In the Ground, in a Tree, in the Sea

Billfold cemetery correspondent William Foster is back with news you can use about the cost of death and burial on this, our planet Earth.

This week Mr. Foster’s funeral research brings us to China, where the Shanghai Daily reported earlier this year that nearly 1,100 villagers in Guangdong province are being relocated to make room for a cemetery. (“Most villagers plant fruit trees in the hills and raise fish in ponds, but the mountain forests will be converted into a huge cemetery, reported Insight China magazine.”) The villagers were compensated for their trouble (amount unknown), but likely will not be able to be buried in the cemetery where their homes once stood; it is available for revolutionaries only. Which sounds kind of weird, since, you know, what revolutionaries: “Fan Haiquan, a researcher from Guangdong Social Sciences Academy, was quoted as saying: ‘There are no new revolutionary heroes since New China has existed for more than 60 years. Most of the people who sacrificed their lives in wars have passed away. Therefore, today’s so-called revolutionary figures are just government officials.’” Which the villagers are not.

But: Even revolutionary heroes/bureaucrats may not be able to afford plots in the cemetery: “The price of cemetery plots is now about 80,000 yuan ($12,880) a square meter — much higher than the rate for local luxury commercial apartments.”

The People’s Daily reported that the Bureau of Civil Affairs has issued a notice encouraging people to bury deceased family members at sea. They are offering the family of the deceased 1000 yuan ($164) to do a sea burial. Tree burial — “where the person’s ashes are buried next to a tree” — is also encouraged.

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