An urban legend: Why aren’t there any Chinese tombs in Hungary?

There’s an urban legend, that because Chinese people look so similar, when one of them dies, it’s not reported to the authorities, but the deceased person’s relatives immigrate to the country under his name and identity.

This legend was debunked by urbanlegends.hu who asked Gergely Salát, senior lecturer at the Department of Chinese Studies, ELTE University, about where the Chinese people living in Hungary disappear.

According to Salát, the Chinese community is relatively young in Hungary, which means that the mortality rate is quite low. When the communist era ended in Hungary in 1989, mainly young, adventurous people immigrated to the country who were in their 20s and 30s, as Chinese people were not economic migrants, but were simply seeking new adventures. Those who came to Hungary more than twenty years ago are in their 40s and 50s now, apart from a few exceptions. It’s not only Chinese tombs that are missing from Hungary, but one cannot find sick and old Chinese people either.

If a Chinese person has a serious condition, they return home because they trust the Chinese medicines more than the Hungarian healthcare system. According to their customs, if someone is terminally ill they return home to be near their loved ones when they die. But if they die in Hungary (in a car accident for example) then their ashes are taken home, as it is a belief in Chinese culture that everyone wants to be buried in their homeland and it’s the family’s duty to make it happen. If they fail bury to the deceased person according to traditional Chinese customs, they may be haunted by the spirits.

Hungary has become a less desirable country about ten years ago: the market is small and loaded, the economy is stagnating, and the authorities are unfriendly. For a talented Chinese businessman the rapidly developing Chinese cities offer more opportunities, therefore the number of Chinese immigrants in Hungary has been stagnating for years.

The legend of where the Chinese people disappear is present in other European countries as well, and was most likely established by the Havaria Press news agency in 2001 when they stated that 110 Chinese people die every year in Hungary, but thanks to a Chinese crime organization 100 bodies disappear. The data was false of course, because the Hungarian mortality rates were applied to the Chinese, but because most of the immigrants were young people, this number could not have been right. The agency later corrected its numbers and ordered other agencies to inform their readers about the mistake, but many of them failed to do that.

Urbanlegends.hu also reached out to the Budapest Funeral Institute Plc. (Budapesti Temetkezési Intézet Zrt) to have some data about the frequency of Chinese burials in Hungary. Gábor Tóth service director said that the institute is prohibited to list the deceased based on their race, religion, or ethnicity, but of course many foreigners reach out to them, and there are Asians among them. There are some tombs in their cemeteries where Asians are buried, but their number is minimal. There’s no Chinese parcel, for instance.

Tóth agreed with Salát that most of those who immigrated to Hungary from the Far East are still young, and after the deceased are cremated, relatives often take the urns and return to their homeland, which proves that there are memorial services held for Chinese people, even in funeral homes, but it does not necessary mean that the deceased are buried in Hungary.

based on an article of urbanlegends.hu
translated by Adrienn Sain

Photo: urbanlegends.hu – marinov

Source: http://www.urbanlegends.hu/