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 their 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" [62]. For the first time, it was stipulated that cremation should be carried out in areas with "dense population, less cultivated land and convenient transportation", and that state employees who did not comply with this regulation would be punished. The "Funeral Management Regulations" issued on July 21, 1997 also have the same provisions [63]. However, implementation has not been smooth, especially in rural areas. First, "lay to rest" is the traditional concept of many Chinese people, especially many elderly people who are opposed to cremation. In addition, many rural people do not understand cremation very well. They put the cremated ashes into coffins and bury them in the same way as burials. As a result, they cannot save land. Some farmers openly resisted and forced burials. As a result, government authorities also forcibly dug graves and conducted cremations. In addition, in order to insist on burial, some people even bribe officials, conduct fake cremations, and create fake "cremation certificates."

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