Come Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Festival), and the media start highlighting how expensive funeral services have become in recent years. In fact, "it's too expensive to die" has become a standard joke to indicate the extravagant profits the mortuary industry makes.

People have the right to be sensitive about the rising cost of funeral services because it is a reality that no family can escape. But the fact is, people themselves could be blamed for the high cost of funeral services.

To begin with, the authorities in charge of funeral affairs don't agree that funeral services are expensive. At a press conference during the annual sessions of the NPC and CPPCC in March, Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo said the cost of basic funeral services, including transportation and refrigeration of the body, cremation and ash collection, is relatively low because the government has been subsidizing it for years. In most parts of China, basic funeral services generally cost between 1,000 yuan ($161) and 2,000 yuan. Besides, the government promotes free basic funeral service across the country.