Free funerals improve social fairness

DURING THE FOURTH QUARTER OF LAST YEAR, Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, offered basic funeral services to at least 2,222 deceased non-permanent residents in the city for free. Beijing News commented on Thursday:

Guangzhou's exemption of about 1.98 million yuan ($290,000) in funeral costs, which used to be imposed on the families of the deceased, means that free funeral services are no longer a privilege of local residents. It signals a respectable move to cut funeral costs by subsidizing the cremation and removing the household registration barriers.

In other cities, such as Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan province, subsidies are also provided to those who decide to cremate the body of a deceased family member instead of burying it. And three years ago, Huizhou, another city in Guangdong, began offering free basic cremation services.