Stripper? I don't even know her.

A fellow I know does a little game called "Stump Google."  Simple rules: just put two words together that Google can't match up, such as, say, "breezeway judge." It takes a lot to find two words that can't be linked somehow.  But somehow, you can't win the game if your entry is "funeral stripper."

That would be because "funeral strippers" is a thing in China. According to the article I saw, in rural China, people have for years hired strippers to put on a show at a funeral. 

After all, you give the people what they want, and they will turn out for your event.

China's state-run newspaper, the Global Times, says, "Scantily clad women in sexy lingerie and revealing clothes showing off their bodies in front an electronic screen (sic) displaying a black-and-white headshot of the deceased with text reading, ‘We offer profound condolences for the death of this man’ are now a modern part of funerals in some rural areas of China.”

But, before you put in a call to hire an ecdysiast, be advised: China's Ministry of Culture now says they are going to shut down these "obscene and vulgar performances at weddings, funerals and temple fairs.”

And, just like here in the Western Hemisphere, they are setting up a public hotline for the public to use to drop a dime on "funeral misdeeds."  There will be rewards paid.

(Since there are no pay phones anymore, and since even when there were, it cost a lot more than a dime to call and report someone, does anyone still say "drop a dime"?  I need to know so that I am able to remain consonant with the current cool phraseology).

The Chinese officials aren't saying why this crackdown is happening, nor do they explain what happened to their 2015 plan to get rid of the "bizarre and increasingly popular” strip shows because they were “corrupting the social atmosphere,” according to the Global Times.

That paper also mentions that the funeral stripping is a way to worship fertility.

“In some local cultures, dancing with erotic elements can be used to convey the deceased’s wishes of being blessed with many children,” Huang Jianxing, professor at the Fujian Normal University Sociology and History Department, said.

In America, the great sage Yogi Berra reminded us that we should always attend the funerals of others, "otherwise, they won't come to yours."