Ashes are transformed into new green life

Planting a tree over remains of a loved one teaches lesson

Dong Lizhi died in 1997 at the age of 70. As a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party, Dong had been dispatched from North China by the central government to Hubei province to help with local development. He held a strong belief that "a man should not fight for his fame when he is alive, nor should he occupy land after he dies".

Honoring his will, Dong's daughter Dong Weilin, now 62, made a decision at the time, after consulting other family members, to keep her father's ashes at home temporarily.