Simplified handling of weddings and funerals effectively reduces the burden on villagers

"Living standards have improved a lot in recent years, but gift money for weddings and funerals has also risen, and villagers can hardly bear the burden." At the brigade office of Dongwangguan Village, Jingzhong Town, Linzi District, Zibo City, Shandong Province, villager Cui Xingming said while rubbing the mud off his hands.

Whenever gift money is mentioned, this sun-tanned farmer does the math for the reporter: in the village, each gift is two or three hundred yuan, and in a year it is at least two or three thousand yuan. "That is two or three thousand jin of grain given away. Wouldn't that break your heart?"

But now the villagers of Dongwangguan Village are more relaxed. How could a custom that has lasted for centuries change? "Villagers detest and oppose lavish gift money from the bottom of their hearts, but no one is willing to step forward for fear of losing face," said village director Yuan Hong. With the government's promotion and guidance, the villagers simply "followed the lead."

The year before last, Linzi District carried out the "rural custom reform project." All 432 villages and residential communities in the district established wedding and funeral councils, and all wedding and funeral matters are handled throughout according to one standard. Dongwangguan Village responded to the district's call, holding simplified weddings, capping gift money at 50 yuan, and no longer hosting endless banquet tables.

As a member of the village wedding and funeral council, Cui Xingming also took the lead, arranging his son's wedding with everything kept simple. On the wedding day, relatives and friends filled 10 tables, and fellow villagers were no longer entertained at banquet tables at all. The village loudspeaker also notified villagers not to attend the endless banquet tables, and the wedding and funeral council supervised on site. "Now when people marry, villagers give a symbolic bit of money as a blessing. The wedding is lively without worry, romantic without waste," Cui Xingming said.

Speaking of holding weddings for villagers, Liu Xiuming, director of the spiritual civilization construction office of Guanli Village, Sanlihe Subdistrict, Jiaozhou City, spoke without stopping: "Now no matter who in the village gets married, only three cars are used - the village Party secretary's car carries the groom, the village director's car carries the bride, and one more is used for filming. Using the cars costs no money." Those who "lend a hand" at weddings are all village Party committee and committee cadres. In Jiaozhou, all wedding and funeral matters in villages are handled entirely by the wedding and funeral council, and the extravagant atmosphere and outdated customs of showing off pomp and comparing lavishness are gone.

Shandong, in light of rural realities, incorporated custom reform into village rules and conventions, and made the building of wedding and funeral councils an important lever and key task for custom reform work. Wedding and funeral councils are composed of people elected by the masses who are highly respected, enthusiastic about service, fair and impartial, advocate frugality, and have some expertise in etiquette. They follow unified standards, procedures, and ceremonies to help the masses handle wedding and funeral matters throughout, free of charge.

At present, 86,000 wedding and funeral councils have been established across the province, with a coverage rate of 67%. Before the end of 2016, Shandong Province will generally establish and improve wedding and funeral councils.

A funeral registration form in Guanli Village shows that the cost of a recently simplified funeral ceremony in the village totaled 890 yuan. In the past, incense, offerings, hiring an opera troupe, banquets... would cost at least 10,000 yuan, a considerable burden for an ordinary rural family.

Now, the bereaved family follows the wedding and funeral council, distributes wreaths, wears black armbands and chest flowers, and changes kneeling to bowing, which preserves the proper ceremony and spares villagers who have lost loved ones from physical suffering. In Linzi, a funeral costs only 1,000 yuan, and the funeral time is compressed from three days to one day. "You no longer see outdated customs like sending soup and sending travel money. Gradually, superstition is being broken down." Liu Xiuming believes this is more educational for children.

As custom reform work continues to advance, the economic burden on farmers has been significantly reduced, the social atmosphere has also improved, and generous care in life and simple funerals in death have gradually become a consensus among villagers. At present, satisfaction with custom reform among rural people in Shandong has reached 94.2%.