Han Ximin

THE ashes of 120 deceased people were buried under trees in Jitian Cemetery or released into Dapeng Bay at services by Shenzhen Funeral Service Administration on Friday.

For this year’s Qingming Festival, 46 families chose tree burials for deceased loved ones, a record in the service’s history. A tree burial places ashes in an individual plot beneath a tree, which is ringed with many such plots.

“My father loved nature and he accepted an environmentally friendly burial service before he died. We have kept his ash box in the funeral service administration for three years and we wanted to finish his wish through tree burial,” said a woman surnamed Wang, who participated in the service at Jitian Cemetery.

A 70-year-old man surnamed Wang, who once worked at Special Zone Economy magazine, brought his parents’ ashes from Qinhuangdao for sea burial.

“When my mother was alive, she told me to give her a sea burial and now we two sons will realize her dream,” Wang told Shenzhen Daily.

The Shenzhen Funeral Service Administration said it received 74 applications for sea burials and 46 for tree burials since it opened this year’s service two weeks ago.

The city has offered 26 sea burial services and six tree burial services since 1998, handling the ash remains of 34,000 people.

According to administration leader Lin Qingquan, the administration is building a facility with 15,830 square meters of floor space to offer 120,000 spots for ashes of deceased persons. The first phase of the 87-million-yuan (US$13.7 million) project will open in the second half of this year and provide 60,000 spots.

The city handles an average of 13,000 deceased people a year.

Captions:

Residents conduct a tree burial Friday.

Residents spread ashes of their deceased beloved family members at the sea burial service off Dapeng Bay in Longgang District on Friday.

Residents wait to pay tribute to their deceased family members at a tree burial service in Jitian Cemetery.

A resident holds a picture of himself and his deceased wife on a boat during the sea burial service.

A man waves goodbye to his deceased loved one after the sea burial service.

Residents at the tree burial service in Jitian Cemetery in Longgang District.

A young woman weeps during the sea burial service.