Northern Chinese city to hold mass sea burial

Authorities in Shijiazhuang are preparing to hold a mass sea burial in April to promote low carbon and environment protection awareness.

Fifty families have applied to participate in the event, which will be held in Tanggu district in northern port city of Tianjin, said Dai Yulin, of the Shijiazhuang People's Memorial.

The event will be jointly held by the memorial and the Shijiazhuang Municipal Burial Management Office.

Each family will scatter the ashes of their deceased into the sea, Dai said.

Traditionally Chinese have believed that burying someone in the ground was the only proper way.

In order to show filial piety to their deceased parents, many Chinese invest heavily in their parents' tombs. As a result, luxurious graveyards, some of which are priced above 1 million yuan(about 158,700 U.S. dollars), can be found in some parts of the country.

With land resources becoming scarce, authorities have promoted eco-friendly burials, such as scattering ashes into the sea or burying them under trees or flowers.

The sea burial event has been held in Shijiazhuang for 14 years straight, Dai said.

"We have always been advocating the green way of burial, the sea burial, because it is a low-carbon and environment-friendly way," he said.