Party members and officials will not be allowed to have memorial meetings or luxury funerals after they pass away, according to the latest notification on promoting funeral and interment reform released by the State Council and the General Office of the CPC Central Committee on Thursday.

Party members should allow their bodies to be cremated after death in regions with little arable land, said the document, adding that the families of the Party members should understand and support their decisions.

Officials and Party members should take the lead to follow an ecological way of burial like sea burial and the ashes should be scattered, it said.

The notification also banned luxury funerals, which have been used as a way to collect money by some people.

It also said Party members and officials should donate their bodies or organs after passing away.

Superstitious activities, like burning paper and firecrackers during tomb-sweeping days should be replaced by presenting flowers and chanting Chinese classic poems and articles as well as planting trees, it added.

Party members should also promote funeral and burial reform by encouraging their family members to abandon superstitious funeral arrangements. However, those from ethnic groups can still follow their traditional customs. 

A principal quit and a vice-principal was removed from his post in March 2011 for renting out the campus of Xinhe High School in Wenling, Zhejiang Province for an expensive funeral ceremony, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

An official working in the local tax bureau that assisted in the funeral was also fired.