Shanghai burial options diversify against land shortage

Shanghai (CNS) -- The Shanghai Songhe Cemetery completed the construction of its expansion on Monday, making available an area which will operate in a landing-saving mode and offer diversified burial options.

The 29-mu (almost two hectares) expansion will offer 60,000 positions mainly in the form of cinerary caskets complemented by parterre, lawn, and tree burials. The design of the area saves about 120 mu (eight hectares) that would normally be consumed by traditional tombs.

Land-efficient designs will become the industrial mainstream, Lv Chunling, head of the Shanghai Funeral and Interment Management Office, told the CNS.

In total, Shanghai plans to use 7000 mu (about 466.67 hectares) for cemeteries, about 5000 mu of which has been sold or occupied so far. The rest will be consumed at a rate of 150 mu (10 hectares) per year, Lv assumes, and new burial choices will become the ultimate solution for both cemetery managers and municipal residents.

However, few Shanghai residents may buy the novel service. Against traditional concepts of appropriate final resting places, the new options seem too shabby. The Songhe Cemetery has sold only half of its land-saving tombs in the last 20 years, and they are half the price of regular ones. Its economical 400-yuan biodegradable parterre tombs have attracted no buyers since first offered in 2009.

Publicity and economic benefits seem inadequate for the promotion of new burial concepts; more delicacy added to the diversity would probably help, comments Lin Jianjun, a manager at the Songhe Cemetery.