China subsidy of the day

China’s property bubble has a new casualty: the corpses of Shanghai. In spite of stacking bodies seven or eight deep in graves, the squeeze on space in the city of 20m people has prompted the government to support burials at sea, part of a “green funeral” movement that is challenging deep traditions of filial piety.

Sea burials are rising 10 per cent a year after an increase in municipal subsidies to Rmb400 ($60) per funeral, according to an official with Feisi Sea Burial Company in Shanghai’s “funeral street”, Xibaoxing Road.

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