Staring at the sprawling graveyards built halfway up the hill near his village in Putian of Fujian Province, Lin Yatai had complicated feelings since he knew many of the tombs will not be used by their owners alive.

The local government has ordered the removal of the lavish graves, which were built by local people while they were still alive, to save scarce farmland by encouraging cremation and banning burial.

As the once-a-year occasion Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweepingfestival, falls on Sunday this year, millions of Chinese pay respect to their dead ancestors by cleaning their graves, burning incense and offering food and drink for the deceased in ritual held for millennia in this world's most populous country.

In recent years, the ceremonies have become increasingly lavishas many Chinese peasants are doing what ancient emperors did centuries ago -- building a luxurious tomb for themselves and family members when they are still alive.

"They believe having a good Feng Shui (geomantic omen) in theirtombs will help bring good luck and wreath to their offspring," said Shi Yilong, an anthropology professor with Xiamen University.

Local people usually have to pay about 10,000 to 20,000 yuan (US$1,200-2,400) to build such marble and granite tombs, said a coffin store owner surnamed Xu at Honglu Town of theprovince's Fuqing City.

"It might cost even more if the tombs use material like white marble," Xu said, adding the extravagant tombs have become the latest token of wealth and influence among local people.

In China, some people favor building tombs even if it takes more space. This tradition is being increasingly challenged as tombs are taking up valuable arable land with the expansion of theaging population and a declining amount of farmland.

Yan Yiyong, deputy director of Fujian Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, said competition for land between the living and the dead is still a serious problem in the province despite repeated government bans.

Sociologists say building tombs for people alive has taken up too much farmland, brought down too many trees and destroyed the vegetation, thus posing a challenge to China's ecological environment, as the country has to feed about one fifth of the world's population on about 7 percent of the world's arable land.

"Building graves for people alive is against our basic policy of protecting the farmland and the environment," said Li Huifang, deputy director of Chinese Folklore Society.

"We have to give up building such tombs as it is a matter whether our descendants could survive in future," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2004)