殡葬改革:土地、木材和金钱浪费及其讨论

Funeral Reform: Discussion on Land, Timber Resources, and Money Waste

殡葬改革是我国政府持续推行的一项文化和社会改革政策,旨在改善民生,而由此引发的争议则与不同地区的具体实施方式有关,并涉及对传统丧葬文化和习俗的多元认知。具体到土葬还是火化的话题而言,争议集中在土葬浪费土地资源、森林木材资源,以及传统仪式的铺张浪费等方面,有待于学术界进一步的讨论和厘清。与传统殡葬有关的土地占用、木材损耗、金钱浪费等现象,并非不可改进,也并非与当今社会发展难以兼顾。或许,在尊重传统文化认同的基础上,区别对待殡葬改革进程中的城乡差异,有助于多元化地解决这一问题。

Funeral reform is a cultural and social reform launched by the government,concerning every citizen of the People’s Republic of China.Some people believe that traditional culture and customs,especially traditional funeral culture and customs,are feudal superstitions.Therefore,reform is needed,and its starting point is good.However,the reform primarily focuses on changing burial to cremation,and mainly tries to solve the problems of land,timber resources and money waste.Through in-depth research and analysis,especially some quantitative research,some of the conventional thoughts are proved to be based on incomprehensive,unscientific,rather radical and one-sided perceptions,which need further discussion and clarification in the academic circle.Traditional funeral is not entirely unsustainable or unacceptable for the occupation of land,the waste of timber resources,and the waste of money.It is important for us to use different approaches in urban and rural areas on the basis of cultural identity when implementing funeral reform.