The Chinese county where graves for the living is dead serious business – even for children
Tradition dictates that people have a final resting place set aside by the time they are 30
One county in central China is home to tens of thousands of empty, elaborate graves built for people still alive, including many children under the age of 10, Chinese state media reported on Sunday.
More than 80,000 of the graves are scattered across Tongcheng county in Hubei province, ready to eventually house the corpses of their still-living owners, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Over 95 per cent of the county’s 78,000 residents aged 60 and above – as well as many younger people – have already put the finishing touches to their final resting place in a country short of arable land.
The report said it was a tradition in the rural region to have a grave ready well before death, usually by the time a person hits 30.