Yimei(Emair) Zhu  

From ancient to modern times, people's understanding of death and how bodies are disposed of has changed, and iterations of memorialization have taken place across China. As I conducted my fieldwork and wrote an article on this topic in 2018, I imagined the existence of real "ghosts" and a post-death world. I was intrigued by past rituals and wondered who wrote about the afterlife, a concept that has been believed in both in the West and in China. It is a difficult concept to disprove and has been ingrained in our minds like a tightly woven lie.

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I imagined a world where technology had advanced to the point where it could connect with the spiritual realm of yin and yang. There are other worlds outside of our perceived reality that influence our past and future lives, such as the fourth or fifth dimension. It is possible that beyond what we call "ghosts and gods," many unknowns are waiting to be discovered.

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I often had the image of seeing cells and zooming out and seeing myself again. I didn't understand it at the time, but it stuck in my mind for the rest of my life. My father believed I was dumb and liked weird things, but I didn’t think so. Instead, I think it's a DNA signal inherited from thousands of years of human experience. It is possible that "they" passed on specific information and perceptions through my DNA. Our beliefs about death and the afterlife have evolved. There may be mental realms that we do not understand. My experience and imagination have led me to question what we know about the world and our place in it.
 

Our beliefs about death and the afterlife have evolved, and there may be a spiritual realm that we cannot fully comprehend. My experiences and imagination have led me to question what we truly know about the world and our place in it.

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2018, In China.

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