HANGZHOU, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Amid the crisp spring air in Anji County in east China's Zhejiang Province, with emerald bamboos swaying gently in the breeze, Xia Yuanfeng, a village official, stood holding a bouquet of white chrysanthemums.

Traditional Chinese funerals usually follow well-established customs, featuring elaborate caskets, lavish floral arrangements, the billowing smoke of burning incense and offerings, and an array of other rituals.

However, Xia was not visiting a towering gravestone; her father's peaceful rest lay beneath the gentle embrace of the whispering bamboo grove.

Just days earlier, after a year in the funeral home, her father's ashes, along with those of eight others, were laid to rest in a collective green burial, returning to the earth beneath the swaying bamboo stalks.

"One should embrace life and death as a return to nature," Xia recalled her father's words as dewdrops slid off the bamboo leaves. "You have always been good to me, and that's what matters. What happens after I'm gone isn't important."

Since 2015, Anji County has championed green burials, offering alternatives like bamboo, tree, lawn and flower burials -- methods that forgo traditional gravesites in favor of returning ashes to nature. Over the past 11 years, 130 individuals have chosen to rest beneath the bamboo.

"We promote green burials through policy support and incentives, creating a diverse ecological burial system," said an official from Anji's civil affairs bureau. "Public acceptance of these space-saving, eco-friendly options is growing each year."

Across the country, families like Xia's are embracing greener farewells, choosing harmony with nature over elaborate tombs.

For some, tree burials allow loved ones to take root in the soil, blooming with the seasons. For others, sea burials set them free upon the tides.

Yu Xiaohua, director of the Longshan Cemetery in Jinhua City, noted that there's a surprising popularity of sea burials inland. "To date, nearly 900 people have opted for it, many taking a five-hour round trip to Mount Putuo's shores. Elderly family members still insist on witnessing the farewell."

He Cuifang, a 60-year-old retired high school teacher from Wuyi County in Jinhua, chose a sea burial for her brother He Guorong after his passing. Wuyi now offers a 20,000-yuan (about 2,782 U.S. dollars) subsidy for each sea burial, a generous amount compared to many other regions.

"My philosophy is simple -- cherish loved ones while they're alive, so there are no regrets when they're gone," she said. "The body is just a vessel. It comes from nature, and the best farewell is to let it return where it belongs."

An avid hiker, she winced at mountainsides crowded with tombstones. "Some of them are made of granite, which won't decompose for millennia. It disrupts nature," she said. "With 1.4 billion people, imagine the land consumed if everyone had a traditional grave."

For centuries, lavish burials were considered the only true demonstration of filial piety, a cultural belief now being reconsidered.

"When my time comes, I'll tell my son to lay me to rest at sea," He Cuifang said. "It's enough to be remembered in his heart." Enditem

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