April 27, 1956.

In China, the practice of cremation can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty, and some remote ethnic groups have cremation customs. Later, under the influence of Buddhism, cremation gradually became popular in China. Another view is that cremation became popular in China with the introduction of Buddhism during the Eastern Han Dynasty. In modern times, cremation has been widely promoted in China. 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 their ashes according to their last wishes