Op-Ed Contributors

Debate: Cemeteries

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-06 08:03

China's huge population also means a higher number of deaths. But the country does not have enough land to bury all the dead. How can we solve the problem? Three scholars come up with three different solutions.

Li Renqing

Green burials the way of the future

Ministry of Civil Affairs figures show that about 9.35 million people died in China in 2008. China's aging population is rising and by 2050, it will reach 450 million, or one-third of the total population. The rising aging population has already created a serious problem: demand for more cemeteries.

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Take Beijing for example. The total area of its cemeteries is 1,000 hectares, of which about 400 hectares can be used to bury the dead. By 2020, the city will see about 110,000 deaths a year. But there are not enough graves available to bury all of the dead. So the authorities should promote green burials.

To alter people's traditional funeral practices, government departments may have to employ the help of folk culture to promote green burials in rural areas, and change their management system to convince urban residents of its need.

The focus of the reform should be on rural areas where many people bury their dead "secretly" or illegally because of lack of facilities and the high price of funeral services. Many blame funeral parlors, which enjoy a monopoly in the funeral industry, for creating such a situation. Besides, rural areas also witness luxurious funerals, again with the help local officials and funeral parlors - and that reflects, in the most sordid way, the widening gap between the rich and the poor.

The authorities need to reform funeral services to eradicate the unhealthy practices and restore interment as part of fundamental public service. If death is the greatest unifier, funeral services should be equal for all - without any room for pomp and luxury at funerals. But the authorities will have to be more professional and environmentally friendly in their approach to change people's mindset.

Some people spend a lot of money on funerals (with a few even making it a show) because Chinese people have traditionally believed that burying their dead with the greatest care and respect would bring peace to them. But every person should realize land is scarce - and so are cemeteries - in China and that they should accept other ways of paying their respects to the departed souls.

Cemeteries in some rural areas, however, have become more eco-friendly because of social development and increase in people's environmental consciousness. In fact, many families now understand the importance of green and tree burials, and some families have even "performed" online memorial ceremonies.

To encourage people to accept eco-friendly or green burials, funeral parlors in Beijing started offering free sea burial services to people with a Beijing hukou (household registration) from April 1, 2010. Since 1994, the Beijing municipal government has scattered the ashes of about 5,800 departed souls in this modern and civilized way. It is now the responsibility of relevant departments to encourage and guide the people to change their mindset about funerals.

These departments should also regulate funeral service prices and use it as a tool to educate people to perform the last rites for their beloved ones in the most rational and eco-friendly way.

The reform in funeral practices should be advanced gradually with the aim of guiding people to accept new, green forms of burials.

The author is an associate research scholar with the Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.