A Higher Purpose?

Killjoys!!! I don't know what's sillier: thinking that you have to use this method to draw a crowd in order to "honor" someone at their funeral, or the fact that now you can tattle on your neighbors via a hotline when they organize "misdeeds" at the funeral. I guess I'd always hoped for a large crowd to send me off to the Great Beyond with a festive gathering. But I'd like to think they were there because they genuinely liked me, not because my family hired the Chippendales or the crew from The Foxy Lady to put on a show between eulogies.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Striptease send-offs at funerals may become a thing of the past in east China after five people were arrested for organizing the intimate farewells, state media reported on Wednesday.

Police swooped last week after two groups of strippers gave "obscene performances" at a farmer's funeral in Donghai County, Jiangsu province, Xinhua news agency said.

The disrobing served a higher purpose, the report noted.

"Striptease used to be a common practice at funerals in Donghai's rural areas to allure viewers," it said. "Local villagers believe that the more people who attend the funeral, the more the dead person is honored.

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Now village officials must submit plans for funerals within 12 hours after a villager dies. And residents can report "funeral misdeeds" on a hotline, the report said.