Widespread practice to avoid paying tomb costs
China now bans burying its dead in empty apartments, known as “ash apartments”. The practice, explains the Financial Times, has spread to avoid paying the skyrocketing costs of tombs and due to the rapid aging of the population and the real estate crisis.
The new law comes as China prepares to celebrate the Qingming holiday, dedicated to the cleaning of tombs, on Sunday. Rapid urbanization has increased the demand for cemetery plots, which are limited in cities: if for residential properties the rights of use granted by the government are valid for 70 years, for tombs a lease contract of only 20 years is envisaged.
Furthermore, China’s population is aging at one of the fastest rates in history. The number of deaths in 2025 was 11.3 million, up from 9.8 million in 2015 and higher than last year’s 7.9 million births.
A global survey of funeral expenses conducted in 2020 by insurer SunLife showed that average funeral expenses in China were the second highest in the world, at around 37,375 Renminbi ($5,400), after Japan, accounting for around 45% of the average annual salary.
With this new law the government is also encouraging alternative funeral practices, known as ‘eco burials’, such as scattering the ashes of a loved one at sea. These procedures are cheaper and have less impact on the environment.
