Qingming Festival, according to the traditional customs of Chinese culture, is the day of tomb sweeping and sacrifice, but with the change of the times, the concept of buying cemeteries for burial ashes has gradually changed, and there have been cases in many places across the country where individuals buy commercial houses for special placement of urns. According to the latest report of The Paper, when the reporter investigated the "columbarium", it was found that there is a certain proportion of "columbarium" in many communities, and some buildings may have more "dead people" than living people!
But why do people buy commercial houses to place ashes in today's society? The author consulted the data and analyzed two reasons:
1. According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of deaths in the country in 2023 will be 11.1 million, and if you go back ten years, the average annual death toll will be about 10 million. Looking back at 2023, 111735 square meters of commercial housing will be sold across the country, and according to the current 20-year time for purchasing the right to use cemeteries, the annual demand for cemeteries in the country is also very huge, so land resources are becoming more and more tight, and cemeteries are becoming less and less selective.
Second, most of the owners who choose "columbarium" live in first- and second-tier cities, and because they can't afford high-priced cemeteries, they have promoted the emergence of columbariums. Zhongxin Jingwei mentioned in the report on April 2 that in recent years, the price of domestic cemeteries has continued to rise, and the price of concept stocks tombs has even risen for 6 consecutive years, of which the average starting price of Beijing cemetery is 83,100 yuan, and the average price of Shanghai cemetery is the highest, which can reach about 99,900 yuan.
So is it possible to store urns in commercial housing? Let's not talk about whether it is illegal, but this practice will make the residents of the whole building feel uncomfortable. Not to mention the columbarium, some time ago the news reported that a small community downstairs because of the opening of a funeral shop, which caused the collective dissatisfaction of the owners, and threw garbage at the door of the store.
The author also found that this kind of personal purchase of commercial housing specifically for the storage of urns also violates the principle of public order and good customs in the Civil Code. In addition, it is also mentioned in the provisions of the "Funeral Management Regulations" that public order must not be obstructed and the legitimate rights and interests of others must not be infringed upon in funeral activities, so it is illegal to buy a commercial house to store urns.
However, in order to solve the problem, we must fundamentally understand why the people are doing this? Is there any situation in the funeral industry that is indiscriminately charging fees and making huge profits? Otherwise, this kind of chaos will emerge one after another, what do you think?