Suicides ‘not linked’ to forced cremation

The provincial government of Anhui has claimed that reports that several older people had committed suicide in order to be buried, rather than cremated, before new rules took effect on June 1, are not true.

An official with the Anhui Civil Affairs Department told the Beijing-based newspaper The Mirror on Tuesday that the provincial government has sent people to investigate the reported cases in Anqing and found the deaths had nothing to do with planned burial reforms.

"Who can guarantee that no one dies before June 1?" said the official, who was not named. "Some people may have tried to use these incidents to demonize the new policy."

The government of Anqing released a notice on March 25 announcing a reform of local funeral practices. After June 1, all corpses must be cremated rather than buried, the notice said.

According to a report in the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post, several older people chose to end their lives before the June 1 deadline in order to be buried in a coffin that they had prepared for themselves, as is the local tradition.

The Post claimed that Wu Xiuli, 97, died on May 12 after refusing to eat since April, and that Zhang Wenying, 81, hanged herself from a tree on May 13. Their family members said Wu and Zhang insisted they be buried in coffins, the report said.

In order to encourage locals to follow the cremation rules, Anqing government has promised to compensate each person 1,000-1,500 yuan if they can hand in their hand-made coffins by the deadline.

But in some rural areas, village officials allegedly entered villagers' homes and used force to dismantle their coffins, the newspaper reported.

Officials said they were under great pressure, as Anqing has lagged behind other cities in Anhui since the provincial government started funeral reforms in 1997.

China has encouraged cremation since the 1950s.

Anqing has also been pushing forward its reforms because of an increase in forest fires, the provincial government official told The Mirror.

More than 20 officials in Anqing were punished in January after 16 fires broke out at a forest park on January 24, possibly caused by locals burning incense or lighting firecrackers to honor their dead during Spring Festival.