贵州喀斯特墓葬与民族地区的殡葬改革

Funeral and interment reform is a social revolution of changing customs and tradi-tions, which is conducive to promoting the con-struction of the socialist material, spiritual and ec-ological civilization. The replacement of burial with cremation is the direction of China’s reform on fu-neral and interment traditions. The reform itself is put forward by aiming at the disadvantages of the Han people’s traditional burial custom, however, Guizhou is a typical karst region in China, in which several forms of karst burial have existed throughout history, such as cliff coffins, cave tombs, and sarcophagi, and these customs have been continued to some certain degree up to now. Therefore, how to manage the relation between cre-mation and karst burials has a significant meaning to the respect of the ethnic minorities’ customs and promoting the funeral and interment reform in eth-nic regions. The Binzang guanli tiaoli ( Funeral and inter-ment management regulations) issued by the State Council in 1997 stipulates that “ the objective of the funeral and interment management is to carry out cremation, reform burial, save the interment land, abolish undesirable customs related to the fu-nerals and interment actively and methodically, and advocate civilized and thrifty funerary prac-tices”. That is to say, the original intentions for promoting cremation in the funeral and interment reform for many years include the advocating of thrifty funerals, reducing the burden of funerals on the masses, changing the people’s concept of luxu-rious burials, and saving the cost of funeral in the aspect of economy;banishing superstitions, getting rid of bad habits, and opposing the feudal dross in the aspect of culture; and saving resources and protecting limited cultivated land in the aspect of ecology. In general, the abolition of burial and im-plementation of cremation has become the reform direction of China’s funeral and interment system. Guizhou is a typical karst area in China. There are various forms of cliff-burying, rock tombs, sarcophagi, and cave tombs etc. , especial-ly the cave-burial which is still popular among the Waishu Miao at Taohua village in Qibo township, Pingba County and among the Qing Yao at Yaolu village in Libo County, and sarcophagus burial which is still popular among the Li clan of the Waishu Miao at Xinyi village in Guangzhao town-ship, Qinglong County. These structures reflect the karst characteris-tics of Guizhou tombs, and have an important eco-logical value. The funeral and interment reform is put forward by aiming at the drawbacks of the tra-ditional burial practices of the Han, so if the cliff burial or sarcophagus tombs which have ecological value had been forced to be replaced with crema-tion in the funeral and interment reform, it will lead to an embarrassing situation which is contrary to the original intention of the reform no matter if we consider it from cultural, economic or ecologi-cal viewpoints. Firstly, it will cause a dilemma at the cultural level. We must consider the characteristics of the funeral customs of the ethnic groups during the process of reforming the funeral and interment cus-toms in the ethnic minority areas, in other words, respect the funeral customs of ethnic minorities, as it is an important content of the CCP and the state’s policy for respecting the customs and habits of eth-nic minorities. Due to the differences in geograph-ical environment and social economy, the ethnic minorities have different funeral customs with their own characteristics. These funeral customs, as a part of ethnic culture, help to construct a ritual with a kind of ethnic identity;it is the mark of na-tional culture, which embodies ethnic emotions and maintains ethnic consciousness. The ‘univer-sal application’ in the funeral and interment sys-tem reform doubtlessly make the disappearance of karst characteristics in Guizhou’s burial culture, the diversified burial way has been replaced with single cremation, and that is not good for the pro-tection of cultural diversity. Secondly, it will cause an economic dilemma. One of the purposes of the funeral and intermentre-form is to save funeral costs, and change the con-cept of organizing luxury funerals. The traditional burial custom contains a set of complex funeral cer-emony, which is organized in a very luxurious way, spend a lot of money and increase the people’s economic burden. In contrast, cremation can save costs. However in today’s rural areas, af-ter cremation, the ashes are still buried after being put into a coffin, so it not only increases the eco-nomic burden of the people, but also does not meet the purpose for farmland conservation, hence, it is contrary to the original intention of the funeral re-form, and also causes dissatisfaction among the people. Therefore, compared with cremation, sar-cophagus and cave burial which are still popular in Guizhou are actually a more economic practice. Thirdly,it causes an ecological dilemma. The purpose of funeral reform is to save resources and protect the limited farmland. The traditional burial practice uses coffins and pile graves, which wastes wood, occupies farmland, and also pollutes the en-vironment. Therefore, the environmental protection is the premise and ultimate goal of the funeral and interment reform. Cave burial in Guizhou uses the natural caves, and does not occupy farmland; sar-cophagus burial does not use wooden coffins, so both of them belong to ecological burial practices. However, the implementation of cremation in the areas which used to conduct cave or sarcophagus-burials has created an embarrassing situation. Cave burial and sarcophagus tombs in Guizhou karst areas contain rich ecological ideas, which not only have positive social and practical significance for the protection of the ecological en-vironment of the area, but also have an important reference meaning for the promotion of “ecological funeral” or green funeral in China. Different ethnic groups and different areas have different forms of funeral customs, which have their own justifications. Therefore, the Fu-neral and Interment reform should adapt to local conditions, and take into the consideration the characteristics of the karst region in the case of Guizhou, and fully draw on the rational factors of ethnic burial. The present funeral and interment reform can take reference from the following three aspects from the ethnic burial culture of Guizhou:The first is to delimit some appropriate burial zones and maintain properly some burial customs which has ecological value. We advocate various forms of burial in these specific burial zones, for instances, tree burial of the Basha Miao in Con-gjiang country, deep burial of the Chang-clan Yao in Libo county, and sarcophagus tombs of Li-clan Waishu Miao in Qinglong County. These forms of burial with ecological protection value not only play an exemplary role for the ecological protection in ethnic regions, but also will help for the ethnic cultural inheritance. The second is to make full use of the natural characteristics of the karst area, and properly en-courage cave burial which does not take up the cul-tivated land. In this way, not only can the cave burial custom of the Yao in Libo and the Washu Miao in Pingba be kept, but also the cliff burial custom which does not take up the cultivated land could be encouraged among the residents in the karst region. This kind of cliff burial not only re-duces the waste of cultivated land, but also re-stricts the superstitious activities in the funeral. The karst area in Guizhou is very extensive, so it has a unique advantage in conducting cave burial. The funeral and interment reform can take the local conditions into consideration, and play up the ad-vantages of natural environment. Instead of empha-sizing cremation blindly, we should take the cave burial into practice. The third is to convert karst caves into ceme-tery for placing ashes so as to change the tradition-al way of building a cemetery on the hill for placing ashes in the cremation areas. In the karst area, if an area is delimited as a cremation zone, then the burial of body or burial of bone ash coffin should be prohibited. Generally, ashes should be deposi-ted in sepulchral chapels or buried in cemeteries. Although most cemeteries are built on barren hills or land, they still occupy land and waste land re-sources. The use of cement and stone materials creates white pollution. Meanwhile, the construc-tion of cemeteries destroys the mountain and causes soil erosion. Therefore, the cemetery is not the di-rection of the funeral and interment reform in the long run, and also does not meet the original inten-tion of the reform.

The Karst Tombs in Guizhou and Funeral Reform in Ethnic Minority Areas

Funeral and interment reform is a social revolution of changing customs and tradi-tions, which is conducive to promoting the con-struction of the socialist material, spiritual and ec-ological civilization. The replacement of burial with cremation is the direction of China’s reform on fu-neral and interment traditions. The reform itself is put forward by aiming at the disadvantages of the Han people’s traditional burial custom, however, Guizhou is a typical karst region in China, in which several forms of karst burial have existed throughout history, such as cliff coffins, cave tombs, and sarcophagi, and these customs have been continued to some certain degree up to now. Therefore, how to manage the relation between cre-mation and karst burials has a significant meaning to the respect of the ethnic minorities’ customs and promoting the funeral and interment reform in eth-nic regions. The Binzang guanli tiaoli ( Funeral and inter-ment management regulations) issued by the State Council in 1997 stipulates that “ the objective of the funeral and interment management is to carry out cremation, reform burial, save the interment land, abolish undesirable customs related to the fu-nerals and interment actively and methodically, and advocate civilized and thrifty funerary prac-tices”. That is to say, the original intentions for promoting cremation in the funeral and interment reform for many years include the advocating of thrifty funerals, reducing the burden of funerals on the masses, changing the people’s concept of luxu-rious burials, and saving the cost of funeral in the aspect of economy;banishing superstitions, getting rid of bad habits, and opposing the feudal dross in the aspect of culture; and saving resources and protecting limited cultivated land in the aspect of ecology. In general, the abolition of burial and im-plementation of cremation has become the reform direction of China’s funeral and interment system. Guizhou is a typical karst area in China. There are various forms of cliff-burying, rock tombs, sarcophagi, and cave tombs etc. , especial-ly the cave-burial which is still popular among the Waishu Miao at Taohua village in Qibo township, Pingba County and among the Qing Yao at Yaolu village in Libo County, and sarcophagus burial which is still popular among the Li clan of the Waishu Miao at Xinyi village in Guangzhao town-ship, Qinglong County. These structures reflect the karst characteris-tics of Guizhou tombs, and have an important eco-logical value. The funeral and interment reform is put forward by aiming at the drawbacks of the tra-ditional burial practices of the Han, so if the cliff burial or sarcophagus tombs which have ecological value had been forced to be replaced with crema-tion in the funeral and interment reform, it will lead to an embarrassing situation which is contrary to the original intention of the reform no matter if we consider it from cultural, economic or ecologi-cal viewpoints. Firstly, it will cause a dilemma at the cultural level. We must consider the characteristics of the funeral customs of the ethnic groups during the process of reforming the funeral and interment cus-toms in the ethnic minority areas, in other words, respect the funeral customs of ethnic minorities, as it is an important content of the CCP and the state’s policy for respecting the customs and habits of eth-nic minorities. Due to the differences in geograph-ical environment and social economy, the ethnic minorities have different funeral customs with their own characteristics. These funeral customs, as a part of ethnic culture, help to construct a ritual with a kind of ethnic identity;it is the mark of na-tional culture, which embodies ethnic emotions and maintains ethnic consciousness. The ‘univer-sal application’ in the funeral and interment sys-tem reform doubtlessly make the disappearance of karst characteristics in Guizhou’s burial culture, the diversified burial way has been replaced with single cremation, and that is not good for the pro-tection of cultural diversity. Secondly, it will cause an economic dilemma. One of the purposes of the funeral and intermentre-form is to save funeral costs, and change the con-cept of organizing luxury funerals. The traditional burial custom contains a set of complex funeral cer-emony, which is organized in a very luxurious way, spend a lot of money and increase the people’s economic burden. In contrast, cremation can save costs. However in today’s rural areas, af-ter cremation, the ashes are still buried after being put into a coffin, so it not only increases the eco-nomic burden of the people, but also does not meet the purpose for farmland conservation, hence, it is contrary to the original intention of the funeral re-form, and also causes dissatisfaction among the people. Therefore, compared with cremation, sar-cophagus and cave burial which are still popular in Guizhou are actually a more economic practice. Thirdly,it causes an ecological dilemma. The purpose of funeral reform is to save resources and protect the limited farmland. The traditional burial practice uses coffins and pile graves, which wastes wood, occupies farmland, and also pollutes the en-vironment. Therefore, the environmental protection is the premise and ultimate goal of the funeral and interment reform. Cave burial in Guizhou uses the natural caves, and does not occupy farmland; sar-cophagus burial does not use wooden coffins, so both of them belong to ecological burial practices. However, the implementation of cremation in the areas which used to conduct cave or sarcophagus-burials has created an embarrassing situation. Cave burial and sarcophagus tombs in Guizhou karst areas contain rich ecological ideas, which not only have positive social and practical significance for the protection of the ecological en-vironment of the area, but also have an important reference meaning for the promotion of “ecological funeral” or green funeral in China. Different ethnic groups and different areas have different forms of funeral customs, which have their own justifications. Therefore, the Fu-neral and Interment reform should adapt to local conditions, and take into the consideration the characteristics of the karst region in the case of Guizhou, and fully draw on the rational factors of ethnic burial. The present funeral and interment reform can take reference from the following three aspects from the ethnic burial culture of Guizhou:The first is to delimit some appropriate burial zones and maintain properly some burial customs which has ecological value. We advocate various forms of burial in these specific burial zones, for instances, tree burial of the Basha Miao in Con-gjiang country, deep burial of the Chang-clan Yao in Libo county, and sarcophagus tombs of Li-clan Waishu Miao in Qinglong County. These forms of burial with ecological protection value not only play an exemplary role for the ecological protection in ethnic regions, but also will help for the ethnic cultural inheritance. The second is to make full use of the natural characteristics of the karst area, and properly en-courage cave burial which does not take up the cul-tivated land. In this way, not only can the cave burial custom of the Yao in Libo and the Washu Miao in Pingba be kept, but also the cliff burial custom which does not take up the cultivated land could be encouraged among the residents in the karst region. This kind of cliff burial not only re-duces the waste of cultivated land, but also re-stricts the superstitious activities in the funeral. The karst area in Guizhou is very extensive, so it has a unique advantage in conducting cave burial. The funeral and interment reform can take the local conditions into consideration, and play up the ad-vantages of natural environment. Instead of empha-sizing cremation blindly, we should take the cave burial into practice. The third is to convert karst caves into ceme-tery for placing ashes so as to change the tradition-al way of building a cemetery on the hill for placing ashes in the cremation areas. In the karst area, if an area is delimited as a cremation zone, then the burial of body or burial of bone ash coffin should be prohibited. Generally, ashes should be deposi-ted in sepulchral chapels or buried in cemeteries. Although most cemeteries are built on barren hills or land, they still occupy land and waste land re-sources. The use of cement and stone materials creates white pollution. Meanwhile, the construc-tion of cemeteries destroys the mountain and causes soil erosion. Therefore, the cemetery is not the di-rection of the funeral and interment reform in the long run, and also does not meet the original inten-tion of the reform.