Eco-friendly burial helps poor family in their grief
Print Edition
LIANG Zhizhong has laid his wife to rest, eight years after her death.
The 73-year-old kept Chen Jing’s ashes at home after she died of lung cancer in 2009 as he was too poor to afford the cost of burial — at least 18,000 yuan (US$2,615).
On tomb-sweeping day, which is today this year, the family finally has a tomb to sweep, a small lot covered with inscribed marble in a bed of flowers.
“With the mountains and river, I think she’ll like here,” said Liang, a retired colliery worker from Liupanshui in southwest China’s Guizhou Province.
His monthly 2,600 yuan pension is the family’s only income after his son couldn’t work following surgery to remove a brain tumor.
“We spent almost every penny of savings to treat my wife, and my son’s disease made our situation even worse,” Liang said.
Seven other poor families buried loved ones at the same flowerbed at Xianhe mountain. In Chinese, xianhe means crane, a bird which is traditionally believed to fly the deceased to heaven.
The flowerbed tomb is one of the ecological burials advocated by the local government. Degradable urns are used that decompose and nourish the flowers. Poor families like Liang’s are offered flowerbed tombs free of charge, while regular families pay less than 4,000 yuan as a 20-year administration fee.
Chinese tradition holds that ashes should be buried underground in urns, and fancy tombs are often built to show filial piety. However, the custom creates a strain on land resources.
The annual cost of all the urns, tombs and burial rituals in Liang’s home district of Liuzhi is estimated at 68 million yuan, with tombs covering a total area of 6.7 hectares.
“Eco-friendly burials, such as flowerbeds, tree and lawn tombs, not only bring down family burial costs but also saves on land,” said Qin Caike, deputy head of the civil affairs bureau in Liupanshui.
Local resident Dong Fuqin said her brother was buried there according to his will, although the family is rich enough to afford a stand-alone tomb.
“He requested us to save the land space for our offspring,” she said.
The cemetery’s Chi Xiping said 800 eco-friendly tombs had been built, each less than a square meter, with 200 used so far.
“More and more people are abandoning traditional thoughts about seeking stand-alone tombs, for eco-friendly burials,” he said.
At the cemetery, Liang signed a banner in support of eco-friendly burials. “After my death bury me here, too,” he told his son.
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