Beijing Changping No. 52 bus will stop running at 19:30 in the evening. If you get off at Huazhuang Station and walk 800 meters south of the diversion canal, you can see Baifu Pet Paradise.
A diesel tricycle drove by. The dusty road was flying, and the four faded fonts of "Pet Paradise" were faintly visible on the wall.
The German black back in the yard roared against the iron cage when he saw the stranger. This pet cemetery, which has been featured in the New York Times and China Daily, is the first animal burial site in China to receive industrial and commercial approval.
The story begins with Zhang Youwang, the tombkeeper I met by chance.
Pets in the Cemetery
"Good guy, I've never seen anyone before, but Gong Li and Yuan Li's pets are buried here!" Zhang Youwang, wearing a military green coat from the 1980s, led me on the ridge. What came face to face was a cemetery of more than 4,000 pets covering 120 acres.
Around the Qingming Festival, the fast-growing Yang Gang sprouts new shoots in the cemetery, but the pines and cypresses are evergreen. When the wind is light, you can clearly hear the sound of chanting on a tape recorder dozens of meters away.
Cats and dogs account for most of the pets buried in cemeteries. Alternatively, chickens, ducks, geese, fish and turtles are also enshrined. Zhang Youwang pointed to the tombs of two ducks, "Meimei" and "Feidao". The tombstones were so old that nothing could be seen. He still affirmed, "No, this is a poem written by the owner."
The sun shone on the tomb of the pet dog "Jiujiu" covered with custom-made glass, and the solar panels on the four corners began to store energy for the day. In the quiet night, the lights were brightly lit, re-illuminating the quilts, egg-white intestines, toys and downy bones in the glass room.
There are also careful owners who will buy six or seven cemetery units, pave the floor and build walls with milky white marble, have two small stone lions standing in front of them, and decorate them with potted flowers and plants. These require the owner to pay out of his own pocket, which costs about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan.
The long-haired cat "Guigui" had pupils of different colors. After Turtle's death, his owner Wang Bing never saw another cat that looked like him again, whether in the market or in the park. "Don't build anything on it!" She waved her hand, "Both iron and wood are not good, so it must be open and bright. If it is not grounded, our tortoise will not be able to reincarnate."
Like Wang Bing, most owners have chosen this kind of tomb: simple and neat.
"Her cat has been running around in the antique shop and has never broken a piece of porcelain in more than ten years." Zhang Youwang said, "Amazing!"
"Master Zhang is a very nice person, and he can also write and draw." Wang Bing stuffed some money into Zhang Youwang, hoping that he would take good care of Guigui, "Goodbye Guigui, mom will come to see you soon." Wang Bing turned around three times.
Painter Gravekeeper
It is the 8th year that 52-year-old Zhang Youwang has been caring for this pet paradise located in Baifu Village, Machikou Town, Changping District.
When he was busy, he built tombs, planted trees, and picked up garbage in the fields. In the past, when computer engraving on tombstones was not popular yet, he would also carve seals on stones: first outline the characters with a calligraphy brush, and then use a chisel to tap along the edge of the pen. What he carved most was, "Mom and Dad will always miss you."
He will not be idle when he is not busy. When the sun is bright during the day, put a table of brushes and paints in the corner of your residence, set up a canvas, put up a photo of the pet you asked for from the owner, and pick up a watercolor pen to draw. It takes more than ten days to complete a watercolor painting of a pet portrait.
Youwang’s wife picked up the makeup brush, and he thought the eyebrow pencil was also a good painting tool.
The seal carved by Youwang feels cool to the touch.
Zhang Youwang has been painting for more than 30 years. When he was about to graduate from junior high school at the age of 17, his family was anxious for him to learn some skills. "I want to paint," Zhang Youwang said to his father. His father was knowledgeable and introduced him to a painting master, "My master is not famous, he is a craftsman."
His residence is a bungalow next to the cemetery. His paintings are beside the refrigerator, on the blackened walls, and in the cabinets. In the corner, the sun shines on an oil painting of an ordinary domestic dog.
"Guess where the most eye-catching thing is? It's the tail. Look at its raised tail. It's loved and cared for by its owner." Zhang Youwang has forgotten its name.
Suddenly, a cat broke into the house. There were 9 cats in the yard, all of them were raised by Zhang Youwang. The boldest cat meowed at him, "You little thing!" he said angrily.
Zhang Youwang has more than 100 animal portraits of different colors, including oil paintings and brush paintings. These are his amateur works since he visited the tomb in Pet Paradise in 2008.
Most of the pets in the painting were copied by him from photos of the deceased in front of the cemetery. They were directly decomposed by microorganisms in the cemetery, or were cremated and then buried.
The first guest
Zhang Youwang is the only male among the tombkeepers. Chen Shaochun originally took a fancy to his craftsmanship. Before Zhang Youwang came to Pet Paradise, he had been painting porcelain and Chinese paintings for 12 years, and he was more like a craftsman. Thinking that he could also carve seals and was a relative of his family, Chen Shaochun asked him to be the administrator of the cemetery.
Chen Shaochun is the founder of Pet Paradise. In 2000, in order to invest in afforestation, he rented 120 acres of suburban forest land in Baifu Village, Changping District, for less than 2,000 yuan per year, and invested more than 1 million yuan in improvement costs. Due to a lack of experience in tree planting, only about 10,000 of the 60,000 fast-growing poplar saplings survived after being planted. The trees were too densely spaced to grow into useful trees.
The forest land is idle. Chen Shaochun, a member of the China Small Animal Protection Association, said that he couldn't see pet owners wrapping their dead pets in newspapers and throwing them into the trash can. "It makes a pet cemetery, which saves money on fertilizers and makes the trees grow taller and faster."
Chen Shaochun still remembers the first guest. A girl who had just returned from studying abroad called Chen Shaochun to ask for directions while crying in her Audi A4. A Schnauzer that had only been raised for half a month and died was lying on her car. She felt anxious. The girl even scratched someone else's car.. Chen Shaochun could only bring the puppy back and bury it like that without a tombstone or fence.
More and more people came, and Chen Shaochun realized the potential huge market. "However, the problem is that there are no relevant laws and regulations, and industry standards have not yet been introduced."
In 2003, Chen Shaochun began to apply for industrial and commercial procedures for a pet paradise. At first, when submitting materials to the Industrial and Commercial Bureau, the staff shook their heads like a rattle, saying that this was unprecedented. After a year of running around, he finally got the industrial and commercial approval.
In Pet Paradise, pet owners have to spend 2,000-5,000 yuan to adopt a tree in order to obtain a piece of land of 1.5 square meters for long-term use. Pet owners who choose to be buried are usually influenced by the tradition of "laying their pet to rest". Those who choose cremation are mostly so that they can take their pet's ashes home.
In a house of more than 10 square meters not far from the cemetery, there is a cremator. It costs 300 yuan to burn the pet's body with firewood and wax, and the most expensive one with electricity and oil is no more than 800 yuan. With the increasing demand from customers, the cemetery has added many products, including urns, urn bags, and coffins of various models and materials.
Then, Zhang Youwang can start building the tomb.
In the cemetery, there are more than 4,000 pet graves. Only the tombs whose owners often visit are clean and bright, while the rest are covered with dust and leaves. Some owners have lost contact after changing their numbers and have not renewed the annual management fee of 50 yuan. The employees can only put up a plaque saying "Owner Abandoned".
The cemetery is managed by 6 employees who work from 9 to 5. If there is any movement from strangers at night, the German blackbacks and Dalmatians in the cages in the yard will bark loudly and echo endlessly.
Separation and Reunion
On the afternoon of April 2, Zhang Youwang was building a grave for the puppy "Little Q".
He used concrete to build a prototype of a cemetery at the base of a small pyramid, and then placed a square black explosive stone on it. Before the cement initially set, he placed about 45 white jade stones evenly on each side. After it was slightly firm, he placed the trapezoidal tomb lid with a photo of Xiao Q on top of the square stone, gently wiped the glass on it, and removed the soil.
Zhang Youwang knelt on the ground and set the white jade stones one by one beside the tomb. Picture Su Hailun
It takes about two hours to build a tomb, and the cement will completely harden within 7 days. After completing the fence, he poured some water on the cement after initial setting. The wet cement revealed a clean color.
"There are fewer and fewer people practicing crafts now." Looking at the newly built tomb, Zhang felt happy again. He stood up, looked at the poplar forest, and suddenly sighed again, "So many pets are dead."
The flow of people who came to visit the graves of their pets reached its peak before Qingming Festival.
Wang Han, who is in his 60s, is one of the few old people who comes to see his "baby" every week. The puppy "baobao" was the emotional connection between Wang Han and his wife during his lifetime. The relationship between the two has always been bad. For the "custody rights" of the "baby", the two have been arguing and have never divorced. After the death of "Baby", the relationship between the two came to an end and ended in divorce.
Wang Han drives alone from Shuangjing to Changping every week to see his "baby". Because of my limited mobility, I could only drive slowly. After guarding the tomb for a long time, he would chat with Zhang Youwang to relieve his boredom.
Pomeranians "Sasha" and "Feifei" are a "couple". "Feifei" took the first step, which made her owner Cui Hong realize that she should prepare a cemetery for "Sasha" in advance. In 2013, "Shasha" died of illness. She felt that there must be resonance between the "couple".
Nowadays, Cui Hong's family is full of descendants of "Shasha" and "Feifei". At most, there were 10 Pomeranians in the house, and they had to hire someone to clean them every week. At first, Cui Hong was not a person who liked pets. "Feifei and Shasha changed me. Pets made me more loving and patient in dealing with people." She even prepared their children's graves in the hope that they could be reunited in the future.
When Chen Shaochun raised the most dogs at home, there were one spotted dog, two deer dogs, and two great Danes, a total of 5 dogs. He could even judge the quality and personality of the dogs by their barks. But the one that impressed him most was the "Da Hei" his family had when he was 14 years old. It was the first dog he raised.
Unlike some of the expensive pets in the cemetery, "Big Black" is just a rural guard dog. "Dahei" was lost once. When he returned after missing for 40 days, Chen Shaochun hugged him and cried. In the end, "Big Black" got lost.
At home in Wangjing, Chen Shaochun no longer keeps pets. The couple's calligraphy and paintings hang on the wall, and the lines outlined by their names are exactly the shape of a dog.
In the pet paradise, some pets happen to be painted by Zhang Youwang, which will leave their mark on the world and be recorded in the form of a diary on Weibo "@ Painter Zhang Youwang". So far, this Weibo has updated 143 pet stories with pictures.
Near evening, Zhang Youwang, who had been working all day, had dust on the back of his pants. He picked up a bag of garbage left in the cemetery and talked about the director he admired, Jean-Jacques Annaud, and his work "Wolf Totem."
"Before the filming of the movie "Wolf Totem", in order to make wolves get closer to people, so that when the wolves open their eyes, they will see people instead of wolves. This requires feeding the wolf pups before they open their eyes. Whoever acts with these wolves must feed them. This is the nanny." He wrote on Weibo.
Zhang Youwang specifically quoted the original words of his father, "As soon as I started raising him, I knew that sooner or later I would have to break up with this pack of wolves."