Tomb‑Sweeping Day Now Includes Pets
In April 2026, a remarkable social phenomenon emerged in China: a growing number of people are visiting pet cemeteries during Qingming, the annual tomb‑sweeping festival, to clean tombstones and leave offerings for their departed pets. According to Sixth Tone, transactions for pet memorial products on Taobao rose 160% from a year earlier, with customized keepsakes and AI‑powered services among the fastest‑growing offerings.
This trend reflects the profound shift in the family status of pets in Chinese society. According to the 2026 China Pet Industry White Paper, the country‘s urban dog and cat consumer market reached 312.6 billion yuan in 2025 and is projected to exceed 400 billion yuan by 2028.
AI‑Powered Hologram Memorial Boxes
A seller surnamed Yin, who previously specialized in pet oil paintings, began offering AI‑powered hologram memorial boxes last year that use existing images to create moving, three‑dimensional likenesses of cats and dogs. Customers often fixate on specific features, especially a pet’s eyes and coat color, and may request multiple revisions to better capture its personality.
One customer wrote that the resemblance was so strong it felt as if the pet had “come back.”Meanwhile, NIUSIA, a Japanese AI solutions company, expanded its “AI Departed” service to the pet market in January 2026, launching PetMemory.ai to allow owners to interact with AI avatars of their departed dogs and cats.
Wool‑Felt Replicas and Paper Offerings
Kang Qin has spent more than a decade making wool‑felt replicas of pets, trying to reproduce each animal’s appearance as closely as possible. One customer sent a reference photo showing a dog with dark, dirty fur around its nose. After Kang cleaned up the image, the customer asked her to restore the smudged look so the replica would feel more authentic.
Online sellers are also offering paper memorial goods for pets, including paper food, clothing, and shelters, with some selling “grand dog or cat funeral” packages for 239.8 yuan.
Explosive Growth of Pet Funeral Businesses
QCC data shows that as of March 2026, there were 47,000 pet funeral‑related enterprises in China. In 2022, registrations nearly increased six‑fold to 27,000 enterprises; in 2025, 8,534 were registered, a year‑on‑year increase of 3.4%.
Pet Memorial Practices Are Expanding
From flowers and treats to professional pet tombstones and custom pet grave markers, pet memorial practices are expanding. Many pet owners choose to place a pet memorial stone in their pet’s favorite garden corner as a warm daily presence.
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