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Why Chinese officials who smashed coffins to enforce burial ban were wrong: change takes time

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A campaign to push Jiangxi residents towards cremation rather than the traditional burial has sparked considerable distress among villagers, many of whom saved up their entire lives to afford their coffins. Photo: Handout
Letters
I refer to the report, “Coffins smashed, seized, exhumed in China as province bans burials to save land” (July 31), on how officials in many parts of Jiangxi province seized or destroyed coffins that many poor families spent their life savings to buy, after a “zero-burial” policy was introduced earlier this year.

Although cremation is more common than burial in some countries, it is not the preferred tradition in rural China. It is generally difficult for the elderly in rural China to accept cremation.

Coffins sold to timber mills in eastern China to be made into furniture after ban on burials

For this reason, I definitely do not support the way the officials behaved. Officials should not have entered villages and forcibly removed coffins from people’s homes. We should respect people’s choices about their funerals, and the age-old rituals surrounding the end of life.

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Villagers in Jiangxi have surrendered over 5,000 coffins to the provincial government. Photo: Handout
Villagers in Jiangxi have surrendered over 5,000 coffins to the provincial government. Photo: Handout

I do understand the motivation of the Jiangxi government, which was to introduce environmentally friendly funeral practices.

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If cremation becomes the sole method of disposing of mortal remains, there is no denying that this could conserve land resources, protect the environment and discourage extravagant burial ceremonies.

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