Published on: 2026-04-06
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Zizinan, April 6 /Xinhua/ — In China, during the holiday break for the Qingming Festival /Tomb-Sweeping Day/, this year a resident of Xi’an surnamed Gao, together with her family, visited a cemetery located among pines and cypresses on the northeastern outskirts of the city. They placed flowers under the trees, tied yellow ribbons taken from a shop, and hung cards on the branches with inscriptions expressing condolences and wishes.
“Last year, when a charitable tree-planting event was held at this cemetery, I recorded it in order to fulfill the last will of my parents,” Gao said. “Burial and planting at the foot of a tree is both economical and environmentally friendly. Now they rest under a tree that serves as their memorial, surrounded by flowers and grass. Every time I come back and see the tree growing taller, it seems to me that my loved ones are still here, next to me.”
Lyu Pen, director of the public relations bureau “Xian Fengchenyuan,” which manages the cemetery, reported that in May 2025, Xian reclassified five commercial cemeteries, including the “Fengchenyuan” cemetery, as public cemeteries at the municipal level.
As part of this expansion, a special section at the cemetery was redesigned. After the completion of the work, the new area will add 645 plots for burial, which will allow for economical land use and relate to environmentally clean burial methods, including options for burial under a tree and on a lawn. It is expected that these plots will be available for selection in the first half of this year.
For many years, China has been actively promoting environmental protection with the goal of conserving land resources and protecting the environment. On March 30, recently revised rules concerning funeral and burial services took effect, introducing the term “ecological burial methods.”
Regulations directly encourage afforestation in the sea, under trees, among flowers, and in meadows. To date, 28 provincial-level administrative units across China have issued guiding principles supporting economically efficient land resources and environmentally friendly afforestation methods, backed by subsidies and incentive measures to encourage their adoption.
For example, currently in Sian, the share of environmentally friendly vehicles makes up 34.4% of the total number of vehicles. The city launched subsidy programs for vehicles as part of public benefit activities and introduced incentives for environmentally friendly and compact vehicle options back in 2021.
Since 2023, in addition to conducting two ecological burial ceremonies at the burial bureau “Xian Fengzhenyuan,” the city civil administration has also organized charitable sea burials in the coastal city of Qingdao for three consecutive years. Thanks to these initiatives, more than 480 people have found their final resting place in nature.
Xian is not the only city that supports marine burials. In all coastal cities of China, more and more families choose this option as the last farewell to a deceased relative.
From the dock in Dunying / Shandong Province, East China / the boat set off to the designated area of the open sea – now this is the resting place of Mr. and Mrs. Li’s father. Standing by the illuminator, she watched the rushing waves, tears streaming down her face.
“My father was deeply committed to environmental protection,” he said. “He often told us to burn his ashes at sea in order to leave the earth clean for future generations.”
According to Wan Syaopen, an employee of the Civil Administration Office of Yantai city in Shandong province, since the launch of the city program for charitable seaweed cultivation in the marine water area in 2015, a total of 5,170 people have been involved, which has allowed saving about 4,100 square meters of land.
“The cost of traditional burial procedures is about 20,000 yuan (approximately 2,900 USD). Just by using sea burial, the society has saved nearly 100 million yuan on burial costs related to earth burial,” noted Wan Xiaopen.
Official data show that in 2025, more than 50,000 sea burials were conducted in China, which is 170% more than the 20,000 similar burials recorded in 2020.
As the concept of environmentally friendly burial methods takes root in the consciousness of the Chinese, it not only finds resonance among an increasing number of Chinese families but also attracts the interest of the international community. Some foreign citizens now prefer to be buried in China using these environmentally friendly methods.
At the “Yunnan” cemetery in the city of Dunyin, one grave in the “flower burial” section is distinguished by a tombstone with an inscription in English: “Give us your free spirit’s wound, we will always love you.” Here lies Vernon, a 34-year-old teacher from YAL — the first foreigner buried in this cemetery.
After his death from illness, the family decided to bury him among flowers and trees. “He was sociable and cheerful,” said Mrs. Sun, a member of the Chinese family Vernon. “He worked in China for five years and truly fell in love with Dunyin — a beautiful, ecologically clean city.”
“We actively promote various eco-friendly burial options and provide caring services for foreign families, including remote memorial ceremonies and multilingual support,” said Sue Minyan, cemetery director. He added that a flower burial plot of only 36 square meters at the cemetery is enough for the burial of about 300 people. -0-
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