{"id":172397,"date":"2015-12-07T09:25:47","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T09:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=172397"},"modified":"2015-12-07T09:25:47","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T09:25:47","slug":"hong-kong-running-out-of-space-to-bury-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=172397","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong running out of space to bury dead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hong Kong, one of the densest population centers in the world, with only 30 square miles and home to more than a million people, is in the midst of a crisis: where to put the dead?<\/p>\n<p>As the population grows older and there are more deaths per year, space is at a premium, reports the Associated Press.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_172407\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-172407\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hong_kong_burial101.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-172407\" src=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hong_kong_burial101.jpg\" alt=\"Graves cover a hillside in front of apartment buildings.\" width=\"600\" height=\"393\" srcset=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hong_kong_burial101.jpg 600w, https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hong_kong_burial101-300x197.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-172407\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Graves cover a hillside in front of apartment buildings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Back in the &#8217;60s, facing a similar space problem, the government encouraged cremation over traditional burial. Over the last 50 years, the cremation rate has reached 90%.<\/p>\n<div class=\"see-also\"><\/div>\n<p>Now depositories for the dead\u2019s ashes, known as columbaria, are themselves running out of room. While some Hong Kong residents have gone the route of spreading ashes in public parks and the seaside, the mainstream custom is to have a physical place to visit their ancestors.<a href=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hong_kong_burial15.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-172402 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hong_kong_burial15.jpg\" alt=\"hong_kong_burial15\" width=\"600\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hong_kong_burial15.jpg 600w, https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hong_kong_burial15-300x194.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This is particularly important on special holidays, where family members bring money, food and other offerings to their burial site.<\/p>\n<p>To alleviate the problem, both the private and public organizations are offering novel ways for families to pay respects. The government has set up a memorial website, where families can leave virtual offerings.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_172403\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-172403\" style=\"width: 586px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hong_kong_burial04.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-172403\" src=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hong_kong_burial04.jpg\" alt=\"Hong Kong No Space To Die\" width=\"586\" height=\"391\" srcset=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hong_kong_burial04.jpg 450w, https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/hong_kong_burial04-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 586px) 100vw, 586px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-172403\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hong Kong no space to die.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, a laboratory has been able, through intense heat, to turn the remains of loved ones into gemstones that families can keep at home or even wear as jewelry.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Source: Mashable<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hong Kong, one of the densest population centers in the world, with only 30 square miles and home to more than a million people, is in the midst of a crisis: where to put the dead? As the population grows older and there are more deaths per year, space is at a premium, reports the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":172404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-172397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-togbe-afede-xiv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=172397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/172404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=172397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=172397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=172397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}