‘Tomb’ classrooms

Hopeless women are being invited to the ‘grave classroom’ to experience death - in the hope that it will give them a new lease of life.

Liu Taijie, 30, founded the unique experience after her attempt to take her own life three years ago. She had reached rock bottom after being unable to get a job at the same time her marriage started failing.

But after her recovery, she decided she would use her own experiences to make a difference to the lives of other women. Liu created the ‘grave classroom’, which consists of a small piece of open land on a hillside with six shallow graves dug into it.

Women are then invited to lie in the holes and contemplate the world without them in it.

They are also given mindfulness lessons in the grave classroom, and encouraged to regain their confidence and self-worth.

Liu, from Chongqing in south west China, said: “I was abandoned by my husband, I was despised by my family. I was deceived by a pyramid selling scam and I wanted to die. Tears are useless and death cannot solve problems. I want to change and use my experience to help women.”

As reported by the People’s Daily China , one emotional woman who had recently used the ‘grave classroom’ told the camera: “When I think of that if I were dead - my parents, my child and my husband... They would not be able to take it.”

Liu added: “Through experiencing death, I hope to dare them to face life, to appreciate life, to have an optimistic attitude towards failures and towards life and to have a better future.”

People’s Daily China