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National Ethnographic 2046 Autumn Life-and-Death Nowadays

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DRONING AWAY AN EPOCH IN OUR LIFE & DEATH AS WELL

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National Ethnographic 2046 Autumn Life-and-Death Nowadays

Unconventional Conventions: Adapting to the most common social tragedy, burgeoning funeral customs in Taiwan are descended from ancestors’ virtues as always.

“Have you ever been invited to a stranger’s farewell ceremony on your way home?” Such question would not be so bizarre to Taiwanese people these days. As a unique and intriguing street scene in the “Tech-Formosa”, many design anthropologists and social scientists have raised attention to this re-traditional phenomenon in the island.

With the assistance and implementation from Taiwanese local government and non-profit organizations, people transform and utilize drone as specialized obituary robots serving for the lonely dead’s funeral events since late 2030s. Furthermore, the funeral services in Taiwan have also been experiencing a holistic transition from its original contour to a newfashioned look associated with technology.

In Taiwan, both the great demographical transformation and its sophisticated technology industries in the last decades were the very germinators of these peculiar rituals. Local inhabitants are thereby accustomed to them and the initially alternative social values towards life and death has now become expectedly ubiquitous in the societies.

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Farewell Ceremonies to The Lonely Deceased New Situations, New Counterplots and Newly Risen Post-Death Services in Taiwan "Such astounding facts! I guess people here are quite used to be their own culture designers!”

Obituary Drone as a Funeral Invitation in Public These years, foreign visitors in Taiwan may have noticed that there are occasionally drones hovering around the towns without seeing any player manipulating them. If you are expecting a chance to try some new toys on the market or to participate in a sort of trendy games among local teenagers, you might be disappointed and really surprised. The drones

Transformation of Taiwan's population pyramid from 1950s to 2040s

actually work as an obituary messenger, namely, to propagate the death of a person as well as to invite pedestrians to attend his or her funeral in replacement of the absent/indifferent family members.

With evident Taoist motifs on the body, Taiwanese dance music playing in loops and multicolored LED lights glowing at night as scrolling text, the drones are optically attractive to passengers beyond question, while the native seems pretty much accustomed to them. “That scene is quite routine to us now,” said a local resident of the Cheng-Kung New Village in her early twenties, “when those drones were new to our community, I kind of enjoyed watching them floating around people as I walked back from junior high school. I remembered that my mother did not appreciate such inauspicious service very much at first, but gradually she had opened her mind and accepted it since few years ago one of our elder relatives in Tainan also passed away alone at home.”

Described by our interviewees, such obituary drones essentially resulted from a drastic transformation of the population pyramid since 2030s. So how does the fact influence Taiwanese undertakers’ business as well as other religious rituals today?

Life Is a Journey from Multitude to Solitude !?

The age-sex structures of Taiwanese population have mostly responded to the previous forecast by researchers in the beginning of 21st century, the major and only difference is the early arrival of accelerated contraction and aging of population.

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Taiwanese religion-based atmosphere in funeral events in comparison with The Western's

National Ethnographic 2046 Autumn Life-and-Death Nowadays Due to the low birthrate, marriage rate, mortality rate as well as high divorce rate, the number of solitary residence above 65-year-old has ascended remarkably rapid in Taiwan. Generally, the first generation of the digital era have lost their face-to-face interaction in everyday life.

For senior citizens who lives without or apart from their sons, daughters, siblings or relatives, will probably face the possibilities of dying alone in hospital, nursing home or even at their own house, with poor medical equipments and daily necessities. Such tragic events had been reported by local news from time to time, nevertheless, the frequency just kept increasing year after year, even though the Taiwanese government had made bureaucratic efforts to proclaim and propagate the classic Chinese virtue of filial piety through ways of domestic media. It seems that one of

the most familiar Chinese idioms, 慎終追遠 (It means to carefully attend to

Funeral procession as it used to be in Taiwan 2000

the funeral rites of parents and follow them when gone with due sacrifices), has been ironically passed into oblivion by its contemporary mundaneness.

Now & Then: Chinese Values Is About Giving Honorable Burials to The Dead If we take a closer look through examining the genes of Taiwanese cultures in the past century, it is not difficult to notice the resemblance between these obituary drones and its parental rituals about hosting funerals in a Taiwanese way. Since the Japanese colonial era in 1900s, funeral services in Taiwan had made an apparent divergence from those of mainland China in business scales. Through the whole 20th century, Taiwanese funeral services established their own cultural branding with some distinctive ceremonies in comparison with other asian cultures, too. For instance, Electronic Amusing Cars and Funeral Strippers were the signature funeral activities from 1980s to 2000s. In fact, as a traditional merit of Taiwanese/Chinese culture, family members would like to publicize, propagate, and make the funeral widely known to its neighborhood. The family expressed outgoing grief in order to emphasize its family intimacy, the longevity of the dead, as well as the prosperity of an honorable family.

However, when concerning the effects upon adjacent environments and social impressions, there were disputations regarding their external costs and other inconvenience. Loud noise, air pollutions and sexual discrimination are the main reasons why such celebrated rural customs/ occupations were eventually convicted by modern streams of thought around late 2010s.

In 2033, when obituary drones came into existence, the advocators bolstered their new solution with compensatory design features for the disadvantages of the previous funeral rituals. They claimed that the drones can keep the mobility to maintain the purpose of propaganda, that is, to hold a bustling funeral procession in front of crowds, to please the dead and to attract more neighbors to attend the ceremony.

81 The 1st generation of the drone

Here's a modern verse about the obituary drones by a Taiwanese poet:

Droning Away For my loneliest pals in town, I flow into the crowds.

Drone, Drone, Droned…

For the obsoleted ghosts in all, I speak for their new molds.

Drone, Drown, Drowned…

After your life inside the virtual scope, I radiate the harmony of life and hope.

Drown, Drowned, Droned…

Heading to the western paradise you belong to, Where the Chinese Souls are completed as one circle, I am your navigator of farewell.

Now listen the whispers from those shining bulbs, For blessing their tours toward the heaven route.

The First Obituary Drone Used in Taiwan

children through the past decades, he experienced great despair at

The LED scrolling text encircled the drone can display the

he had been adept in as an expert of robotics to modify a handmade

information about time and venue of funeral occasions to people

drone for announcing his situation to the public via social media,

on the street, usually inviting interested attendants and sometimes

craving for companions in the last few months before his death.

raising funds for the expense on funeral. But anyway, how exactly did

Embedded on his drone, a video of self-confession had gone viral as

it firstly come into being? The answer goes with a true story.

a successful Internet meme within the island. Ever since then, drone,

The original prototype of the current Taiwanese obituary drones can be traced back to a critical incident in Taoyuan City 13 years ago.

At the municipal hospital for veterans, an unattended old man, Mr.

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the last moment in his life. To make up for his mistakes, he utilized all

the flying machine, has gained a special meaning to be bound up with funeral invitation to Taiwanese people.

In 2040s, such funeral-oriented drones are further developed by

Cheng-Yuan Tsai, was informed about his condition as terminally ill.

many local technology enterprises and now they are not eccentric to

With a deep regret for his apathetic relationship with his ex-wife and

the Taiwanese anymore.

National Ethnographic 2046 Autumn Life-and-Death Nowadays

Elegiac Bell Weepers Stand for the Vibrancy in Funeral Processions Another special ceremonial utensil we can see in Taiwanese funeral events is a sort of wind chime integrated from old-fashioned elegiac couplets and a small bamboo-made lantern. As local ethnographers conjectured, initially, its appearance was inspired from a common Japanese FĹŤrin, while the shape is also blended with Taiwanese sky lanterns from traditional custom, which embodies the meaning of praying for good fortune by launching the written wishes up to the sky.

Substituted for the weeping ladies (professional cryers) in traditional funeral occasions, which have been extinct since the local laws prohibited such activities in 2024 due to negative impressions from society and feminist groups, this specialized wind chime is the counterplots from rural people. Hanged on trees or bamboo branches at the funeral venue and during the procession, the tinkling sound of bells is a metaphoric presence of tears and extroverted sorrow. The idea originated with a characteristic values in many Taiwanese funeral hosts: “The louder, the better,� because the elder believe that by setting up a mournful vibe at the farewell party, their guests would admire and show respect to them for seeing such great condolence over the deceased.

For funerals to the lonely dead, this new cultural invention is especially ideal and has been widely put into practice now. By using Chinese calligraphy appliances, relevant/suitable elegiac literatures can be written on the slip of paper hung underneath the bell by all volunteering attendants, donators or anyone who are not available to attend the funeral.

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Newly Constructed Chinese Gardens as Cemeteries Recall the Ethnic Quintessence An environmental friendly planning on public cemetery had already become a major concern for architects and designers of the century.

As one of the most unforgettable events in a year for Chinese-culturebased people, Chingming festival, as known as tomb sweeping festival, is a concrete attribute of filial piety all along the 5000 years in Chinese histories. Nowadays, Taiwanese government has been advocating and performing tree/floral burials in the island not only because of the ecosystem-oriented zeitgeist movements around the globe but also the highly limited natural resource/budget on developing more columbarium or even traditional graveyard. In 2041, approximately a quarter of the deceased in Taiwan were consigned to tree burials.

As a result, this new type of cemetery management has become another unique post-death service for the lonely deceased as well. In

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National Ethnographic 2046 Autumn Life-and-Death Nowadays

order to receive continual commemoration from the public as a regard

weakened in people’s mind nowadays because the frequent occurrence

for their absent kinfolks, particularly when Chingming Festival, many

of lonely death has aroused the empathy from society.

Taiwanese social groups have sponsored the initial establishment of these Chinese Garden Cemeteries as caring for their lonely spirits.

Today, 60% of these garden cemeteries are used at government expense. Each cemetery has a special division exclusively serving and being preserved for the lonely dead.

Various kinds of potted plant is the new ashes urn; each name

What’s Next?

All in all, today’s funeral services in Taiwan has evolved into an unprecedented stage, with many relations to the new status of

of the dead is inscribed on the flowerpot, as a tombstone. They are

demographic and social transformation. Obituary drone, elegiac bell

organized and managed as memorial botanic gardens in Chinese

weeper and Chinese garden cemetery are the three representative

aesthetics for the promotion of graveyard visiting with a recreational/

cultural productions in post-digital societies, serving for the latest

approachable impression to people.

minority group on the increase: solitary elders.

In traditional Chinese values, especially what the notion of Chinese

Whether such solutions should be considered passive is still in

Feng Shui suggested, visiting a stranger’s tomb is definitely a taboo.

public debate. One thing to be certain is that these new cultures will be

The ancestors believed that it could bring about bad influences on one’s

the stepping-stones for the cultivation of the next Taiwanese traditions

fortune or even on their families. While such stereotypes are generally

as well as life-and-death values.

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Permanent Deactivation: In Advance of Afterlife Taiwanese Pre-funeral Events Reveal Life Attitudes Among the Generations in Mid-life "Really enthralling! I guess people here are quite used to be the culture designers of themselves!"

Taiwanese Trend-setting Pre-funeral Ceremony as Emerging City Phenomenon A living funeral is usually done by someone who knows that he or she does not have much time left to live. While our future scenario also indicates another generalized phenomenon of living funerals, particularly held for single people or DINK couples, around the ages of 30s and 40s.

Evolved from a minor concept in early days, such behavior gradually becomes a primary social event among middle-aged people, along with the aging population.A living funeral is usually done by someone who knows that he or she does not have much time left to live. While our future scenario also indicates another generalized phenomenon of living funerals, particularly held for single people or DINK couples, around the ages of 30s and 40s. Evolved from a minor concept in early days, such behavior gradually becomes a primary social event among middle-aged people, along with the aging population.

Say Goodbye to Your Digital Legacies Through Centralize Deletion Processing digital property could be an interesting issue because taking care of one's remnants is also valued in Taiwanese culture.

Personal belongings, clothes or other everyday appliances are often cremated along with the dead / given to the family as heirloom / abandoned but also replaced by papier-mache offerings. Since the technology nowadays enable us to track people's life stories from their birth to death, we assume that digital property would be a great consideration when one is going to host a pre-funeral.

This new pre-funeral is a farewell ceremony for one's life as well as their digital property, the service will re-create one’s life-time meaningful objects (via 3d printing technology) according to their accumulated social network database, exhibit them (as a retrospective event), and destroy them (as a distinctive behavior in the ceremony).

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National Ethnographic 2046 Autumn Life-and-Death Nowadays

87 This year, the Taiwanese government has approved the issuance of "The Chip" for its citizens to waive personal digital properties online,

Pre-funeral as Life Retrospection and a Farewell Party Ahead of Time In Chinese/Taiwanese culture, fire is often regarded as the messenger between the living and the dead, people burn flammable things if they want to send offerings to their deceased family or ghosts. While burning also has a strong meaning of rebirth and revolution. At the end of this pre-funeral, the host would burn their tangible replicas of one's digital remnants as well as the electronic sheet (stored with real social network database), within specialized small burners. The action is a ceremonial behavior to articulate a host's determination and readiness to face their upcoming death or solitary life.

We've speculated some rituals of Inheritance and Deletion of one's remnants. What we prototype first would be the objects, documents or tools associated with this pre-funeral service.(for instance, a letter of notification from the ministry of Internet Affairs, embedded with electronic chips‌) It is an imaginary social policy for preserving or deleting personal data on Internet, social media and other storage devices after one’s death. For the solitary elders, they may sign a contract to authorize the social workers, in place of kinsfolk, to process and take control of their digital remnants. what would be left behind by the deceased after hyperdocumentation for a life time

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Replica Destruction to Manifest the Determination of Leaving Hyper-documentation refers to the exhaustive and incessant

Q: THIS IS THE QUESTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEWEE? A: Such occurrence has also called the attention from social science workers and nal science workers and news media in Mainland China and Taiwan. Many debates commenced with the fundamental Chinese values

recording of the details and events of one’s life, particularly when these

of filial piety that giving an honorable funeral to one’s beloved elder

are shared on social media.In Chinese/Taiwanese culture, fire is often

family is crucial and esteemed.

regarded as the messenger between the living and the dead, people burn flammable things if they want to send offerings to their deceased

Q: THIS IS THE QUESTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEWEE?

family or ghosts. While burning also has a strong meaning of rebirth

A: Such occurrence has also called the attention from social science

and revolution. At the end of this pre-funeral, the host would burn their

workers and news media in Mainland China and Taiwan. Many debates

tangible replicas of one's digital remnants as well as the electronic

commenced with the fundamental Chinese values of filial piety that

sheet (stored with real social network database), within specialized

giving an honorable funeral to one’s beloved elder family is crucial.

small burners. The action is a ceremonial behavior to articulate a host's determination and readiness to face their upcoming death or solitary life.

Q: THIS IS THE QUESTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEWEE? A: Many debates commenced with the fundamental Chinese values of filial piety that giving an honorable funeral to one’s beloved elder family

An Interview with Pre-funeral Participants Q: THIS IS THE QUESTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEWEE?

is crucial and esteemed.

Q: THIS IS THE QUESTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEWEE?

A: Such occurrence has also called the attention from social science

A: Many debates commenced with the fundamental Chinese values of

workers and news media in Mainland China and Taiwan. Many debates

filial piety that giving an honorable funeral to one’s beloved elder family

commenced with the fundamental Chinese values of filial piety that

is crucial and esteemed.

giving an honorable funeral to one’s beloved elder family is crucial and

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National Ethnographic 2046 Autumn Life-and-Death Nowadays Scene from a pre-funeral ceremony in Taipei City. (memorial objects & chip & burner as a set )

What’s Next?

Processing digital property could be an interesting issue because taking care of one's remnants is also valued in Taiwanese culture.

Personal belongings, clothes or other everyday appliances are often cremated along with the dead / given to the family as heirloom / abandoned but also replaced by papier-mache offerings. Since the technology nowadays enable us to track people's life stories from their birth to death, we assume that digital property would be a great consideration when one is going to host a pre-funeral.

This new pre-funeral is a farewell ceremony for one's life as well as their digital property, the service will re-create one’s lifetime meaningful objects (via 3d printing technology) according to their accumulated social network database, exhibit them (as a retrospective event), and destroy them (as a distinctive behavior in the ceremony).

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About the Project

A Taiwanese-based Design Fiction: Speculations on The Life and Death Issue in the Future Communications Design 2015

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As the ongoing of social phenomenon of solitary elders, many well-developed societies have faced the issue of senior citizens that died alone, without proper undertaking of their funerals from family members or acquaintances. The problem has manifested a new attitude towards life and death issue, especially contradictory to traditional oriental cultures. In Japan nowadays,

Drone Group / The deliverables

the lonely death (In Japanese: 孤獨死 ) has brought a new social service into being, which is specialized in taking care of the solitary elders primarily after their death. The tasks includes housing clean, disinfection, relic arrangement, placing bodies in the coffins, simplified religious ceremony on scene and other follow-up undertaker’s business. Such occurrence has also called the attention from social science workers and news media in Mainland China and Taiwan. Many debates commenced with the fundamental Chinese values of filial piety that giving an honorable funeral to one’s beloved elder family is crucial and esteemed.

electronic chip

...

editor's aspect & tones, as well as interviews

The first part of this DF project speculates the contours of Taiwanese funeral for the lonely dead in the future through making prototypes.

5. To integrate and present the above contents/

The second part of this DF project speculates the contours of Taiwanese pre-funeral in preparation for one’s later years in the next stage of digital era through making prototypes.

To upload on issuu.com

1. Project description 2.Tangible prototypes (3d prints or handmade): the drone, the bell / 8 replica objects, the burner, the

3. Digital prototypes (photoshoped pictures): vectorial diagrams of the drone and data, garden cemeteries & bell weepers & drones in the scenario / serial simulative photos of the pre-funeral ceremony 4. Narrative: Fictional editorials from the author/

elements in the form of a digital magazine