The next time a stranger complains to you about the outrageous cost of funerals these days, just tell them they’d better be glad they don’t live in China. While traditional American funerals with burial may cost a family about 10 percent* of an American’s annual income, the Chinese are forking out a whopping 45.4 percent of their annual salary — the second highest percentage on the planet. It’s this ranking, plus a few other variables, that led to the recent sweeping overhaul of the country’s funeral regulations — the first update since 2012.
The updated rules, which will go into effect on March 30, are “built on the core principles of public welfare, civilized frugality and green ecology,” and will be accompanied by hefty fines and penalties for violations. China’s funeral system is a hybrid of state-owned facilities and private providers, and the new laws were designed to keep the latter more in line with the former when it comes to both pricing and practices. To that end, after March 30, no new privately-owned deathcare operations will be permitted to open.
Regulations to “curb excessive charges” include:
- A uniform national price list for “basic” services including “transportation, storage, cremation, and eco-burials”
- Strict pricing oversight on “nonbasic” services.
- Prohibitions on “creating unauthorized charges, inflating prices, or engaging in price fraud.”
- Fines for online memorial platforms that “induce excessive consumption.”
The highest penalties are tied to violations of China’s strict disposition regulations that promote land conservation. For example, some areas are considered “mandatory cremation zones” — and making or selling coffins in those areas could result in steep fines. In other areas, the construction of tombs will be prohibited, and “deep burials without tombstones” will be enforced. Some existing interments that don’t meet these requirements will have to be relocated.
Although burial has long been the preferred and traditional disposition method, over the last several decades the government has been encouraging cremation, with positive results. By 2021, the national cremation rate in China had grown to around 59 percent, with urban areas like Beijing and Shanghai topping 90 percent. These cities are even offering cash incentives to families who choose dispositions and memorial celebrations with the least environmental impact, like ceremonies where multiple cremains are scattered at sea along with flower petals rather than paper confetti.
In a press release, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Civil Affairs said in a press release that the revisions will further enhance “full-chain oversight across services from issuing death certificates, funerals, burial and memorial activities, and calls for coordinated law enforcement.”
*Actually, it’s about 9.91% — based on the 2024 median income of $83,730 (census.gov) divided by the 2024 median funeral with burial cost of $8,300 (nfda.org)
