Do people in Handan, Hebei Province have to be cremated when they die?

Retired workers in Fengfeng mining area of Handan should be cremated after death. According to the Handan Municipal People's Government's "Implementation Measures for Funeral Management in Handan City", remote mountainous areas with sparse population and inconvenient transportation are burial reform areas, and people in other areas should be cremated when they die. Fengfeng mining area belongs to cremation area. Retired workers who die shall be cremated except for respecting the customs and habits of ethnic minorities and allowing other burial methods.

Measures for the Implementation of Funeral Management in Handan City by Handan Municipal People's Government Article 6 Remote mountainous areas with sparse population and inconvenient transportation are burial reform areas. The demarcation of the reform area of burial is proposed by the county (city) people's government, and approved by the provincial people's government after being audited by the municipal people's government.

Article 8 After the death of citizens in cremation areas, cremation must be carried out except for ethnic minorities who can be buried in the ground as stipulated by the state.

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 In order to strengthen funeral management and promote the construction of socialist material civilization and spiritual civilization, these Measures are formulated in accordance with the Measures for the Administration of Funeral in Hebei Province and in combination with the actual situation of our city.

Article 2 All units and individuals that hold funeral activities and engage in funeral services within the administrative area of this Municipality shall abide by these Measures.

Article 3 People's governments at all levels shall put the funeral work on the agenda, bring it into the overall planning of spiritual civilization construction and urban and rural capital construction, and implement target management.

Fourth civil affairs departments at all levels are the competent departments of funeral management, responsible for the supervision and inspection of funeral management. Funeral management institutions at all levels are responsible for the daily work of funeral management under the leadership of the civil affairs departments at the same level.

Article 5 Funeral management should resolutely carry out cremation, reform burial, get rid of feudal superstitious funeral habits, and advocate civilized and thrifty funeral management.

Sixth remote mountainous areas with sparse population and inconvenient transportation are burial reform areas. The demarcation of the reform area of burial is proposed by the county (city) people's government, and approved by the provincial people's government after being audited by the municipal people's government.

Article 7 Respect the funeral customs of ethnic minorities. Other voluntary funeral reform, shall not interfere.

Chapter II Cremation Management

Article 8 After the death of citizens in cremation areas, cremation must be carried out except for ethnic minorities who can be buried in the ground as stipulated by the state.

Article 9 The remains of the deceased shall be cremated as soon as possible. In case of death due to a serious infectious disease, the hospital, the relatives of the deceased or their units shall immediately report to the funeral management institution and the health and epidemic prevention department, and cremate the remains within 24 hours. The remains of abnormal deaths shall be cremated immediately after being verified and identified by the public security organs at or above the county (city). Need to temporarily preserve the body, must be approved by the public security organs at or above the county (city) district. The remains of normal dead persons shall not be parked for more than three days in summer and autumn, and not more than five days in spring and winter.

Article 10 The cremation of the remains of normal dead persons shall be carried out with the death certificate issued by the unit where the deceased belongs, the village (neighborhood) committee or the hospital.

Eleventh dead bodies in different places must be in the local funeral home cremation. If it needs to be transported to other places due to special circumstances, it must be approved by the local funeral management agency and go through the formalities of transporting the corpse.

Twelfth transport remains must use special vehicles for funeral services, and no unit or individual may use other vehicles to transport them without authorization. Temporarily do not have the conditions, with the approval of the county (city) and district funeral management office, other vehicles can also be used, but only in the crematorium.

Article 13 The ashes of the deceased shall be stored in urn or buried in urn cemetery. Where there is no urn or urn cemetery, it must be buried underground, leaving no graves and epitaphs. It is forbidden to put the urn into a coffin and bury it underground.

Fourteenth ethnic minority citizens buried in the cremation area shall be buried at the place jointly designated by the local civil affairs department and the ethnic and religious affairs management department after their death.

Chapter III Funeral Management

Fifteenth citizens in the reform area of burial after death, can be buried and cremated voluntarily, should be encouraged and supported, others shall not interfere.

Article 16 The remains of dead citizens in the reform area of burial shall be buried in cemeteries, or in barren hills and wasteland designated by the local people's government, or underground, without leaving graves and epitaphs.

Seventeenth local people's governments in the reform area of burial shall, in line with the principle of developing production and saving land, rationally plan the land for burial.

Eighteenth in the cultivated land, scenic spots, cultural relics protection areas, reservoirs, river dams, railways, highways around a kilometer, it is forbidden to pile graves or used as a cemetery. In the above-mentioned no-burial areas, except the tombs of revolutionary martyrs, celebrities, overseas Chinese ancestors and tombs with historical, artistic and scientific research value, the existing tombs should be demolished or moved. Specific measures shall be formulated by the local people's government.

Article 19 The people's government where the burial reform zone is located shall actively create conditions for the gradual implementation of cremation.

Chapter IV Funeral Service Facilities

Twentieth people's governments at or above the county level shall, from the reality, establish funeral services such as funeral parlours, crematoriums and cemeteries. People's governments at all levels will include the funds needed for the relocation, expansion, transformation and renewal of funeral service facilities in the financial budget.

Twenty-first operating cemeteries are managed by funeral management institutions, and no other unit or individual may set up them. The establishment of an operating cemetery is proposed by the county (city) and district civil affairs departments, reviewed by the county (city) and district civil affairs departments, and approved by the provincial civil affairs departments step by step, and can only be operated after obtaining the cemetery business license.

Twenty-second villages in cremation areas can establish public cemetery for ashes, and villages in burial reform areas can establish public cemetery for remains. The establishment of public cemetery is proposed by the village, audited by the township (town) people's government and approved by the county-level civil affairs department.

Twenty-third cemeteries should be built on barren hills, slopes, non-cultivated land or land unsuitable for cultivation, and the land use approval procedures should be handled according to the relevant provisions of land management.

Twenty-fourth mortuaries belonging to medical units in the cremation area shall not handle funeral activities.

Twenty-fifth funeral management department is responsible for the cold storage and preservation of the remains, and it is forbidden for units and individuals outside the funeral department to carry out the cold storage and preservation of the remains and the storage of ashes.

Twenty-sixth townships (towns) and villages in cremation areas shall establish columbariums. The township (town) columbarium is built and managed by the township (town) people's government, and the village columbarium is built and managed by the villagers' committee.

Legal basis: Article 8 of the Regulations on Household Registration in People's Republic of China (PRC), if a citizen dies and is buried in urban or rural areas, the head of the household, relatives, dependents or neighbors shall, within one month before the burial, declare the death registration to the household registration authority and cancel the household registration. If a citizen dies in his temporary residence, the household registration organ of the temporary residence shall notify the household registration organ of the permanent residence to cancel his household registration. If a citizen dies due to an accident or the cause of death is unknown, the head of the household and the discoverer shall immediately report to the local police station or the people's committee of a township or town.