2016年CRI Urban Authorities Encourages ＂Green Funeral＂

 

Beijing civil affairs bureau deputy director Li Hongbing said the moves aim to save lands and resources.

"Sea-burial has developed in the past ten years with cremains of 2040 deceased put into sea last year. But there is another way to reduce land use. For instance, deep burial is a solution. We use caskets made from bio-degradable materials and bury them deep into the ground. After three to five years, they will totally dissolve into the soil and return to nature. And it won't cause any kind of pollution."

To promote green burials, Li said municipal authority in Beijing offer fiscal¹ subsidies² for citizens who choose eco-friendly burials.

Traditional Chinese beliefs dictate³ that burial is the proper way to handle a dead body.

In order to show filial piety⁴, many Chinese invest heavily in their parents' tombs.

Death has become a rather expensive business.

According to an official report, the average cost of a funeral service in Beijing was 70,000 yuan, or about 10,700 U.S. dollars, in 2015.

According to China Funeral Association, grave plots have become expensive due to land scarcity⁵, and government calls for eco-friendly alternatives have been countered by old beliefs.

Shanghai authorities promote a new technology to crystlize the cremation⁶ of the deceased with a high-temperature process.

The volume of the crystlized substance is only 20 percent of that of the cremation of the dead.

The technique largely reduced the costs of burials with each case costing 17,000 yuan, and requires only one third of the price of an ordinary small grave.

He Zhaomin is director of shanghai funeral service center.

"It has its advantages. For example, a grave which takes 0.7 square meters in the graveyard⁷ run by our center costs 50 000 to 70 000 yuan. We are considering finding a way to let citizens believe that their loved ones are always around them."

The director added that authorities encourage citizens to choose ecological⁸ ways of burial but respect their own wishes first.

Also, the Ministry⁹ of Civil Affairs and eight other ministries¹⁰ jointly¹¹ released a circular about eco-burials and efficient use of burial sites in February.

It called on people to support group burials of family members in a single grave site.

1 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

2 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 dictate   

v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令

参考例句：

• It took him a long time to dictate this letter.口述这封信花了他很长时间。
• What right have you to dictate to others?你有什么资格向别人发号施令？

4 piety   

n.虔诚，虔敬

参考例句：

• They were drawn to the church not by piety but by curiosity.他们去教堂不是出于虔诚而是出于好奇。
• Experience makes us see an enormous difference between piety and goodness.经验使我们看到虔诚与善意之间有着巨大的区别。

5 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。

6 cremation   

n.火葬，火化

参考例句：

• Cremation is more common than burial in some countries. 在一些国家，火葬比土葬普遍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Garbage cremation can greatly reduce the occupancy of land. 垃圾焚烧可以大大减少占用土地。 来自互联网

7 graveyard   

n.坟场

参考例句：

• All the town was drifting toward the graveyard.全镇的人都象流水似地向那坟场涌过去。
• Living next to a graveyard would give me the creeps.居住在墓地旁边会使我毛骨悚然。

8 ecological   

adj.生态的，生态学的

参考例句：

• The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
• Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

10 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

11 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。