An increasing number of residents are choosing to have their ashes scattered at sea, Legal Evening News reported on Monday. According to the Beijing Funeral Service Center, more than 700 contracts had been signed for sea funerals from January to the end of March, and the total contracts for such services in 2014 are expected to reach some 2,400. The center started the service in 1994, when fewer than 100 people's ashes were scattered at sea.