Grave Prices up with Hiking Housing Prices

With surging housing prices in the big cities of China, graves are also tagged with sky high prices. Many people find it's hard to afford for a grave in major cities. Local authorities are encouraging low cast environmental-friendly methods of burial. But how many people would accept these new ways?

Zhang Wan takes a closer look.

Buying a grave for the deseased has become a big financial burden for many urban residents. In a public cemetery in Shanghai Pudong New area, a one-square-meter grave cost 3,000 yuan in 2005, but now the grave that's the same size goes for 20,000 yuan or about 3,000 U.S. dollars.

However, in another commercial cemetery, prices are much higher. An average grave covering half-of-one-square is at the price of 20,000 yuan, while the price of a grave with special design goes up as high as 170,000 yuan. The maintenance fee is not inclusive. He Xinyuan, one citizen in the cemetery for tomb sweeping, says:

"Nowadays, with 40,000 or 50,000 yuan, you can only get an ordinary grave, better graves need more than 100,000 yuan each. If prices go up like this, ordinary working people can't afford that."

His opinion is echoed by a fellow resident:

"The prices of graves have been going up with soaring housing prices. I think this is unreasonable."

However, cemeteries argue that high prices are attributed to higher costs and rising demand in recent years. (upsound: Qu Zhikui) Qu Zhikui, head of a cemetery in Shanghai, says costs of grave stones are much higher than before, and they must pay wages for workers in the cemetery.

Local authorities say they are taking measures to curb random price hikes in cemeteries, for example, by prohibiting the construction of graves in a large size, all graves must be less than 0.7 square meters in size.

Moreover, public cemeteries will be required to set land-saving graveyards, and environmentally-friendly ways of burial will be encouraged, including burials at flower beds, at sea and burials under trees. However, are these new ways of burial accepted by the public?

"New ways of burial, I can't accept. I don't think we have to choose these new ways. I still prefer the traditional way of ashes burial."

"It depends on what my parents say. We would follow their wishes."

It seems many people still stick to traditional concepts for burial. But during the interview, quite a number of people say they would go for new environmental-friendly ways. Here is 67-year-old Mr. Xu.

"I support these new ways of burial. As we are a populous country with limited arable land, if people don't accept these new concepts, we'll get less arable land in the future."

Like Mr. Xu, 70-year-old Mrs. Xue says she is open-minded on the issue.

"I've written my will and told my son and daughter not to keep my ashes after my death. I think when people pass away, it would be no use to keep a handful of ashes. I wish my ashes would be spread on a mountain."

Mrs. Xue says instead of spending money in keeping her ashes in a grave, she prefers that money should be donated to people in disaster-hit areas and for poor people.

For CRI, I am Zhang Wan.