Funeral parlors set an example of how to exhume original role

ON MAY 10, Yishui county in East China's Shandong province introduced a new policy according to which there will be no funeral charges for people who die in their hometowns. Xinhua Daily Telegraph comments:

In most parts of the country, by selling one cremation urn, undertakers can make a profit of up to 50 percent. For those buried in public cemeteries, the management companies will charge the families of the deceased a "management fee" that's effective for just 20 years and threaten to "discard" the remains of the deceased if the families fail to continue paying 20 years later.

The root problem lies in the double identity of funeral parlors. Theoretically, they are subsidiaries of the local civil affairs authorities, but in reality they are commercial agencies that monopolize the market.