To implement the central government's decision-making and deployment on promoting funeral reform and changing customs, the first China Funeral Governance 30 Forum was recently held in Shanghai to discuss the theoretical and practical issues related to funeral governance, promote exchanges between government, industry, academia and research in the field of funeral, and provide intellectual support for accelerating the improvement of the funeral governance system with Chinese characteristics.
The forum was hosted by the China Society of Social Governance and undertaken by the Funeral Governance Research Branch of the China Society of Social Governance and Fushouyuan International Group. During this period, experts and scholars from the Development Research Center of the State Council, the Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Beijing Vocational College of Social Management (Training Center of the Ministry of Civil Affairs), the 101 Research Institute of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Minzu University of China, the Capital University of Economics and Business, Shanghai University, Changsha Civil Affairs Vocational and Technical College, the National Engineering Laboratory of E-Government Cloud Computing Application Technology, etc., as well as industry representatives, combined their respective research fields and experience to carry out exchanges and discussions on "China's Funeral Governance Innovation in the New Era".
This newspaper combs and publishes the exchange speeches of the forum in two issues, in order to promote and inspire the high-quality development of funeral work.
The scene of the first China Funeral Management 30-person forum
Promote the governance of funeral society from a new perspective
Zhou Hanmin
Chinese modernization has put forward higher requirements for doing a good job in funeral work in the new era, and also provides a new perspective for promoting funeral social governance.
The aging of the mainland's population has reached a moderate or higher level, and this is an unprecedented issue facing the mainland's social development. The social governance of funeral society must be closely linked with the general trend of population development in the mainland, and the changes in population structure must not be ignored, and will continue to move forward in this direction.
The funeral industry is a public welfare undertaking related to the vital interests of the broad masses of the people, and it is the meaning of promoting the realization of common prosperity. This requires that in the governance of funeral society, the government should assume basic responsibilities and play an active role, and at the same time give full play to the due role of the market in the allocation of resources, so as to achieve an effective market, a promising government, and a "peaceful death" for the masses.
The social governance of funerals and funerals shall fully reflect the coordination of material civilization and spiritual civilization. "The death is peaceful", the deceased is great, and the promotion of filial piety and the pursuit of the far end reflect the spiritual pursuit of Chinese civilization. On a particular day, people across the country express their thoughts about the deceased in various ways, which is actually to chase the distance in order to be cautious. The pursuit of prudence should also be fully expressed on the material level, and there can be many creations and inventions.
Considering several key factors affecting the future development of the mainland, to achieve harmony between man and nature, we must carry out funeral reform, adhere to the basic principles of conservation and intensification, take the dual carbon goal as one of the development goals of the funeral industry, and cherish and effectively use every inch of land.
In recent years, with the wider and wider door of reform and opening up in the mainland, more and more funeral pioneers have gone abroad, which also reflects the increasing urgency of international cultural exchanges in the field of funeral.
The social management of funerals and funerals must persist in breaking new ground in the construction of the legal system. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the funeral industry has been in the process of reform, but all reforms must first be based on the construction of the legal system. Compared with the requirements of the high-quality development of the funeral industry, the construction of the funeral legal system in mainland China still lacks a comprehensive regulation. The experience and practices of other countries have certain learning value for the innovation of the construction of the funeral legal system and the formulation of funeral laws and regulations in the mainland. For example, the funeral law in the United Kingdom emphasizes that each cemetery should have a public space for memorial services or commemorations; Germany's funeral law emphasizes health and safety, and funerals must meet national health and safety standards; Japan's funeral law emphasizes the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, and clearly stipulates that funerals must conform to the laws of natural development...... These are worth digging into.
Funeral social governance is a grand cause, related to the vital interests of the broad masses of the people, and doing a good job in funeral social governance is more conducive to the long-term peace and stability of the country. (The author is a member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, former vice chairman of the Central Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association, and former vice chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference)
Zhou Hanmin, member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, former vice chairman of the Central Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association, and former vice chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Promote the modernization of funeral management
Wang Jiexiu
Funeral governance is an important part of national governance and social governance, and the modernization of funeral governance is the basic requirement of Chinese modernization. It is necessary to look at funerals from the perspective of national governance and social governance, adhere to the combination of problem-oriented and goal-oriented, and promote the modernization of funeral governance to continuously make new progress.
Adhere to the direction of governance modernization. In accordance with the overall requirements of the central government on the modernization of governance, from the people-centered standpoint, coordinate the needs of the people to "die in peace", the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, and the shaping of the modern civilization concept of life and death, and plan and solidly promote the improvement of the funeral governance system and governance capacity.
Continuously improve the funeral management system and mechanism. Funeral work is related to the vital interests of the people and the overall situation of social development and stability, and at the same time involves "thousand-year-old customs" and cultural traditions, which is important, complex, arduous and urgent. To promote the modernization of funeral governance, we should establish and improve the institutional mechanism of "party committee leadership, government responsibility, pluralistic participation, party members taking the lead, and national mobilization".
The first is to adhere to the party's overall leadership over the funeral work, and give play to the party's role in controlling the overall situation and coordinating all parties in the funeral work. The second is to strengthen the main responsibility of the government, coordinate the civil affairs and other relevant government departments, and promote the implementation of funeral work by giving full play to the role of the government in formulating policies, administrative promotion, and financial support. The third is to strengthen the coordinated participation of social forces, especially to give full play to the role of relevant social organizations such as the Red and White Council and the Association for the Elderly, and solve the "last mile" problem of funeral work. Fourth, give play to the leading role of party members and cadres to stimulate and drive the participation of the broad masses of the people. Fifth, cultivate a civilized and healthy funeral culture, make civilized funerals truly become a new trend in society, promote the change of customs with advanced funeral culture, and nourish and improve the quality of funerals.
Explore the path and method of innovative funeral management. Promoting the modernization of funeral management is inseparable from scientific methods and means. To innovate the methods and methods of funeral governance and effectively solve the key and difficult problems in the field of funeral, it is necessary to accurately discover the needs of the people, systematically sort out the shortcomings of the policy system, scientifically formulate policies and regulations, effectively strengthen capacity building, and improve the level of legalization, socialization, specialization, and science and technology of funeral governance.
The first is to improve the level of rule of law in funeral management. The lag of funeral regulations and policies is a major shortcoming of funeral governance, and the complexity and arduousness of funeral work have brought certain challenges to funeral legislation. The current situation in which the construction of the rule of law is incompatible with the development of the situation should be changed as soon as possible. The second is the typical guide. Encourage innovation in funeral management, establish innovative models, and promote work from point to point. The third is to make good use of modern scientific and technological means such as the Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence, and promote the modernization of funeral management through scientific and technological support. Fourth, we should base ourselves on the original and learn from the outside. Vigorously inherit and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese funeral culture, and promote its creative transformation and innovative development. At the same time, we adhere to the international vision and absorb and learn from foreign advanced concepts and technical means with an open mind. (The author is president of the China Society of Social Governance and dean of the Institute of Social Policy, Zhejiang Gongshang University)
Wang Jiexiu, President of the China Society of Social Governance and Dean of the Institute of Social Policy of Zhejiang Gongshang University
Promote funeral governance and contribute to urban governance
Gao-hsien
As a super-large international metropolis, Shanghai has a huge population base, complex and diversified funeral needs, two types of markets coexist, and the two concepts of traditional sacrifice and cultural creativity coexist. In recent years, Shanghai has done two main things in terms of funeral management.
The first is to run the concept of cautious pursuit through the three links of funeral, burial and sacrifice.
The link of the funeral reflects the end of caution, the link of the sacrifice focuses on chasing the distance, and the link of the funeral is not only the end of the cautious end, but also the starting point of chasing the distance. We lead the funeral with warmth, the funeral with diversity, and the sacrifice with culture, and each of the three links has its own focus.
In terms of leading the funeral with warmth, the focus is on resolving the sudden and huge grief of the bereaved family, and we promote the white service to accompany the family, so that the sad things of the bereaved family can only be said once, and the accompanying person will do it for the rest of the process; We actively improve the service level and comprehensive quality of funeral staff, and won the championship in the funeral attendant competition held by the Ministry of Civil Affairs; We have launched funeral measures to benefit the people, such as flower arrangement, 1,000-yuan packages, and helping the poor and funeral, so that the worries and worries of the bereaved families can become heart-warming.
In terms of multi-dominant burials, we have vigorously promoted land-saving burials, newly opened graves of less than 0.6 square meters, and small tombs of 0.4 square meters have become the mainstream products of sales, and many cemeteries have developed tombs of less than 0.2 square meters, and ecological burials such as wall burials, lawn burials, tree burials and sea burials are becoming more and more abundant. The city's sea burial work has been carried out for 34 years, and a total of 62,000 cases of the ashes of the deceased have been scattered into the sea, saving 25,000 square meters of land.
In terms of culture-led festivals, we advocate a variety of civilized memorial activities such as flower memorials, public memorials, family memorials, and AI resurrections. Launched a series of cultural activities of "Pear Blossom Wind Rises and Qingming Festival", and carried out the "Tree Says Missing" commemorative forest tree planting activity, so that the cemetery can become a carrier of spiritual sustenance.
The second is to focus on the focus of contradictions and break through the three problems.
First, eliminate information differences with one-click access. On the basis of successfully cleaning up illegal and fake websites and web pages, and building a funeral service platform in Shanghai, the online handling function of "one thing about the death of a citizen" funeral service has been opened, and citizens can handle white service matters such as body transportation, booking halls, and choosing funeral supplies online, and eliminate information differences with one click.
Second, it is necessary to regulate the intermediary market through comprehensive supervision. Intensify the rectification of mortuaries and other funeral intermediaries, issue the "Shanghai Funeral Agency Service Industry Convention", strengthen the management of funeral homes, standardize the intermediary service behavior in funeral homes, and block "black intermediaries" from the industry. This year, the municipal government will include funeral intermediaries in the scope of comprehensive supervision, which will more effectively promote the standardization and orderliness of funeral agency services.
Third, practice the green concept with environmental protection transformation. Since 2021, Shanghai has launched the upgrading and transformation of environmentally friendly cremators and issued the enterprise standard for green and environmentally friendly cremators. Since 2023, the city's funeral homes have basically completed the transformation of green cremation machines. Although we have done a little work, there are still many problems and confusions. For example, the information asymmetry brought about by the particularity of the industry, the contradiction between the increase in the number of dead people and the reduction of land, the contradiction between the supply of various funeral rites and customs, the contradiction between the lack of facilities and the nimby effect, and the contradiction between the insufficient supply of policies and regulations and the lack of self-discipline and restraint in the industry. In particular, the contradiction between the public welfare attribute and the business unit has increasingly become the underlying logic and core focus of various contradictions. These are all problems that we urgently need to study and solve.
Shanghai will adhere to the "people-centered" development idea, continue to reform the old and make the new, strengthen comprehensive management, and promote the funeral industry to better meet the new expectations of the people for a better life in the new era. (The author is a member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau)
Gao Ji, member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau
Let the funeral business return to rationality
Chai Junyong
At present, the governance innovation of the funeral industry is faced with three difficulties: the difficulty of changing customs, the unbearable resources of cemeteries, and the weak consensus of ecological funerals. In recent years, the number of new deaths due to various reasons in the mainland has been increasing every year, and the shortage of land resources and the limited number of new cemeteries have led to the increase in the price of cemeteries in some cities. Since 2016, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and other 9 departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Implementation of Land-saving Ecological Burial", although the choice of tree burial, sea burial, deep burial and other ways to bury ashes or remains has increased year by year, such a form of green environmental protection is gradually being recognized by everyone, but in general, affected by the traditional concept of "entering the soil for peace", we have not yet been able to accept the new burial styles such as tower burial and wall burial from the emotional and ideological aspects, and the corresponding policies and measures need to be further improved.
Under the conditions of the new era, the innovation of funeral management should adhere to the people-centered development thinking, take "reasonableness" as the value orientation of "the end of life", and let the funeral industry truly realize "death is peaceful".
Change customs. In the field of funeral and funeral, it is necessary to build funeral etiquette norms that conform to the modern lifestyle, pay attention to the sustenance of emotional grief, and despise the pomp and circumstance of big operations. It is recommended to make full use of Internet technology to better emphasize the "memorial" function of funerals. Through the use of network and multimedia technology, the concept of the metaverse is introduced into the field of funeral, and a "digital cemetery" is set up to integrate scientific and technological means such as sound and light to carry out burial and commemoration.
Change the mode. The first is to promote digitalization. The civil affairs department will take the lead in the digital transformation of the funeral industry, make "white affairs services online and digitized", and develop related apps such as "Sui Bid" and other funeral white affairs and memorial sweeps supervised by the civil affairs department. The second is to ensure fairness and transparency. The qualifications, service items and prices of funeral service institutions will be displayed in a unified manner, and some illegal "one-stop" funeral intermediary services will be severely cracked down, and the industry market will be rectified. The third is to optimize the configuration. Optimize the spatial layout of funeral facilities, and promote the inclusion of land for funeral facilities in territorial spatial planning. Focus on strengthening the planning and layout of public welfare burial facilities, merging small scattered burial facilities, and building a new pattern of funeral facilities with public welfare resettlement as the main and business as the supplement.
Change the concept. Deepen the concept of "respect for life" and "the deceased are greater", and implement more humane policies. Explore setting up memorial rooms in funeral homes and farewell rooms in hospitals and nursing homes. There is a special respect for those who donate human organs or remains. Strengthen the publicity and promotion of green funerals, expand social awareness, and strive for the understanding and support of the masses. (The author is an adjunct professor at the National Academy of Administration and honorary chairman of the Shanghai Population Welfare Foundation)
Chai Junyong, Adjunct Professor of the National Academy of Administration and Honorary Chairman of the Shanghai Population Welfare Foundation
Reflections on the innovation of funeral management
Wang Qi
At present, the funeral reform has entered a period of rapid development, and it is imperative to study the modernization of the funeral governance system, and the focus of the funeral reform in the new era should also be reflected in the innovation of the governance system. The following are some thoughts of the author on the innovation of funeral management.
It is necessary to clarify the connotation and extension of funeral. At present, there are many expressions on funeral, funeral sacrifice, funeral sacrifice, funeral sacrifice, and final funeral sacrifice, etc., which make the funeral process linear and endless. This not only enriches the connotation of funeral, but also expands the extension of funeral, the concept is different, the connotation extension is different, it is necessary to clarify.
It is necessary to carry out the reform of the funeral management system. Compared with several other "life events", the funeral management system is relatively complex, which has a significant impact on the development of funeral management and funeral undertakings, and it is urgent to carry out reforms.
It is necessary to strengthen the protection of the public welfare of funerals. Funeral has the nature of public welfare, should be the same as medical care, education, pension, the state in terms of policies and funds to give full protection, can pilot funeral parlors in the service of the government to fully undertake, to achieve the whole public welfare.
It is necessary to be guided by conforming to the development of the times and satisfying the needs of the masses. The policy orientation of funeral should give full consideration to the productive forces and production relations, the social and economic development, and the needs and feelings of the masses. Policy guidance should be aimed at conforming to the development of the times and satisfying the needs of the masses, and should vary from person to person according to the situation.
It is necessary to clearly define feudal superstitions. To this day, there is still no standard, vague definition, and different opinions on feudal superstition. Feudal superstition should be clearly defined, and it should be combined with dredging and blocking. At the same time, it is necessary to fully tap the excellent traditional cultural genes, strengthen guidance, and offset the influence of feudal superstition.
It is necessary to speed up the promotion of land-saving ecological burial. It is necessary to give full play to the advantages of modern science and technology, and at the same time absorb the forms of intangible cultural heritage of some ethnic minorities and regions in funeral practice, and design more land-saving ecological burial methods, so as to make land-saving ecological burial services more diversified, convenient and cultural.
It is necessary to pay more attention to the funeral system. Through the establishment of systematic funeral etiquette norms or regulations, the deceased are settled, ancestors are recalled, the spirit is inherited, culture is promoted, national integrity is cohesive, social stability is maintained, and Chinese civilization is continued.
It is necessary to strictly manage public welfare cemeteries. It is necessary to speed up the construction of public welfare cemeteries by increasing government capital investment, rationally and effectively allocating social capital. Government departments should strengthen the management of the establishment conditions, investment entities, management entities, funeral methods, etc., to prevent the capitalization, clans, and operational tendencies of public welfare cemeteries.
It is necessary to inherit and carry forward the funeral culture. Funeral culture has played an irreplaceable role in the process of Chinese civilization for thousands of years. From the perspective of the form of funeral, it is necessary to enrich the funeral culture through service, reflect the funeral culture through education, display the funeral culture through mass communication, and promote the funeral culture through the system to form a complete and systematic funeral culture system.
It is necessary to promote the innovation of funeral services. At present, the demand for funeral services is strong, the service subjects are more diversified, and the development of the industry is growing rapidly. It is necessary to innovate the service model and improve the service system to make the service more transparent, the procedures clearer, the standards clearer, and the norms more reasonable, so that the funeral will be more warm. (The author is executive vice president of China Funeral Association)
Wang Qi, executive vice president of the China Funeral Association
Deepen the reform of funeral services from the perspective of governance
Wang Jisheng
Funeral is a major event in people's livelihood, an indispensable part of social services, and an important part of realizing "peace after death" and meeting the needs of the people for a better life. Funeral can be understood as the way civilized people treat the death of their own kind. Since death is inseparable from life, it should be treated with due respect and kindness, which is also one of the important symbols of the progress of human civilization.
Management and governance, the difference between one word, is a subversion of concept cognition. In a sense, management is top-down, and governance is the participation of all forces for the same consensus. From management to governance, this is a leap in cognitive height. The state pointed out that it is necessary to improve the social governance system and improve the social governance system of co-construction, co-governance and sharing. To deepen the funeral reform from the perspective of governance, we must think from the perspective of the overall situation of social governance. Funeral governance is a very large theoretical system and practical environment, and social macro trends such as population aging, urbanization, marketization, science and technology, and rule of law need to be included in the scope of funeral governance.
At the same time, we feel that although managers and practitioners have made a lot of efforts for a long time, why does the misunderstanding and prejudice of public opinion about the funeral industry still exist? It is precisely because of the concept of avoidance of death that the topic of funeral has been marginalized. To dispel stereotypes, "governance" may be the right solution. We first sort out and explain clearly what funeral management is, and then invite all walks of life to discuss and make suggestions together with appropriate themes, so as to implement "governance".
Funeral management must first reach three underlying logical consensus: one is the birth rate, the second is the importance of funeral facilities, and the third is thinking about the origin of funeral. If these three issues are not resolved and there is no consensus, there will be no such governance.
Practitioners often pay attention to the immediate population death data and ignore the birth rate, but in fact, this data is related to the future configuration and direction of the industry. It is expected that from 2035, the mainland will enter a severely aging society, with an annual increase of tens of millions of elderly people, which also poses a challenge to the funeral services at the end of the pension service, and whether the supply capacity of funeral services can keep up is an urgent problem.
I remember that at the on-site promotion meeting of the construction and management of funeral facilities in Jiangxi Province held in 2019, it was pointed out that the construction and management of funeral facilities is an important part of determining the final results of the funeral reform. Funeral service facilities that meet the needs of people's high-quality life should also be an important carrier for improving social civilization.
In addition, back to the most fundamental and important issue, our industry is a residential service industry in the national economic industry classification, and it is an authentic "service industry", so we cannot simplify the service, but should return to the essence of "service" and the essence of respecting "people". "People have left their names" is the basic need of people, leaving a thought for their families, leaving a respectable life story and life spirit, and using the open thinking of digital technology and the development of new quality productivity to do enough to "stay" the article, which requires us practitioners to not only sit and talk about it, but also get up and act. (The author is the president of Fushouyuan International Group) (Text/China Social Daily)
Wang Jisheng, President of Fushouyuan International Group