More than 300 scholars, experts and businesspeople have signed an online proposal that states the operation failed to uphold Chinese tradition.

Some burial mounds removed in a funeral reform campaign last year in central China recently reappeared in Zhoukou City, Henan Province.

They claim the tomb relocations were carried out "forcefully," went against Chinese traditional culture and caused emotional damage.

The local government denied the accusations, saying all villagers' participation in the tomb relocation efforts was voluntary.

Zhoukou has been dubbed the "barn in the east of Henan Province" due to its great grain production. Zhoukou's grain production accounts for about one-seventh of the provincial total, which is about one-tenth of the national total.

However, scattered burial mounds in the region have severely eroded the farmland and hindered the mechanization of farming, sources with the government said.

Civil affairs officials said breaking the funeral traditions that have existed for thousands of years is not an easy task and it is normal to see some changes amid reform.

A villager in Shangshui County said he followed others in digging up the tombs of his deceased family members last year.

"But now, they rebuilt the tombs, and so did I," he said.

A female villager said her family did not rebuild the tombs. "It is not bad to bury the ashes in public cemeteries. Without the tombs in the farmland, cultivation is easier."