In mid-April, a chartered boat will cruise the Yangtze River to the mouth of the East China Sea,swheresit will drop anchor and allow 1,000 Shanghai residents to bid a final farewell to their loved ones before scattering their ashes in the water.

　　While burials at sea go against a deep-rooted Chinese tradition that the dead can't rest until they are buried in the ground, the practice is becoming increasingly popular in Shanghai,swheresa lack of land makes in-ground burials impractical.

　　Shanghai hosts more burials at sea than any other coastal city in the country, and the city is taking steps to make the practice even more wide-spread.

　　The Shanghai Funeral Service Center, a nonprofit government organization, subsidizes charter-boat trips for large groups of families to dispose of remains to ensure the procedure is affordable.

　　Since the practice was introduced in 1991, the number of Shanghai residents favoring sea burials has continually increased, said Wu Zidian, who works with the center.

　　By the end of last year, the center has hosted 58 collective "sea funerals," disposing of the ashes of 7,900 dead people.

　　Last year alone, 1,133 sets of ashes were castsintosthe sea.

　　"People in favor of sea burials are usually those with higher education or overseas background," Wu added.

　　To encourage more people to opt for this choice and help survivors mourn their relatives, the center is planning to set up a gravestone in Fengxian District in the second half of this year, chiseling the names of the dead on it.

　　As a government-subsidized project, the center currently charges 150 yuan for sea burial. The money is mostly spent on the cost of the chartered boat. Participators will depart on a chartered boat from Fengxian District in the southwestern part of the city in the early morning. When the boat reaches the Yangtze River's entry to the East China Sea around noon, a simple mourning ceremony will be hosted and the ashes of the dead will be scatteredsintosthe water.

　　Traditional in-ground burials cost between 4,000 and 100,000 yuan at the city's 40 graveyards, and local officials say they won't approve any more land in the city for graveyards.