Building 20 mn tombs costs China 16,556 acres annually
China is actively promoting the idea of “green burial” as 16,556 acres of land is being consumed for building tombs to cremate 20 million Chinese dying each year.
A conference on urban tomb construction was told on Wednesday that people should be encouraged to scatter the ashes of family members in parks built for the purpose, state media reported today.
“The aim of developing ‘green burials’ is not to keep or store the ashes of the deceased,” said, Dong Yuqing, deputy head of civil affairs bureau of the coastal city of Qingdao.
Participants at the conference say every year 16,556 acres of land is needed to build tombs or memorial halls for urns.
In Funingyuan Cemetery in east China’s Qingdao city, which claims to be the country’s only ecological cemetery, customers plant trees where urns of ashes are buried.
“Sea burials are also catching on. We organise three trips a year for people to scatter ashes at sea. So far we’ve had 3,500 sea burials,” Dong was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
Source - The Hindu