Han Ximin

THE city's civil affairs bureau will open a free tree burial zone in Jitian Cemetery in Longgang District to encourage the public to adopt this form of burial to pay honor to their deceased loved ones.

Along with sea burials and floral burials, tree burials are considered the cheapest way to bury a deceased in Shenzhen because of high prices for tombs due to the shortage of land.

Residents can bury the ashes of their loved ones under a tree and erect a stone tablet inscribed with the name of the person.

"Tree burials are the best and most economical way for funeral reform," Liu Runhua, chief of the civil affairs bureau, said Friday, Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival.

Although the bureau has been advocating tree burials since 2003, they accounted for only 10 percent of the total number of funeral services. Liu said around 60 percent of ashes were buried in tombs and 30 percent were left in ash towers under the care of cemeteries.

"The city will face a shortage of tombs in three to five years if the ashes of around 13,000 who are cremated each year are buried in tombs," said Liu, showing his concern about the situation.

The city now has five commercial cemeteries with charges ranging from 8,000 to 45,000 yuan (US$1,127 to 6,338) per square meter. The municipal government imposes strict measures to control the number of commercial cemeteries to save land.

The government will encourage all commercial cemeteries in the city to support free tree burials, said Liu.

The Shenzhen branch of the Red Cross Association of China adopted this form of burial in 2006 and buried the ashes of 47 cornea donors under what they called the Tree of Light.

"We encourage green burials because they are environmentally friendly and save land resources," said Liu. The civil affairs bureau will organize a sea burial in mid-April. Residents can contact www.szmz.sz.gov.cn to apply. By the end of last year, the bureau had organized 21 sea burial services and the ashes of 30,000 had been buried this way.

In the past three days, around 500,000 Shenzhen residents visited cemeteries to pay their respects to deceased loved ones.

Customs for tomb sweeping

TOMB sweeping on Qingming Festival is a traditional Chinese custom that is practiced on the 104th day after the winter solstice, or the 15th day from the Spring Equinox.

For the Chinese, it is a day to remember and honor one's ancestors at grave sites. Young and old pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, paper accessories, and libation to the ancestors. The rites are very important to most Chinese.

Some people carry willow branches with them on Qingming, or put willow branches on their gates and front doors. They think that willow branches help ward off the evil ghosts that wander on Qingming.

Also on Qingming, people go on family outings, start the spring plowing, sing and dance, and Qingming is a time when young couples start courting. Another popular thing to do is fly kites.

(Wang Yuanyuan)