Chinese face a burial ban

Wednesday, 8 April, 1998, 13:47 GMT 14:47 UK
Chinese face a burial ban

Chinese clean up the graves of their ancestors in the week leading to Quing Ming, the Grave Sweeping Festival
The Chinese southern province of Guangdong is to prohibit most burials and the creation of new cemeteries, in favour of cremation. Provincial officials said the ban was being introduced because the rapid spread of new cemeteries was eating up precious agricultural land.
Cremation has been encouraged in China for many years. But the official news agency, Xinhua, said many residents of Guangdong preferred traditional tomb-burials. As a result, more than 250 hectares of land were lost in the province every year.
With China's limited arable land already under threat from rapid urban expansion, the authorities have been trying for some years to reverse the spread of cemeteries. The official China Daily newspaper said 670 million hectares of land had been re-claimed in recent years, after the removal of hundreds of millions of old tombs.
Deng Xiaoping set an example
The government has advocated cremation and done its best to overcome traditional taboos about preserving the human body intact. Last year, around 37% of China's dead were cremated - some perhaps inspired by the example of late leader, Deng Xiaoping, who asked for his ashes to be scattered at sea.
But, in southern Guangdong province, the custom for lavish tombs apparently is persistent. Less than a quarter of its dead were cremated last year. In some cities, the figure was just 5%.
Officials said forest and farm land were disappearing, as luxury private cemeteries expanded to cater for more than a quarter of a million annual burials.
A local newspaper quoted one official as saying the province could no longer allow the dead to take land from the living.
Another told the BBC that new cemeteries would now be banned. He said existing graveyards could still be used, but could not expand.
Provincial authorities say they are seeking a 60% cremation rate within three years and hope eventually to reach 100%.
Grave Sweeping Festival
Last Sunday the Chinese celebrated the annual day for remembering the dead, Quing Ming. In the week leading up to Quing Ming, it is customary to clean up the graves of their ancestors, and make offerings of food and drink.
Many traditional Quing Ming activities, such as burning fake money and paper home appliances, which are intended to ensure a comfortable afterlife for the deceased, have been banned by China's Communist Party, which claims they are "feudal superstitions."
The BBC correspondent in Beijing reports that when Guangzhou students launched a campaign in support of cremation on Quing Ming last Sunday, only a dozen people, out of hundreds of thousands, visiting a local cemetery signed up. She says this shows the scale of the problem that the Chinese authorities promoting cremation have to tackle.