The cryonics culture that is China

A US-based cryonics company that stores people’s bodies at ultra-low temperatures in the hope that one day technology will be able to bring them back to life says it has attracted customers from China.

The Alcor Life Extension Foundation, in Arizona, said it had held discussions about setting up a team in China.

Another firm, the Cryonics Institute in the state of Michigan, said it had held similar discussions about operating in China.

Observers said the interest from wealthy Chinese may be because they are worried about bans on burial in favour of cremation in many places.

Traditional Chinese culture rules that the body must be intact to prepare for the afterlife.

Professor Huang Wei , a historian at Sichuan University in Chengdu , said: “Chinese people have always been interested in body preservation and life extension. Cryonics is a new option from the West which will certainly interest those who can afford it.”

There is more here, via the excellent Mark Thorson.

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