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Jiang Xiaohong, an official with the East China Sea Branch of the State Oceanographic Bureau, said burials at sea, with around 1.4 kilograms of ashes for each dead person, will do "little harm" to the marine environment.

The Shanghai-based official has been present at all of the city's sea burials since 1993. He said the oceanographic authority had tested the ashes before they were sent into the sea to avoid any possible poisonous contaminants entering the sea.

The authority ensures that no pollutants are dumped into the sea along with the ashes and flowers.

"Even a plastic rope for tying up the flowers is forbidden from being thrown into the sea," said Jiang. China is a member of several international conventions on protecting the marine environment, he noted.

"We have found no violations from the current trip," he said of the burial in March this year.

According to Jiang, the ocean authority has set aside a specific area for Shanghai's sea burials - about 31 degrees and 18 minutes latitude north and 121 degrees 45 minutes longitude east. This is for the sake of environmental monitoring and also the convenience of relatives who want to pay their respects.

The deceased's remains sink into the sea but Zhu Jinglong, director of the Funeral and Interment Service Center under the Shanghai Bureau of Civil Affairs, said a gigantic monument inscribed with the names of those buried at sea will be built by the end of this year in Binghai Cemetery in the city's southeastern suburbs. Their loved ones will be able to hold mourning ceremonies at the monument.

The website www.gongmu.com.cn has also been set up in memory of those whose ashes have been cast into the sea.

Local Shanghai people's awareness of the city's limited land resources and the increasing population pressure has contributed to the growing appeal of the sea burials. The city has a population of more than 16 million and around 100,000 people die there every year.

At least 150,000 square meters of land would be needed every year to bury them in the ground, said Gu Yuesheng, who works at Zhu's center.

"It's obviously a big problem for the city's development," said Gu. This is despite the fact that the city has passed a new regulation to limit the size of tombs, he said.

The new rule is expected to take effect early next year. It will reduce the space for burials from 1.5 square meters to less than 1 square meter. The term for which the space can be leased will be decreased from 70 years to 50 years.

As well as burials at sea, Shanghai has also introduced other forms of burial.

There are so-called tree burials, where a person's ashes are buried under a tree and there are "grass burials," where the ashes are buried in an open grass area. In "wall burials," boxes of ashes are inserted into holes on a high wall.

By the end of last year in Shanghai, over 850 sets of ashes had been buried under trees and 239 boxes under grass. There had been 27,455 "wall burials."

(China Daily April 4, 2003)