Society
Chinese authorities hail online funerals
By Zhao Chunzhe (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-03-26 11:43
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China's Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) encouraged online funerals at a forum Thursday, ahead of the traditional tomb sweeping day - Qingming, xinhuanet.com reported.
Online funerals or burials would not retain the ashes, but set up an online cemetery and memorialize the deceased by posting an obituary and funeral messages.
"Online burials can avoid the waste of natural resources and facilitate people's efforts to memorialize the deceased. I see it as the future green way of funerals," said Zhu Yong, an official at the MCA research institute.
However, it contradicts the Chinese traditional idea of "finding peace by resting in an eternal place", and online funerals may face weak support from China, the report said.
Zhu also encouraged the media to let more people know about online burials and asked the government to give more support in promoting the green way of burials.
