The Beijing civil affairs bureau is urging people to think about having their deceased loved ones buried at sea, instead of using traditional forms of burial in a bid to ease pressure on cemeteries.

Government to promote burial at sea.

The bureau said Thursday that 481 families in the capital chose burials at sea in 2009 as a fitting way to say goodbye to their relatives. That was more than double the number who did so in 2008.

Wang Qi, director of the funeral department of the bureau, said the rise in the number of sea burials was in part because of the city's policy of offering them for free. The initiative was introduced in 2008.

Under the policy, the government offers two relatives of the deceased a free journey by ship to Tanggu, Tianjin. People can have their relatives cremated and store their bone ashes for up to eight months before choosing to scatter them at sea free of charge.

Di Zhixin, director of the Beijing Funeral Administration, said sea funerals can only be held in April and September each year because of the restrictions of the tides in Tanggu.

"We've received a lot of bookings for sea funerals this year. The first sea burials of the year will take place next week," Di told METRO on Thursday, adding that up to 40 urns of ashes and 80 relatives can be carried on the ship.

However, the authority says sea burials are still not as "popular" as they should be among Beijingers. Jiang Xiaogang, secretary-general of the Beijing Funeral Association, said funerals at sea have been an option in the capital since 1994 but only around 6,000 have taken place.

"Every year, around 80,000 people die in Beijing. If they all choose land burial, it will use 100,000 sq m of land every year," Jiang said on Thursday. "In a fast-developing city like Beijing, there is no way we can find enough land. That is the reason why cemetery space is so expensive in Beijing."

"In my opinion, if people can accept the environment-friendly sea funerals, they can definitely cut their budgets to 3,000 yuan," he added.

With the coming of Tomb Sweeping Day, the Beijing civil affairs bureau has launched a project to reduce high funeral service fees, including offering cheaper cinerary caskets priced at around 100 yuan, cremation services under 1,000 yuan and cinerary urns storage rates below 10,000 yuan.

The annual festival, which will fall on April 5 this year, is a national holiday in China that is set by the lunar calendar. According to the Beijing civil affairs bureau, as many as 2.5 million people will sweep tombs in the city this year. The first peak of tomb sweeping will arrive on March 27.