Shanghai promoting eco-friendly funerals
Tributes are paid to the heroes in the battle against coronavirus and those who perished in the pandemic.
Eco-friendly burials and the development of China's funeral and interment sector were the focus of a two-day conference in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province.
Ecological cemeteries should be leisure space for the public in the future, to enhancing the public’s understanding of happiness, said Lu Hong, a professor with the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology.
Wei Chao, deputy director of the Shanghai Funeral and Interment Service Center, said the city is taking an ecological approach to funeral and interment reform with efforts to promoting eco-friendly burials such as sea burials and biodegradable urns buried under trees.
"The novel coronavirus pandemic has changed people's views on death and calls for more attention on a respect for life," said Yi Hua, director of the culture and education commission of Shanghai Fushouyuan Cemetery and director of the China Funeral Association’s experts’ committee. "Funeral and interment is not only the treatment of bodies, but it calls on a deep spiritual side."
Live broadcasts of the conference on Wednesday and Thursday attracted nearly 15,000 viewers. It was first held in 2007 to promote China's funeral and interment reform and development.
Attendees paid tribute to heroes in the battle against coronavirus and those who died.
