special kind developed by the funeral industry because the skin of a corpse is different from that of a living person.

“We select the proper coloring to try to make a corpse look as natural as possible,” Pan said.

Is the work creepy?

Not at all, Pan said, smiling because she is repeatedly asked that sort of question.

“I don’t feel the least bit awkward or nervous when doing my job,” she said

While some people might disdain her choice of profession, Pan enjoys the support of her husband and daughter.

“As a mortician, I seldom visit friends during holidays and festivals because some might think my presence is a bad omen,” Pan said. “I understand that. I am used to it. In a sense, it relieves me of a lot of social obligations.”

Handling a corpse is sometimes the easy part of her work. Dealing with fussy, sometimes unreasonable relatives of the dead can be more tiring.

“They accuse us of trying to make money out of grief,” she said. “That’s not true, but we do have to make allowances that death and funerals don’t usually present people at their best.”

Four years ago, Pan was transferred to the Songjiang Cemetery of Martyrs to handle tombs there. She became fascinated by how tombs reflect Songjiang’s history and compiled personal profiles of martyrs.

In addition, she organized a team of 150 student volunteers from Songjiang University Town to give storytelling sessions on patriotic heroes to fellow classmates.

Now Pan is working in the district’s Center for the Old People, helping to enrich the retirement lives of senior citizens.

Despite having been engaged in the industry of “the dead and the old” for about 13 years, Pan has retained an optimistic attitude toward life.

“I don’t flinch at setbacks because I’ve seen the worst side of life,” she said.

Fan Ling, 35, welfare home nurse

Fan Ling regards herself as a good “granddaughter” to more than 450 old people at the Songjiang Welfare House.

“Really, I am nothing special from other nurses,” she added humbly.

Fan has worked at the facility for 15 years. She keeps a small notebook to jot down daily observations. She knows everything about each resident, from medical history to favorite foods.

Her day starts with morning rounds, when she sits down and chats with elderly residents.

“The job requires skill and patience,” she said. “Many older people have illnesses and anxieties. Taking care of them means not only tending to their physical well-being but also to their spiritual state of mind. They are not just patients. They are my friends.”

Ninety-year-old Zhong Lihua was fussily searching for the expiration date on a packet of oatmeal.

“Granny Zhong, it expired half year ago,” Fan said in a slightly louder voice because the woman has hearing problems. “Don’t eat it. Here’s a fresh one. Take this.”

The welfare house functions like a mini-society. Sometimes conflicts arise. Fan is always on hand to resolve disputes amicably.

Old people often behave like children, she said, throwing temper tantrums and abusing the nursing staff.

“Sometimes when nurses try to give injections or baths to the elderly, they are accused of maltreatment,” Pan said. “We try to understand and forgive their bad moods.”

Those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease need to be monitored constantly to make sure they don’t wander off.

“One old resident suffering dementia brushed his teeth and got dressed at midnight, saying he was going out,” Pan said. “We need to give people like him special attention.”

The saddest part of her work is dealing with the dying.

“It’s always heartbreaking,” she said. “I try to ensure that they pass their last days in comfort and happiness.”

Yao Lei, 37, judge

Yao Lei is thin and timid in appearance, but when she dons her judicial robes, she becomes a superwoman for justice.

On the Court of Sheshan Hill Town, she has handled more than 4,000 civil cases. She normally holds three to four court sessions a day.

“It’s not tiring because I’m doing what I love,” Yao said.

It’s not uncommon for her to undertake field trips to verify claims made in court. She once handled a private, informal case involving two lesbian lovers. When their relationship ended, one sued the other to get back all the money she had given her partner. The defendant refused to return any money, and the plaintiff had no written documentation as proof of loans.

“But the plaintiff kept a sound recording of their conversations,” Yao said. “The problem was that the recording wasn’t very clear.”

In fact, she had to listen to it almost 20 times before ruling in favor of the plaintiff, who was owed 160,000 yuan (US$24,608).

In cases involved old people, Yao often holds court sessions in their homes. In one case, an 80-year-old mother sued her son for property rights after their old family home was relocated.

Yao held a court session in the nursing home where the mother resided and interviewed village farmers to collect evidence. In the end, the son was ordered to pay his mother resettlement compensation.

As a woman, Yao said she brings heart and sympathy to judicial proceedings.

One of her cases involved a five-year-old boy who lost his fingers in a truck accident. His family sued for a huge compensation payout.

“In court, the mother broke down, cried and shouted abuse at the defendants,” Yao said. “So I recessed the session and spoke privately with both sides.”

She finally persuaded the plaintiff and defendant to sign a mediation settlement that was fair to both sides.

“To just give a verdict is not difficult for a judge, but what I care about at the same time is a solution that satisfies both parties,” she said.

To promote public knowledge of the law is a bit of a crusade for Yao. She has organized volunteer teams of judges to offer free legal advice in areas such as protection of women’s and children’s rights.




 

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