Environmental and Cultural Impacts of Chair-Shaped Tombs in Wenzhou, China

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-888-2_84How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Wenzhou; chair tombs; green burial; lineage culture; land use; environmental policy

Abstract

This study investigates the unique tradition of “chair-shaped tombs” (椅子坟, yǐzi fén) in rural Wenzhou and its environmental and sociocultural impacts. In Wenzhou’s hillside villages, the late 20th century saw many lineage clans build elaborate seat-like concrete tombs for their ancestors, reviving a deep-rooted burial custom centered on filial piety. However, these tombs have led to significant ecological degradation: the practice has “whitened” once-verdant hillsides with stark cement, destroyed vegetation, and squandered scarce land. Drawing on ethnographic studies and environmental research, this paper analyzes how these tombs evolved and how Wenzhou’s officials and communities are negotiating their dismantling or transformation. We review literature on Chinese burial reforms and green burials, document the “greening-to-whitening” effect of the tombs on landscape ecology, and examine the clash between traditional lineage culture and state-led ecological modernization. Our case study of Wenzhou shows that government campaigns to promote shengtai (生态, “ecological”) burials, smaller graves or communal memorials with no chair-like structures, have achieved notable land savings, yet confront popular resistance rooted in ancestor veneration. Ethnographic accounts indicate that local officials often tacitly tolerate traditional tombs out of respect for ancestral traditions, while higher-level mandates intensify enforcement. By integrating over thirty sources, this paper situates the Wenzhou tomb issue in broader debates on land use, ritual practice, and environmental governance. It concludes that sustainable reform of rural funerary practices requires balancing ecological goals with cultural values, suggesting that future approaches emphasize community participation, education, and culturally sensitive policy measures.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Luke Liu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/03
TI  - Environmental and Cultural Impacts of Chair-Shaped Tombs in Wenzhou, China
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 7th International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 847
EP  - 866
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-888-2_84
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-888-2_84
ID  - Liu2025
ER  -