JINAN — During this year's Qingming holiday, Gao, a resident of Xi'an, Shaanxi province, and her family visited a cemetery nestled among pines and cypress trees in the city's northeastern outskirts. They placed flowers beneath the trees, tied yellow ribbons they'd picked up at the entrance, and hung cards inscribed with their wishes on the branches.

"Last year, when this cemetery held a public green burial event, I signed up to honor my parents' final wishes," Gao said. "Tree burial is both economical and eco-friendly. Now they rest beneath a tree that serves as their memorial, surrounded by flowers and grass. Every time I come back and see the tree growing taller, it feels as though my loved ones are still right here with me."

Liu Peng, director of the Xi'an Fengzhengyuan Funeral Home, which manages the cemetery, said that in May 2025, Xi'an reclassified five commercial cemeteries, including Fengzhengyuan Cemetery, as municipal-level public welfare cemeteries.

As part of this transition, the cemetery has redesigned a dedicated section. Once completed, the new area will add 645 land-conserving, eco-friendly burial plots, including options for tree and lawn burials. These plots are expected to open to the public in the first half of this year.

Over the years, China has actively promoted green burials to conserve land and protect the environment. The newly revised regulations on funeral and interment services took effect on March 30, with the term "eco-friendly burial" appearing multiple times throughout the text.

The regulations explicitly encourage sea, tree, flower, and lawn burials. To date, 28 provincial-level regions across China have issued guidelines supporting land conservation and eco-friendly burial practices, backed by subsidies and incentive policies to encourage adoption.

In Xi'an, for example, eco-friendly burials now account for 34.4 percent of all interments. The city launched subsidy programs for public welfare burials and introduced incentives for eco-friendly, space-saving options as early as 2021.

Since 2023, in addition to hosting two eco-friendly burial ceremonies at the Xi'an Fengzhengyuan Funeral Home, the inland city's civil affairs bureau has also organized public welfare sea burials in the coastal city of Qingdao for three consecutive years.

Through these initiatives, the ashes of more than 480 individuals have been returned to nature.

Xi'an is not alone in embracing sea burials. Across China's coastal cities, an increasing number of families are choosing this option as a final farewell.

From a dock in Dongying, in eastern Shandong province, a boat set sail toward a designated patch of open sea — now the resting place of the father of a woman surnamed Li. Standing by the porthole, she watched the waves roll by, tears streaming down her face.

"My father was deeply committed to environmental protection," she said. "He often told us he wanted his ashes scattered at sea to leave behind clean land for future generations."

According to Wang Xiaopeng, a staff member at the Yantai civil affairs bureau in Shandong, since the city launched its public welfare sea burial program in 2015, a total of 5,170 people have been laid to rest at sea, saving approximately 4,100 square meters of land.

"Based on the average cost of a traditional grave — around 20,000 yuan ($2,900) — sea burials alone have saved society nearly 100 million yuan in land-related expenses," Wang noted.

National data shows that there were over 50,000 sea burials in China in 2025, a 170 percent increase from the 20,000 recorded in 2020.

As the concept of eco-friendly burial takes root in China, it is not only resonating with more Chinese families but also attracting international interest. Some foreign nationals are now choosing to be laid to rest in China using these sustainable methods.

At Yong'an Cemetery in Dongying, one grave in the flower burial section stands out with a tombstone engraved with the English words: "Free Spirit Watch Over Us Love You Forever." Here lies Vernon, a 34-year-old teacher from South Africa — and the first foreigner to be buried at this cemetery.

After passing away from illness, his family chose to lay him to rest among flowers and trees. "He was outgoing and cheerful," said Song, a member of Vernon's Chinese family. "He worked in China for five years and truly loved Dongying, a beautiful, eco-friendly city."

"We actively promote diverse eco-friendly burial options and provide thoughtful services for overseas families, including remote memorial ceremonies and multilingual support," said Xue Ming'an, chairman of the cemetery.

He added that a flower burial plot of just 36 square meters at the cemetery can accommodate the remains of 300 individuals.

Xinhua