Guangdong officials sued for stealing corpses

One man from Guangxi province and two from Guangdong have been sued for allegedly stealing corpses. The two suspects from Guangdong are former government officials, Yulin Daily reported.

The two officials from Guangdong surnamed Dong and He were both county-level officials in charge of reforming the funeral system. In order to fulfill their mandatory quota for cremation, Dong and Guo bought corpses from Zhong, a Guangxi native, who stole corpses from Beiliu, Guangxi province. Dong said he bought 10 corpses from Zhong for 3,000 yuan ($491) per body and cremated them afterwards.

China has been encouraging cremation since the 1950s. Because of faith and Chinese traditional views, many still prefer ground burial rather than cremation.

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