Photo taken on April 5, 2011 shows flowers on the gravestones in a cemetery in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, April 5, 2011. More and more people choose to use flowers instead of burning incense and candles while mourning for the deceased relatives and friends. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

Zhou Shufen from China's Sichuan Province has recently applied for a green burial plot in Lianhua Cemetery for herself.

The 80 year old Zhou believes in simplicity and in letting nature take its course after she's dead. She believes that being buried in a biodegradable casket without being embalmed and replacing a tradtional headstone with a tree is a beautiful notion.

Zhou's decision, however, has met with a fierce storm of disapproval from her three children who consider this alternative burial method "too shabby" and fear that they will be considered "unfilial" if they bury their elderly this way.

Eco-friendly burials, like scattering ashes in the waters of seas or rivers or burying them under trees or flowers rather than digging graves, have been promoted by the Chinese government in recent years as part of a strategy to conserve land and protect the environment.

However, many Chinese people, including Zhou's three children, hold on to the traditional belief that inhumation is the best form of burial. Many see green burials as an idea to play with once in a while, but not something to become a realistic option.