Nation honors lost loved ones
Print Edition
THE first day of the annual Qingming Festival, or tomb-sweeping day, saw millions of Chinese visit burial sites to honor their deceased relatives.
More than 3.9 million people paid their respects on Saturday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said in a statement yesterday, quoting figures from 150 major cemeteries across the country. The figure was 14 percent lower than on the first day of the festival last year, it said.
According to China Railway Corp, nearly half of the trips to cemeteries were made by bullet train. The number of passengers was estimated to hit 8.8 million yesterday, when 433 extra trains were put into service to help cope with the demand, it said.
The tomb-sweeping day holiday, which ends today, is the most important occasion for Chinese to honor their ancestors.
Authorities nationwide said they have sent more than 23,000 workers to help ensure order.
At Lingshan Pagoda Cemetery in Sanhe, north China’s Hebei Province, cars from Beijing crowded the parking lot.
Located 50 kilometers outside the capital, the 50-hectare burial site is one of the most popular for Beijing residents, and its management company is even headquartered in the city’s central business district.
An employee surnamed Chen said the tombs at Sanhe are “much bigger” than the ones available in Beijing.
About 80 percent of the plots in Hebei cemeteries are sold to Beijing residents.
More space and lower prices are the biggest draws, Chen said, adding that Lingshan cemetery has 30,000 plots, of which a third have been sold.
Traditional Chinese beliefs dictate that burial is the proper way to handle a dead body. In order to show filial piety, many Chinese invest heavily in their parents’ tombs, which has made death a lucrative business.
Fucheng Wufeng, which owns the Lingshan cemetery, reported a gross profit margin of 83 percent in 2015, and said it aims to make 100 million yuan (US$15.4 million) this year.
Fu Shou Yuan, which owns a number of cemeteries in several provinces, said its average grave price last year was more than 80,000 yuan.
According to an official report, the average cost of a funeral service in Beijing in 2015 was 70,000 yuan.
Qiao Kuanyuan, who works for the China Funeral Association, said burial plots have become expensive due to land scarcity, and government calls for eco-friendly alternatives have been countered by old beliefs.
The government in February issued a circular on the efficient use of burial sites in which it called for people to support group burials of family members in single sites.
Wang Hongjie, director of the Shanghai Funeral Industry Association, said the city has been promoting group burials since 2010.
Cemetery managers, however, have complained that group burials are a drain on their profits, as well as of the difficulty of safely adding chambers to existing tombs.
Hang Juan, a publicity officer for the Nanjing funeral management department, said it will persuade the public not to cling to traditional values when planning funerals, and switch to environment-friendly options, such as burying ashes under trees or scattering them into the sea.
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