Qing ming festival reveals scarce burial sites for Hong Kong’s deceased

Global Business

During this year’s Chinese Qing Ming festival, which is a day to honor ancestors by sweeping and cleaning their tombs, residents in one of the world’s most densely packed cities such as Hong Kong are reminded of the growing lack of space to bury their dead. In a city where the apartment prices rank among the highest in the word, finding a grave is both elusive and expensive.

CCTV’s Cathy Yang reported this story from Hong Kong.

Qing ming festival reveals scarce burial sites for Hong Kong\'s deceased

During this year's Chinese Qing Ming festival, which is a day to honor ancestors by sweeping and cleaning their tombs, residents in one of the world's most densely packed cities such as Hong Kong are reminded of the growing lack of space to bury their dead. In a city where the apartment prices rank among the highest in the word, finding a grave is both elusive and expensive. CCTV's Cathy Yang reported this story from Hong Kong.

Highlights:

  • Over a hundred thousand of bags of human cremated ashes lie in wait in many of Hong Kong’s funeral parlors, and the queue is likely to get longer, as supply remains scarcer by the day, with the number of deaths doubling amid the city’s aging population.
  • It’s very difficult for residents to find new columbaria, or sites that store ashes, in their neighborhoods.