The Special Farewell

By Yuan Yuan

It was the fear of facing her pet dogs death that made Wu Tong switch careers in 2015. Her dog， Little Q， named after the movie Quill： The Life of a Guide Dog， was over 9 years old in 2015， an old age for a dog. Thinking of her dogs approaching death caused Wu to feel anxious. Describing herself as an introvert， Wu said the dog， a cocker spaniel， was the best company she had in the world.

“She （the dog） likes to stay at home so I dont want to bury her outside after she passes away，”Wu said while appearing on a TV program in 2018. “I want to keep her at home.” While searching for urns online， she was disappointed to find most of them were either too ugly or too somber， so she decided to make one by herself.

Majoring in architecture in college， Wu is no stranger to designing. She designed a wooden urn in the shape of a house with a pitched roof. She also designed a small wooden headstone， on which she engraved a portrait of the dog and the words she wanted to say to her. She then attached a small， round box to the headstone for keeping the hair， nails and other keepsakes of her pet.

“Many people are put off by the topic of death，” Wu said. “We will all die one day and we must learn to face it in a calm way.”

The urn and headstone set， in a cute style and made with lighter colored wood， created a calmer and more peaceful atmosphere. Expecting that her creation may appeal to many other pet owners， Wu quit her job of working for a travel magazine and established her own studio， Q Planet， specializing in designing urns， caskets， headstones， and other keepsakes for departed pets. Since 2015， she has designed headstones for over 7，000 pets.

A warm goodbye

The headstone is 12.5 cm tall and 7.5 cm wide， smaller than a regular smartphone. Customers can choose from three colors and select the font for the epitaph engraved on it.

She gives a number to each headstone and records each pets story according to the number. On the studios WeChat page， she shares touching stories of pets and their owners.

It was also in 2015 that Beijing resident Li Chao decided to get into the business of providing pet funeral services， after his dog Jojo had passed away earlier that year.

He searched online for a pet funeral service provider and chose one， but felt bad about the whole process. “It seemed they only cared about money，” he said. “They charged a high price for the cremation and when I stayed there in deep mourning after the dog was put into the cremation chamber， the staff began chatting and playing cards right next to me.” This awful experience made Li decide to start his own business providing pet funeral services， both in order to offer better service for bereaved pet owners and also to make up for what happened to Jojo. “Love is a must in this business，” Li said. “People with no pet might have no idea how much the pet means to its owners.”