China push for `tree burials' a flop so far....

[Cecil Lee]

Despite the Beijing municipal government's two-decade-old push to encourage "green interments", which include so-called tree, burials, only 2 per cent of familes choose these cheaper and purportedly more eco-friendly methods of burial.

Tree burials refer to the burying of body ashed under trees, flowers and lawns.

"The earliest tree burial was promoted in the Fengtai district in 1990, when the local government held a gropu interment ceremony with tree burials," said Mr Jiang Xiaogang, secretary-general of the Beijing Funeral Association.

He said the tree burials now use urns made of biodegradable materials, which turn into soil after several months or years, depending on natural conditions.

Nearly 30 precent of Beiing's state-owned cemeteries offer the tree-burial service according to the Beijing Youth Daily......