CRI听力: Soaring Grave Prices Inevitable: Expert

Tuesday is the tomb-sweeping day. It's been a tradition for people in China to tidy up their ancestors' tombs to show respect. With soaring grave prices in cities, many residents complain it has become unaffordable to die.

Experts say grave prices will stay high due to limited open spaces, and people are encouraged to consider alternative burial methods.

Yingying has more.


Five years ago, Song Minglan, a 60-year-old resident of a small city in east China's Jinagsu Province joined together with her five sisters to buy a burial plot at a cemetery for their parents, although they are still alive.

"We spent about 10 thousand yuan on the gravesite. Now the cost has reached more than 50 to 60 thousand yuan. As children, it's only natural to prepare a decent grave for our parents. Otherwise, we will be considered impious."

The Chinese have valued funerals since ancient times. They believe a tomb burial brings peace to the deceased. And there is a long tradition of keeping family graves in rural areas.

With soaring housing prices in cities, burial plot prices have surged from hundreds of yuan in the 1980s to tens of thousands of yuan, which has caused a wave of gravesite panic buying in recent years.

Yang Genlai, a scholar at the Institute of Administrative Cadres under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, says it's inevitable that the price of burial plots will stay high now that the government has confined cemetery development because of the limited amount of open space.

"Tomb burials are not encouraged according to China's funeral reform policy. With the growing mortality rate, grave prices will stay high. Diverse burial methods such as sea burials, lawn burials and flower-bed burials are encouraged in the long run."

China's funeral policy stipulates that individuals do not own gravesite land. The money they spend on buying a burial plot is merely a management fee for 20 years. Certain renewal fees will be charged after 20 years.

Zhang Hongchang, Secretary General of the China Funeral Association, says the rule conforms to international practice. But since the history of most cemeteries in China hasn't reached a 20-year term of service, many people are not clear about the rule. They believe the gravesites they have purchased will be preserved forever.

"The policy should make clear that cemeteries are public facilities in urban areas. Individuals can just occupy the gravesites for a certain period of time. And it should regulate how much money will be charged after 20 years."

Zhang says incomplete statistics from the China Funeral Association indicate that less than one-third of the deceased urbanites have adopted non-tomb burials in recent years. To some extent, the high burial plot prices have prompted them to change their mindsets and accept new burial methods.

For CRI, I'm Yingying.