 Image copyright AFP Image caption Many in China believe the body must be intact for a peaceful afterlife 
 
 Two officials in Guangdong province have been arrested after they allegedly bought corpses from grave robbers to have them cremated, Chinese media say. In late June, a resident surnamed Gu from Shizhai Village of Beiliu City in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region reported his grandfather's body was stolen from the graveyard where it was buried. In July, police in Beiliu arrested a grave robber, surnamed Zhong based on an investigation, official news agency Xinhua said, citing Chinese media. Zhong said he has stolen more than 20 corpses in local villages at night, put them into bag, and transported them by motorcycle to neighboring Guangdong Province. He said he sold the corpses to two officials from Gaozhou City and Huazhou City in Guangdong. Perhaps these heavy-handed Anhui bureaucrats could learn a thing or two from the Hong Kong model of funeral and internment reform. They said they were trying to ensure government quotas on the number of cremations every month were met. China has a long tradition of ancestor worship, which usually requires families bury their relatives and construct a tomb. Relevant organs claim that the ban is intended to save land, but in a country where local governments rely so heavily on land transfers for their revenue, it's not hard to see why people are cynical about just who they want to save this land for. Dong was found to have bought 10 corpses for 3000 yuan each, while the number of bodies purchased by He was unavailable. The official surnamed He said he paid 1,500 yuan for each corpse but how many he bought is unknown.
– Two officials in southern China offered up a pretty bizarre explanation after being arrested for allegedly purchasing dug-up corpses, according to local media: They needed to meet their cremation quotas. The official Xinhua news agency reports that the case had its beginnings in June, when a resident of Beiliu City in south China's Guangxi region reported that his dead grandfather's body was taken from its grave; police investigated and ended up arresting an alleged grave robber surnamed Zhong the next month. Zhong confessed to stealing more than 20 corpses under the cover of night—and then selling them to two officials from neighboring Guangdong province. The suspects, officials surnamed He and Dong, were then arrested. China has been encouraging cremation as a way to preserve more land for farming and development, reports the BBC. Some residents have been burying family members in secret to sidestep the new policy, and in May, Shanghaiist reported that six elderly residents of Anhui, a town that banned burials outright, killed themselves before the change went into effect in order to secure a burial. In Gaozhou City and Huazhou City, the local governments had set cremation quotas based on the previous year's deaths, and He and Dong were charged with implementing the funeral changes. They allegedly told police they bought the bodies in order to hit their quotas; Dong is said to have spent nearly $5,000 on 10 corpses, while He allegedly bought an unspecified number for about $250 each. Elsewhere in China, 11 have been arrested for their alleged connection to a "corpse bride."