Closer Look: Why the Elderly Are Killing Themselves over Burial Reform

(Beijing) – My hometown of Anqing, in the eastern province of Anhui, has received a lot of attention recently for a wrong and sad reason: six elderly people have reportedly killed themselves – and more have tried to – because they want to die before a government deadline for burial reform.

All residents of Anqing who die after June 1 must be cremated, the government said in April. Both in 1994 and again in 2006 it tried to persuade people to stop traditional burials – which see the deceased put in a coffin that is lowered into the ground after elaborate rituals – but those attempts failed.