On the 19th, a villager in Hongxing Town, Shang County, Fuyang, Anhui Province, China, posted a video claiming that their elderly family member was still alive when local town government staff came to request cremation. The video shows an elderly person lying on the ground, with staff standing at the door as family members express strong emotions.
The incident caused an uproar, with netizens criticizing the staff as "cold-blooded and heartless," asking, "Do they really disregard basic human ethics just to enforce cremation?"
However, the incident may have been a misunderstanding. Staff from the Hongxing Town government responded that there is a local custom of placing people on the ground when they are near death. The staff were, in fact, promoting funeral policy reforms and were not demanding immediate cremation.
According to reports, the local government, per county directives, is conducting daily home visits in seven villages to promote free services for body transport, cremation, and ash storage.
On the 20th, the People's Government of Hongxing Town released an apology statement, stating that relevant officials had promptly learned about the situation, listened to opinions, visited the family to apologize, and sought their understanding.
The town government stated that this incident revealed shortcomings in their funeral policy promotion, such as oversimplified communication and improper methods. The town will learn from this lesson, combine solutions with local realities, and steadily and orderly promote funeral reforms so that the deceased are properly cared for, the bereaved are respected, and remembrance is properly honored.