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Coronavirus

New COVID-19 Risk: Annual Chinese “Tomb-Sweeping” Holiday

Authorities in China and Taiwan are worried that gatherings at cemeteries for the customary holiday to honor ancestors could spark another outbreak.

A staff member distributes flowers at a cemetery in Jinan, in eastern China.
A staff member distributes flowers at a cemetery in Jinan, in eastern China.
Laura Lin

The Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, is an important annual rite for Chinese families to pay respect to departed loved ones — the cultural equivalent of the Christian holiday, All Souls Day. But as the country is slowly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities are worried that the often crowded public occasion could spark new outbreaks.

Local governments have urged their citizens to review their usual plan on visiting cemeteries, and even consider an online alternative. To avoid mass gatherings while still allowing people to physically pay their respects, Shanghai has set up an online reservation system for its 54 cemeteries and all 160,000 slots have been booked for Saturday, reports Shanghai-ist.

But special arrangements have been made this year to allow survivors to honor their ancestors virtually, either by watching a broadcast of the traditional ceremony performed by members of the cemetery's staff, or through a personalized, live-streamed ceremony for which they can hire "professional tomb sweepers."

Visitors will be limited to 10 at a time, with all required to wear a mask and have their temperature taken.

Taiwan, which has been largely spared from coronavirus, has seen a slight uptick of cases in the past two weeks, (300+ infected, 5 deaths) — and the same fears are now hanging over the long holiday weekend. Taipei-based Business Weekly reports that some one million Taiwanese people are expected to travel home for Qingming, which take place nowadays mostly at a columbarium or temple where families store the funeral urns of their dead.

Virtual ceremony is a new option— Photo: @文物医院 on Weibo

Many Taiwanese report that they will drive home to avoid taking the train. Even more measures are being taken by local authorities. Not only has the public been encouraged to start paying their respects earlier or later so as to spread out the flow of people, visitors will be limited to 10 at a time, with all required to wear a mask, have their temperature taken and their hands sterilized before entrance.

Online homage is also an increasingly popular alternative, with Chinese-language Apple Daily reporting a six-fold growth in the wake of COVID-19. With just a few clicks, users can request a virtual ceremony of flowers, candles and a funeral service professional burning incense and paper money.

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Green

Forest Networks? Revisiting The Science Of Trees And Funghi "Reaching Out"

A compelling story about how forest fungal networks communicate has garnered much public interest. Is any of it true?

Thomas Brail films the roots of a cut tree with his smartphone.

Arborist and conservationist Thomas Brail at a clearcutting near his hometown of Mazamet in the Tarn, France.

Melanie Jones, Jason Hoeksema, & Justine Karst

Over the past few years, a fascinating narrative about forests and fungi has captured the public imagination. It holds that the roots of neighboring trees can be connected by fungal filaments, forming massive underground networks that can span entire forests — a so-called wood-wide web. Through this web, the story goes, trees share carbon, water, and other nutrients, and even send chemical warnings of dangers such as insect attacks. The narrative — recounted in books, podcasts, TV series, documentaries, and news articles — has prompted some experts to rethink not only forest management but the relationships between self-interest and altruism in human society.

But is any of it true?

The three of us have studied forest fungi for our whole careers, and even we were surprised by some of the more extraordinary claims surfacing in the media about the wood-wide web. Thinking we had missed something, we thoroughly reviewed 26 field studies, including several of our own, that looked at the role fungal networks play in resource transfer in forests. What we found shows how easily confirmation bias, unchecked claims, and credulous news reporting can, over time, distort research findings beyond recognition. It should serve as a cautionary tale for scientists and journalists alike.

First, let’s be clear: Fungi do grow inside and on tree roots, forming a symbiosis called a mycorrhiza, or fungus-root. Mycorrhizae are essential for the normal growth of trees. Among other things, the fungi can take up from the soil, and transfer to the tree, nutrients that roots could not otherwise access. In return, fungi receive from the roots sugars they need to grow.

As fungal filaments spread out through forest soil, they will often, at least temporarily, physically connect the roots of two neighboring trees. The resulting system of interconnected tree roots is called a common mycorrhizal network, or CMN.

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