The Chinese cemetery in Zwolle will be twice as large. Because Chinese people from home and abroad would like to have a grave in Zwolle, the expansion is already necessary now, four years after opening.
The cemetery is allowed to expand because it was agreed in 2016 that if two-thirds of the graves were sold, more could come. According to the municipality of Zwolle, 195 of the 230 available graves had already been sold last year, about 85 percent.
“We can even say that 90 percent of the seats have been sold”, says Cai Xia Tung of the Chinese elderly association Het Zonnetje. She is proud of the cemetery. “It is simply the most beautiful Chinese cemetery in the Netherlands. Chinese from France, Spain, Italy, and so on, they all want to have their ‘last home’ here,” she says. RTV East.
Built up gradually
That’s what the tomb is called in the community. “The custom is that we buy a grave while alive, in order to save the next of kin too much work and costs,” says Xia Tung. “Often a grave is laid out together, for the man and the woman. The man is always on the right, the woman always on the left.”
The Chinese cemetery in Zwolle is built up step by step. “That’s what makes this place unique,” continues Xia Tung. “The graves are located around the pond, according to the custom. The new graves will be extended and the pond will also be expanded.”
Work will start tomorrow, and the new part should be ready in April 2021.
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