County govt has no right to put its hand on last rites

THE GOVERNMENT of Yueqing county, East China's Zhejiang province, issued a notice demanding residents conduct funerals within three days, limiting the number of wreaths allowed to no more than four, and stipulating bodies must be sent to a mortuary within 24 hours of death. China Youth Daily comments:

According to the Yueqing government, a funeral in the county may last a whole week and cost more than 1 million yuan ($147,000), and it wants to halt the wasteful and showy practice.

If the notice applied only to civil servants, so they could set an example for curbing the extravagant tradition, it would have been welcomed without question.