On average, cremation costs 1,000 yuan on the mainland. Many providers profit from selling urns and cemetery plots at high mark-ups, the media have reported.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs pledged in early April to regulate the industry and gradually provide citizens free funeral and interment services nationwide.

Cremation has been widely promoted in China since the 1950s and accounts for nearly half of interments nationwide, according to the green book on the country's funeral development issued by the ministry.

In 2008, Beijing began offering free services to residents who wished to bury their deceased family members at sea, as the capital's cemetery space is inadequate.

Last year, 481 families chose the sea internments, more than twice the 2008 figure, Beijing's civil affairs bureau said.