On april 5th, china new year's elephant (wing yu ling) “there were a lot of seagulls on the surface that day, it was said, each seagull represented a dead relative.” “the sea is connected, and it will be remembered in any sea”. Several of the interviewees expressed their feelings to the chinese new longitude when talking about the burial at sea。
Recently, topics such as the “fuzhou sea funeral award for dead residents: $3,000” and the “dalian plan to build a sea funeral memorial square” have been the subject of much debate。
Why would people start choosing burial at sea? What's the cost behind it? New china has spoken with several former relatives who have chosen to bury their relatives at sea and with the trade workers involved。
The ashes are not scattered directly into the sea
“the burial of the sea is not a direct ashes cast, but rather the ashes are deposited into the degradation tanks and deposited into the water.” “in recent years, more and more people have chosen to be buried at sea, which is associated with government advocacy and a change in residential attitudes.” the minister of information for the sea funeral hall of shenyang, liaoning province, has been working in the sea funeral industry for five years. He informed him that his unit was the sea funeral hall of shenyang city, the only service designated by the shenyang city civil administration to carry burials at sea and was a non-profit。
With regard to the burial at sea, he indicated that not all units and surfaces could be carried out. There are clear limits to the area where the ashes are dumped and individuals do not possess the qualifications to pour them into the sea。
According to the head of the marine eco-environment division of the ministry of eco-environment, it is generally permitted by the local civil administration or the civil administration to apply to the ministry of eco-environment for approval of the issuance of a “square-square-squared licence” before it is allowed to carry out its activities。
In the case of shenyang, the government has been encouraging burials at sea, which are free of charge for residents of shenyang city, and which are also subsidized. As a result, the number of persons buried at sea is also increasing year by year.” every year, at the beginning of the year, we calculate the date of the year's burial at sea, about 50 times。
According to ki wenbo, the public considered the burial at sea to be the spreading of ashes to the surface of the sea in error. The reality is that the ashes are placed in degradable tanks made of clay and marine soil and sunk to the sea floor along ropes. Degradable tanks are dissolved within 24 hours so that they do not pollute the marine environment。
There are also special measures for burial at sea. “there are two ways in which we can register for the annual funeral at sea, board the ship, and offer flowers free of charge, but the sacrifice has to bear the cost of the ship, etc. The second is that when the formalities are completed, we will provide free online sacrifice services, and family members can offer online sacrifice services, operating in a kind of "qq space" and clicking on flowers, offering sacrifices, etc., which are free of charge。
"if you leave the smoke, no one will look after the grave."
With regard to the exact process and feelings of burial at sea, ms. Wu, from dalian city, liaoning province, had previously described her involvement in the entire process of her own high seas burial on social platforms. In her communication with the chinese new longitude, she indicated that this followed the will of the public。
“my grandfather died of stomach cancer in mid-january this year, and on 22 march he was buried at sea. He's a very distasteful man with a clear account of what happened to him, and he doesn't want us to buy graves. He said that if i were to scatter the yellow river at the head of the bag, if i were to do so at dalian.” ms. Wu said。
As to the choice of dalian, ms. Wu indicated that she wanted to bring him back to the sea for burial because she lived with her husband. “the lord cried when he heard us say that. So after the funeral at sea, my husband and i were thinking, i should be happy. He was suffering from illness before he died, hoping that he would be free of pain.” ms. Wu said。
The staff handles the ashes
Ms. Wu recalled that on the day of the burial there were more than 20 families from all over the country and that the age of the deceased was different. The staff member will first perform a small memorial service and then notify the families of each deceased person to take the ashes to the deck, with the assistance of the staff member, to place the ashes in a degradation tank, bearing the names of the deceased person and throwing them into the sea with flowers。
“at the site of the burial at sea, it was generally calm, with one girl crying in silence and another sister, who was at the end of the burial at sea, lying down on the rails and crying. I also shed tears, and i felt really good-bye at the moment the degradation canister went down. Our house is close to the sea, and my husband told him that when i think of you, i look at the sea from the window, and i see you.” ms. Wu said。
Mr. Li, who came from the town of yantai, shandong province, considered that the burial at sea was in keeping with the idea of the deceased father, although the decision had not been discussed with him. He told him that, as a local smoker, he knew about the burial of the sea as a child, but very few people around him chose to do so。
As to the choice of burial at sea, mr. Lee indicated that the main reasons were two, the first being that traditional forms were not preferred. Traditional cemetery purchases are not permanent and will need to be continued when they expire. But in the future, if we leave the table, there will be a problem of unattended graves. Second, the economic conditions were inadequate, the burial at sea was free and the local government had made a 2,000-dollar subsidy, which was the last option。
“i grew up as a single-parent family, and my mother died when i was a little girl, and my father died so suddenly that he couldn't tell me what happened. But when i was a kid, he told me that i thought it was a good way to bury the sea, and i didn't hate it, so i helped him decide. The family also objected, asking to be buried with grandpa, but i refused.” mr. Lee said。
Father's sea bury certificate, mr. Lee
As ms. Wu did, mr. Lee, on the day he recalled the burial at sea, said that the whole process had calmed him. He described the scene, where his father was buried in may 2022, the day the boat left the port, about an hour later. “the ship is shaking, the door is squeaky, and it opens and closes. But the atmosphere is not as heavy as it would have been, everyone is quiet and there is talk on the way back.”
On the question of the subsequent sacrifice, mr. Lee indicated that there was a sea burial memorial on the side of the smoke pavilion, which was to be visited in a few days. “when there is time, i will sit by the sea, and when there is time, i will miss my father, which is my form.” mr. Lee said。
Mr. Lee's drawings for the 2022 sea funeral ceremony
Are there places where mass burials are scheduled for 2025
In 2016, nine departments, including the ministry of civil affairs, issued a guidance on the promotion of ecologically protected funeral burials, which calls for innovation and the promotion of more environmentally appropriate burial methods. Since then, ecological burial services, such as sea funerals, tree burials and flower burials, have been introduced throughout the country。
It is understood that there are two different forms of burial at sea, which are of collective public interest, and at private level. The cost of mass funerals is lower. At present, a number of places, including harbin city in heilongjiang province, fukuzhou city in fujian province, guiyang city in guizhou province, beijing city, etc., are offering free burials at sea, with a further subsidy ranging from $1,000 to $6,000 for mass burials chosen by the local household。
It is worth noting, however, that collective burials at sea need to be queued, and that some areas have residence restrictions. According to a circular issued by the beijing municipal civil administration on the further development of the scheme of subsidies for the burial of the city's ashes at sea and natural burial of the ashes, only free funeral services are provided to deceased residents of the city who choose to bury the ashes at sea or to bury the ashes naturally。
The north east yaowon office and the beijing city's qiushan funeral home have long been on line. In the morning of the 5th office of the funeral home in the eastern suburbs of beijing, it was reported that after the registration of the burial at sea, group burials at sea were scheduled between one and two years later, free burial at sea only for persons who had died in the city of beijing, at a fee of $380 per boarding family member。
Since then, new china has sent a telephone message to the company operating a section of the beijing city sea funeral service, all of which indicated that the beijing region currently needs a queue to participate in the collective sea funeral service until 2025。
As a consumer, new china has learned of private customized burial operations in some parts of the country, at rates ranging from $1,000 to $10,000。
According to the former sea funeral staff member at the dalian sea funeral service centre, unlike collective burials, which require a telephone appointment to register and wait for notice, independent burials at the sea will require a telephone reservation, after which the company will provide a delivery service and 30 per cent of the appointment will be paid after determining the time and details of the burial at the sea。
According to the company's fees, the independent burial consists of a package of 3,800 yuan and a set of 8,800 yuan, which is open to all clients nationwide. The luxurious set can be delivered within the city and boarded with 20 family members. It can also provide exclusive sea funeral ceremonies and ash canister ceremonies, as well as one-on-one assistance to the salin bones, and provide online, free-of-charge altar platforms, etc。
The sky and sea funeral service centre mainly provides burial services in beijing and tianjin, including basic sea funeral packages and luxury sea funeral packages at prices ranging from $3,800 to $6980. “a ship-to-ship trip from consultation, registration to the holding of a sea-mass service providing professional planning and overall guidance. When weather conditions permit, burials at sea can be registered and held at any time, and can be cremated as soon as possible. The registration for mass burials is in 2025, but independent burials can be made at any time. If they are to be registered, they can be done earlier。
Even in the same region, there are large variations in the fees charged by different companies. According to the price schedule provided by the staff of the beijing tianjin funeral services company to china and new zealand, the company offers three types of burial services: self-driving, carnival and esteemed. The service process differs from the fee rate of $5,800, $9,800 and $13,800 respectively. “the difference includes the difference between the type of the car, the type of the ship and the different configuration of the cabin. Staff say。
Experts are of the view that burials at sea will not be the mainstream and that there is a need for memorial facilities
What has changed the pattern of burial from ecological burials, from burials to burials at sea? Hu yi an, professor at the maxist institute of guangzhou university and member of the board of directors of the society for the prevention and control of cancer of beijing city, indicated that more and more people chose to be buried at sea for two reasons. One is that there are practical problems with burials/burials, for example, that good cemeteries are difficult to buy; the other is that burials at sea are the pattern of burials introduced over the years, have a strong sense of time and are appropriate to young people's quest for freshness and change。
Will future sea funerals become a major trend? Will it conflict with the traditional notion of “entry into the land for peace”? In this regard, hu yi an believes, first, that in total, the burial at sea is only a small fraction of the total, and that the vast majority of the population prefers it; secondly, the concept of chinese “entry for peace” is also being enriched and deepened, not necessarily “entry for peace”, which is essentially a return to nature。
The director of the institute for life, death and death education, who is a teacher at the maxist institute of beijing materials, ray aimin, also believes that, while ecological burials such as burials at sea are more fashionable and promoted, in general, this type of burial is relatively rare and not mainstream。
“the biggest challenge is that it leaves too much ground and too wide a space to be remembered, so it is a huge challenge to the minds of ordinary people, who can easily feel buried, ashes spilled and nothing left. Thus, ecological burials such as ocean burials, after which a place of remembrance for those who died, may be the only place where life and death can truly be achieved.” rhetoric summed up. (new latitude app)
