A cemetery on a mountain can be seen from Luohu port in Shenzhen city. (Photo/www.jingme.net)
(ECNS) - Shenzhen city of southern China's Guangdong province has voiced concerns and objections over the planned construction of a cemetery on a mountain in nearby Hong Kong.
In order to meet increasing demand, Hong Kong plans to build a cemetery in Sandy Ridge, right across a river from Luohu port in Shenzhen. Living close to a cemetery is frowned upon in Chinese culture.
Liang Rui, a deputy to the Shenzhen People's Congress, the city's legislature, took the issue to the municipal government, hoping the plan could be revised.
"It is psychologically disturbing if you see a cemetery whenever you open your windows," said a man surnamed Wang.
"The undeveloped Sandy Ridge offers quite a nice view. If a cemetery is built here, Shenzhen residents who live right across the river will be influenced. Our life quality and air quality will drop, let alone the psychological issues," Wang said.
The Hong Kong authority came up with the plan as early as 2012, but consulted only residents in Sandy Ridge, excluding their neighbors in Shenzhen, where few people knew of the plan. It was not until March 2015 when the news resurfaced on the Internet and caused a stir in Shenzhen.
Hong Kong witnessed an increasing need for cemeteries as it saw more than 42,100 deaths in 2014, when it performed about 37,900 cremations as supply failed demand. The Sandy Ridge cemetery, which was expected to be ready in 2022 if approved, could offer room for 200,000 cinerary caskets and perform about 178,000 cremations per year.
