China targets funeral industry corruption in new anti-graft campaign

China held a videoconference this week to launch a campaign aimed at rooting out corruption in the funeral industry, bringing together officials from the Communist Party of China, various State Council departments, and provincial authorities.

Yu Hongqiu, deputy head of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision, along with Minister of Civil Affairs Lu Zhiyuan, addressed the meeting on Tuesday, according to China Discipline Inspection and Supervision News, a newspaper overseen by the CCDI and NCS.

Officials at the meeting called for a focused effort to investigate and punish corruption cases in the funeral industry. They also urged a crackdown on other illegal activities in the sector, the reform of funeral services, the improvement of related laws and regulations, and the promotion of modern funeral customs.

The funeral industry impacts many households, the meeting emphasized, and addressing corruption in this area is a key part of China's broader campaign to combat corruption at the grassroots level.

Discipline inspection commissions, civil affairs authorities, and other departments were instructed to coordinate their efforts, set up mechanisms for information sharing, and collaborate on investigations during the campaign.

Grassroots-level authorities in a number of provinces, including Sichuan, Gansu, and Jilin, have intensified efforts to tackle corruption in the funeral sector this year.

Earlier this month, in Gansu's Weiyuan county, authorities solicited public reports on irregular practices such as price gouging, pressuring families into purchasing unnecessary services, and colluding with intermediaries to control pricing.

Similar efforts were made by officials in Yinchuan's Jinfeng district, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Tonggu county in Jiangxi province, and Wusu in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The crackdown has led to the exposure of a number of officials and employees within local funeral services this year. In July, the discipline inspection commission in Dazhou, Sichuan province, said it had launched investigations into 89 individuals in the funeral industry. In June, Kaijiang County authorities in Dazhou expelled a former funeral service head from the CPC and public office for taking bribes and referred his case for prosecution.