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Urgent! ! A paper or article on the necessity of funeral reform and development

On rural funeral reform and new rural construction:/article/sheh/NC/200804/268343.html

I hope there is something worth learning from.

Keywords: funeral reform, the second reform of new rural construction

With the increasingly scientific understanding of death, how to deal with the dead is no longer a simple question of faith and custom, it is related to social stability, economic development and cultural construction. Funeral is an important part of social life, occupies a special position in people's lives and plays an important role in social development and progress. The traditional way of funeral and interment restricts the construction of rural economy and spiritual civilization, lags behind the process of rural democratic construction, and is not conducive to the overall development of urban and rural areas and the construction of a well-off and harmonious society. In the long run, it is not conducive to the development of future generations. Therefore, in 1997, the State Council issued "Funeral Management Organization", trying to guide the national funeral reform, promote the reform of the funeral industry under the civil administration system and improve the management system. Funeral reform involves the vital interests of hundreds of millions of people. Nowadays, the central government calls for building a new socialist countryside, and funeral reform is an indispensable part of how to build a new socialist countryside.

First, the disadvantages of traditional funeral

The traditional funeral is mainly burial, because people always believe that the underworld is underground, where the dead can be reborn in another way. However, the inevitable disadvantages of burial have become the reason for the current funeral reform.

1. Traditional funerals waste a lot of land and wood.

China is a country with a large population. If everyone wants to be buried, there will be a phenomenon that the dead and the living compete for land. A certain amount of land will be used as a cemetery, which will relatively reduce the living area and cultivated land area of farmers. In addition, the coffin necessary for burial consumes a lot of wood. Each coffin needs more than one cubic meter of good wood, and China has a large population, so the total consumption will be a huge figure. Coupled with other aspects of wood consumption, from the perspective of sustainable development, these factors will greatly affect the living conditions of future generations.

2. Traditional funeral consumes a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources.

The burial ceremony is very complicated, and the whole process needs a lot of manpower, material resources and financial support, such as digging graves, burying, and giving banquets to thank relatives and friends. In addition, due to the increasing scope of population mobility, if burial is carried out, in Tomb-Sweeping Day, future generations often go to Wan Li to offer sacrifices to their ancestors.

3. Traditional funerals pollute the environment.

Although it is difficult to produce very scientific data to prove the pollution of underground environment by burial, the influence of burial on surface water can be imagined. Especially in areas where burial graves are concentrated, this kind of pollution caused by burial is objective.

Second, the role of funeral reform in the construction of new countryside

The Fifth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee put forward the major historical task of building a new socialist countryside and the policy of "development of production, affluent life, civilized rural customs, clean village appearance and democratic management", which put forward higher requirements for rural material civilization and spiritual civilization. Funeral culture, as an important part of spiritual civilization construction, plays an indispensable role in the construction of new countryside and should be paid enough attention to. It can be found that the funeral reform has played the following functions in the construction of new countryside.

1. Funeral reform is conducive to the development of spiritual civilization construction in rural areas.

Funeral reform is an important part of socialist spiritual civilization construction. In a sense, funerals reflect the civilization of a country. Through civilized, healthy and scientific modern funeral services, we will guide and demonstrate the funeral methods and behaviors of the masses, which will play a positive role in promoting the change of customs and social civilization and progress in China. A new, scientific and humanized funeral way will contribute to the development of spiritual civilization construction in rural areas.

2. The funeral reform has changed the rural environment to some extent.

Burial has caused some unpredictable pollution in some places, such as densely populated plain areas, especially surface water. Therefore, the funeral reform will partially change the rural health, which is of great significance to the health and spirit of the living.

3. The funeral reform has protected the vital interests of farmers to a certain extent.

The feudal society in China has a long history, and the old funeral customs are harmful and have a profound influence. Handling funerals is usually expensive and wasteful. Today, the vast number of farmers in our country are still not rich, some people are heavily in debt because of large-scale funerals, and some people are trapped in poverty. It has become the strong desire of farmers to carry out funeral reform, simplify funeral, get rid of bad habits, invest limited funds to expand reproduction and speed up the pace of getting rich through labor.

Third, the problems existing in the current funeral reform

Funeral reform is advocated all over the country, but there are still many problems to be solved urgently in China.

1, the cremation rate in rural areas is not high.

In rural areas, there are still many farmers who insist on burial rather than cremation. This is a long-standing burial custom in China for thousands of years. Although there is a national policy to enforce the funeral policy, some farmers still secretly bury it and do not cremate it, which makes it difficult to improve the cremation rate.

2. Burying after cremation increases ceremony and content, increases expenses, and wastes cremation power and human resources.

After the funeral reform, it is not uncommon to cremate first and then find a piece of geomantic treasure for burial. Why do some people bury their loved ones after cremation? The main reason is nothing more than the traditional concept of "being buried underground". Due to customs and habits, people always think that even after cremation, it is not a problem to put the ashes there, so it is better to find a place to bury them. This practice of cremation before burial increases the ceremony and cost in the cremation process. The original intention of funeral reform is to reduce land occupation and various complicated ceremonies, thus reducing the expenses borne by bereaved families. However, due to the influence of funeral customs for thousands of years, it is difficult to reduce the rituals in funeral customs in a short time. And the facilities provided by cremation have become a waste. Therefore, at the beginning of the funeral reform, this practice of cremation before burial caused waste, increased expenditure and brought more burden.

Fourth, the development path of funeral reform-the second funeral reform

In view of these problems in the current funeral reform, the author puts forward the second reform on this basis.

1, choose different "burial" methods.

It is very important that people insist that burial is nothing more than the guidance of the concept of "being buried underground". In fact, does "being buried underground" necessarily mean being buried? The answer is no, scattering the ashes into the deep sea, into the forest and into the fields are all "burying". This will not pollute the environment, waste resources, and will not leave traces of taboos. "Green funeral" is a new way of burial in which trees replace monuments and ashes are buried directly under trees or lawns. It combines the ashes and flowers of relatives with 2. Simplify the funeral ceremony

In rural areas, large-scale funerals need a lot of manpower, but in recent years, due to the upsurge of migrant workers, most of the rural labor force has flowed into cities, and the labor force in villages has been greatly reduced, so it is difficult to gather enough manpower for large-scale funerals. The urgent task is to simplify the funeral ceremony, reduce the waste of time, energy and money, and reduce the debts borne by farmers.

Change the way of sacrifice

Future generations should worship their ancestors, so there is no need to travel long distances to the grave to burn paper and offer flowers. When you are in Tomb-Sweeping Day, as long as you put incense sticks on your doorstep, call your ancestors' names and take a bow, you will be fine.

There is also an "online sacrifice", which is clean, convenient and novel. You can leave messages and offer flowers, and you can express your thoughts at home, which makes people believe that love and thoughts can cross time and space.

4, advocate "thick support and thin burial"

"generous support", as the name implies, refers to providing generous treatment. "Nurturing" not only gives meticulous care in life, but more importantly, gives more comfort in spirit. Especially the children who are busy with their work, they should often go home to have a look, so that the elderly can enjoy more family happiness before they die. It seems simple to accept the concept of thick support and thin burial, but it is not easy. The key is how to treat thin burial. In addition to showing children's respect and gratitude for the elderly, there are certain elements for others to see. How to make people look down on the social significance of funeral activities and pay attention to the introspection of bereaved families is actually closely related to caring for them. If children are really taken good care of and have a clear conscience before the old man dies, then they will not value the solemnity of the funeral ceremony. Only on the basis that the concept of "loving and burying thinly" is deeply rooted in people's hearts can we really implement a new and more civilized way of funeral and sacrifice.