The main purpose of grave-sweeping movement is to reform the funeral mode and solve the contradiction between China's small land and large population. It is also called land reclamation movement and land preparation movement.

The process of pingfen movement

After 1949, due to land reform, rural land has to be redistributed, so it also involves the property rights of cemeteries. However, at the beginning of the establishment of the government, the government's attitude towards graves was not radical, stipulating that "the graves occupied by anyone's ancestors should be kept and not divided equally."

1953, the State Council's "Measures for Requisition of Land for National Construction" stipulates that "anyone who needs to move a grave due to land requisition must inform the owner of the grave to move in advance, pay appropriate relocation and burial expenses, and take care of local customs and habits to properly handle it. The owner of the tomb should be removed by the land unit. For those who have no land to move and bury, they should assist in finding a place to move and bury. " This article stipulates that the new regime in China is still cautious about graves.

From 65438 to 0956, rural collectivization was going on, and the government began to encourage cremation instead of burial.

1957 10 agricultural development outline (revised draft) clearly stipulates that the original unreasonable customs and habits should be changed, aiming at funeral customs.

1958 In the spring, all localities began to carry out the "grave sweeping movement" to level all graves and expand the cultivated land area, with the slogan "Implementing large-scale land leveling to ensure high agricultural yield".

In the grave-sweeping campaigns of 1958 and 1964, the government still demanded the conditional protection of "tombs of martyrs" and "tombs with historical or cultural value".

During the Cultural Revolution, even these ancient tombs with cultural relics or "revolutionary commemorative significance", such as Confucius Temple and Yue Tomb, were still attacked, while some reactionary figures, such as Yuan Shikai and Kang Youwei, were not only dug up, but even their bones were paraded in the streets.