Jiangxi bans burials, as hundreds of coffins destroyed
In the province of Jianxi, the authorities decide for a "zero tolerance" policy against those who decide to be buried. Everyone in China must be cremated. Funeral rituals also forbidden. The cult of the dead resists in rural areas. Burial is prohibited because it subtracts land from agriculture.
Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - In the southeastern rural areas of Jiangxi, the authorities have decided to implement a zero tolerance policy towards those who decide to be buried. Officials seized and destroyed hundreds of coffins and forced people to abandon funeral rituals.
Six months ago, the governor of the region decided to clamp down on the burial practices of the dead. The officials went to the villages of Ganzhou, Jian and Yichun, entered people's homes and confiscated all the coffins they found. The photos and videos testify to piles of hundreds of coffins piled up and destroyed by the bulldozers. Some seniors tried to fight back to retrieve their coffins.
In Yiyang County, a body that had been buried against cremation policies was exhumed in April. These facts sparked the indignation of the local and national media that defined the actions of "barbaric and unpopular" government officials. Until a few years ago, cremation in rural areas was not widespread and the authorities were turning a blind eye to the violations.
The Jiangxi government wants to make cremation mandatory as the only way to dispose of the remains of people in order to safeguard the arable land.
For the expropriations of the coffins the authorities have offered compensation of 2 thousand yuan (290 dollars). Making a coffin is very expensive, about 5,000 yuan, the compensation is not convenient for poor rural people.
A young man from the village of Jian says that on Sunday 29 July the officials took away his grandparents coffins: "They have been kept for more than 30 years. They were made by carpenters with the wood of our land ".
In rural China there is the tradition of custom made coffins. These are kept at home in the hope that they will bring longevity and luck.
Provincial Governor Liu Qi commented: "It was the intention of the government to introduce environmentally friendly funeral services, but it went astray and created resentment".
The Chinese agencies report that in 2014 at least six senior citizens of Anqing, in the southeastern province of Anhui, committed suicide after hearing about the government's plan to seize their coffins.
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