CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Some people call them "corpse collector", but they call themselves "ferrymen". When a life is gone, they are the first to touch the body and comfort the family. Each arrival of them is accompanied by the gathering and parting of families. They were corpse collectors - the "ferrymen" for life and death. The 28-year old Yang Linjie has worked as a corpse collector for 5 years and handled 9,000 deceased people who were dead from fire, drowning, murder and illness and who are at infancy, youth, manhood, or old age. People are afraid to talk about death, but it is so common for Yang. Yang learns the death in a young age, and understands more about the meaning of life.

“Yang, we are to set off.” At noon on November 25, a man’s voice come though the staff canteen of Chongqing Shiqiaopu Funeral Home. The young man, Yang Linjie, immediately put down his chopsticks and reply, “come right now!”. He took the order from his colleague, straightened his black woolen business suit, and hurried downstairs to find the corpse carrier parked in front of the Funeral Home service building. After getting in the cab, he dialed the number of the bereaved on the order, “Hello, I am an employee of Chongqing Shiqiaopu Funeral Home. Please tell me the gender and age of the deceased?”

Yang Linjie, a corpse collector of Chongqing Shiqiaopu Funeral Home, is 28-year-old and has transported over 9,000 bodies in 5 years. After confirmed the vehicle condition, Yang Linjie counted the necessities on the vehicle and said, "People deem that we will become hardhearted after doing this job. But, in fact, every time I speak to the bereaved, I can feel their grief. So, I must be careful, concise and professional so as to reassure them."

In addition to colleagues, the silver car is also Yang’s “companion.” “At first, we just do the transport. But, with the increase of the task, the transport team members are required to drive the vehicle and carry the body,” said Yang, who has driven the silver car for over 50,000km. After each task, Yang will clean and sterilize the car. “It carries the end of the life. It is my and its duty and mission to transport the body safely, regardless of the distance."

After one-hour drive, Yang and his colleagues arrived at the hospital. After counting all the needed items like hat, foot straps, gloves and body bag, Yang picked up the deceased through the guidance of family members. Life often comes and goes in the dead of night, and the nature of the job is to be on call. Yang still remembers that 3 hours before he and his wife met for taking wedding photos, he was given the task of carrying the dead at a fire site. The dead were a father and a son, and one of them was about 100kg and Yang had to pick up the body himself and put him on the stretcher.

When asked why not picked the body with another colleague? Yang said, “at that time, I knew at a glance that the body couldn’t be lifted by more than one person and it would be broken as soon as it was lifted. It was a big accident when the body fell to the ground, so I could only pick it up by myself.” And he met his wife with bloody clothes at that day. But his wife Xiaoyan (pseudonym) who knows his job said nothing but asked him, “Will you be able to laugh later?” Yang answered, “I must laugh for our life.”

Carrying, loading and farewell are the procedures before the deceased is sent to the funeral home for further processing. Yang and his colleagues bow 90 degrees each time. But this is not the end, but the beginning of another "journey" of the dead. It is learned that, after the dead is transported to the Shiqiaopu Funeral Home, Yang will draw out the ascites, conduct anti-corrosion treatment and other treatments before put the body into storage room. The whole process needs at least 2 hours.

Most people keep from talking about death, but Yang determined to face death in his youth. Why? In the corridor of the body room of Funeral Home, he talked about his experience for the first time, “During the Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008, I was a volunteer. I was young and couldn't do anything, so I helped carry the bodies." He had no time to be afraid and hesitate, but to carry the dead down the mountain and he never expected to have a rest even his arms were numb. “Later, when my uncle told me that there is a school with major about funeral and interment in Chongqing, I applied for it.” Yang deems that his “fate” with this job was connected in 2008. (Translated by Ma Shuangshuang, Fathom Language Limited)