Communist party says members should set an example with simple, civilised funerals and not collect condolence money

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

China's ruling Communist party has said it is banning its members from holding lavish funerals for relatives as part of a drive against waste, corruption and pomp.

The ban was announced in a party circular carried by state media that also said party members were forbidden from using funerals to collect condolence money from attendees. Such gifts are intended to defray costs, but often serve instead as bribes in exchange for favours.

"Party members and officials should set an example with simple, civilised funerals," the document said. It said party officials should cremate the bodies of their loved ones after death and avoid excessively large gravestones.

Honouring the dead can be an extravagant affair in many parts of China, with ceremonies sometimes featuring professional mourners, uniformed marching bands and motorcades of limousines.

The rituals are also increasingly a way to demonstrate rising social status and the accumulation of excess wealth and influence, but extravagant ceremonies have been criticised for highlighting China's burgeoning income gap.

"Government officials take advantage of expensive funerals to take bribes, while those who offered money in bribes naturally seek returns," said Hu Xingdou, a political economist at the Beijing Institute of Technology. "The public certainly feels angry about officials' luxurious funerals. They may feel envious, and it also mirrors the gap between the rich and the poor."

The directive was the latest in an austerity campaign spearheaded by the president, Xi Jinping, to cut through luxury, formality and waste among party and government officials.

The party has already issued a five-year moratorium on the construction of new government buildings and banned the use of public funds for lavish banquets and expensive gifts such as moon cakes.

Fancy funerals came into the spotlight in October when the state broadcaster China Central Television reported that a village cadre held a funeral for his wife that included a two-mile-long procession with a marching band and motorcade that stopped traffic for hours. It raised suspicions about how a village official earning a humble salary was able to afford the extravagance.