Cremation was introduced in China on April 27, 1956.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, cremation has always been advocated for reasons such as protecting cultivated land and saving land resources. On April 27, 1956, 151 senior officials including Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping jointly signed a petition to advocate cremation in their own name.

These officials were basically cremated after their deaths. Among them, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping did not retain ashes according to their last wishes; the only exception is that Mao Zedong’s body has not yet been cremated, but has been embalmed and preserved.

On February 8, 1985, the State Council issued the "Interim Provisions on Funeral Management." For the first time, it is stipulated that cremation should be promoted in areas with dense population, less cultivated land and convenient transportation.

And state employees who do not comply with the regulations will be punished. The "Funeral Management Regulations" issued on July 21, 1997 also have Same rules.

Extended information:

The earliest written records of cremation can be found in documents from the pre-Qin period, and are recorded in Mozi, Liezi, and Xunzi. For example, the "General Chapter" of "Xunzi" says that the captives of the Di and Qiang were not worried about being tied up, but worried about not being burned after death.

"Mozi·Jie Buried" says that there is a country called Yiqu in the west of Qin. When a relative dies, he gathers firewood and burns it, and smokes it, which is called Shang Dengya, and then he becomes a filial son. It means that there is a country called Yiqu in the west of Qin State. After the death of relatives, people there pile up firewood and burn the bodies.

When burning, the green smoke rises to the sky, this is considered a filial son. In addition, the Qiang people in ancient Gansu and Qinghai regions also had this burial custom. Buddhism was introduced to our country during the Eastern Han Dynasty. Both monks and believers practiced cremation, which gradually affected the whole country.

In the Tang, Five Dynasties, Song and Yuan Dynasties, folk cremation was relatively common, especially in Jiangnan provinces. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the custom of cremation gradually spread from the Yi and Di lands to the areas where Han people lived in the Central Plains.

Gu Yanwu, a beginner in the late Ming and Qing dynasties, wrote in "Rizhilu" that since the Song Dynasty, this trend has become more and more popular, and people have been burned at the same time. It is called cremation and has become a custom. After a plague epidemic, too many people died,

This is often the case when poor families have no money or land to bury them. There is a description of Wu Dalang's cremation in "Water Margin". Modern society is civilized and open, customs have changed, and the country vigorously promotes cremation.

Baidu Encyclopedia—Cremation