DW: And how many cemetery plots claim to have indoor toilets?
When it costs more to bury your loved one than to get an apartment, there’s a solution that came to mind in China. However, the country has now banned the growing practice where families store their relatives' cremated remains inside empty apartments rather than paying for cemetery plots. Known as "bone-ash apartments," these units, often in barely occupied residential complexes, were converted into makeshift shrines with candles, urns, and portraits of the deceased. Cemetery costs have become a major burden, with funeral expenses in China ranking second in the world after Japan.
New regulations that took effect March 31st now explicitly ban using any residential dwelling for storing ashes. The ban came just days before the Qingming Festival, the traditional tomb-sweeping holiday. Authorities say it blurs the line between spaces for the living and the dead, and not everyone on social media was upset about losing their potential neighbors.
Source: Guardian