Burial in Hong Kong: what happens after six years?

Two things first

First: we are a joss paper shop. We do not arrange funerals, burials, exhumations or anything to do with cemeteries. This page only gathers what government pages say, with a link and the date we checked each one.

Government pages change. When you actually make arrangements, go by FEHD’s latest version, or phone their offices.

Second: burial is not more “filial” than cremation, or the other way round. And if a grave in a public cemetery has to be exhumed, nobody has done anything wrong; that is simply how Hong Kong’s public cemeteries work. For cremation, see our separate page, Cremation in Hong Kong.

Public or private cemetery: what is the difference?

In Hong Kong, public cemeteries are run by the FEHD (Food and Environmental Hygiene Department). Its coffin burial page lists four with burial grounds: Wo Hop Shek, Cheung Chau, Tai O, and Lai Chi Yuen in Mui Wo (checked 26 September 2026).

The three on outlying islands have a residence condition. The deceased has to be an indigenous villager of the Islands District, or a bona fide resident who lived there continuously for at least 7 years (10 for Cheung Chau), or their minor child. The application needs a letter from the local Rural Committee, a village-affairs body, and a statutory declaration.

The same FEHD page says: “A grave space can be obtained on application and payment of the prescribed fee through a licensed undertaker at the respective Cemetery Office.” A licensed undertaker is what many countries would call a funeral director.

Beyond the public cemeteries, the government’s After-death Arrangements website says families “can bury deceased bodies in the burial grounds of private cemeteries. Enquiries about the application procedures for a grave space in a private cemetery and details of charges should be made direct to the management of the cemetery concerned.”

The Chinese Permanent Cemeteries (華人永遠墳場) at Aberdeen, Chai Wan, Tseung Kwan O and Tsuen Wan are run by the Board of Management of the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries (checked 26 September 2026).

When you search for facilities on its website, the 設施可用期限 filter (roughly, how long a facility can be used) offers several options: 無需續期(永久) (no renewal needed, permanent), 可續期 (renewable) and 不可續期 (non-renewable). Which kind of grave falls under which, for how long and at what price is something we do not paraphrase. Ask the Board directly.

The six-year rule, in the government’s words

If you assumed a grave stays for good, this part may be new to you. In Cantonese it is called 執骨 (jap gwat), literally “picking up the bones”; the official term is exhumation. Two government pages put it like this (both checked 26 September 2026):

In plain terms: a coffin burial in an FEHD public cemetery is not for ever. Once it has been more than six years, the family arranges for the remains to be exhumed. The whole route looks like this:

The government’s After-death Arrangements website adds that the exhumation itself is carried out by a registered mason. FEHD’s coffin burial page says the exhumation permit comes from its Cemeteries and Crematoria Offices in Hung Hom or Happy Valley.

If the remains have not been exhumed when the order expires, FEHD’s page says: “the Government will disinter the remains, cremate them, and re-inter the ashes in the Communal Grave at Sandy Ridge Cemetery.” We quote this not to alarm you, but so you know what the official arrangement is instead of guessing.

After exhumation: where can the bones go?

The After-death Arrangements website: “After the exhumation, members of the public may apply for cremation of the exhumed remains, re-bury the remains at an urn grave of a public / private cemetery, or deposit them in an ossuary of a private cemetery.” FEHD’s Notes (6) add the paperwork for moving them further (both checked 26 September 2026):

• Cremated. Form FEHB 263, plus the fee for cremating skeletal remains (HK$90 on the fee list). After that, the ashes have the same options as after any cremation; see the ashes section of Cremation in Hong Kong.
• Reburied in an urn grave. An urn grave (金塔墓穴, literally a “golden pagoda” grave) is a grave for bones or ashes rather than a coffin. On the public side, FEHD’s page mentions reburial “in an urn grave in the Wo Hop Shek Cemetery”, using form FEHB 262 (Notes (6) say this is handled only at the Hung Hom office). For a private cemetery’s urn graves, ask that cemetery.
• Placed in a private ossuary. An ossuary (骨庫) is a place for keeping bones. Ask the cemetery about arrangements and fees. Moving remains to another private cemetery needs the original and a copy of that cemetery’s letter permitting the burial.
• Moved to the Mainland. The original and copies of documents from the local Chinese authority permitting burial in the deceased’s native place; the name has to match FEHD’s records.
• Exported for burial overseas. The originals and copies of documents from the overseas cemetery permitting the burial, and the documents for importing the remains there; again, the name has to match FEHD’s records.

What the receiving country needs before it lets remains in, or lets them be buried, is a question for the cemetery and the authorities there. We cannot answer it and will not guess.

What does FEHD charge?

Only figures from FEHD’s List of Charges for Cemeteries and Crematoria Services (checked 26 September 2026).

The fee page shows no effective date, and says nothing about different rates for different kinds of applicant. Please check the page again before relying on it. Private cemeteries, undertakers, masons and headstones set their own prices; those are not on this list, and we do not quote them.

What happens on the day of the burial?

The government pages describe only a few steps (After-death Arrangements website and FEHD’s coffin burial page, checked 26 September 2026):

1. Book the date. “At least two days before the burial, book the date of burial with the office of the cemetery where the deceased is to be buried.”
2. Prepare the documents. For a public cemetery: form FEHB 144 (with the hired licensed undertaker’s details, stamped with the undertaker’s chop recognised by FEHD), the death registration certificate (Form 10) or the certificate of the order authorising burial (Form 11), and the original identity documents of the deceased and of the applicant.
3. Put up a headstone afterwards. FEHD’s page: “One can make private arrangements with a mason for erection of a tombstone on the grave.”

As for the ceremony at the graveside, whether Buddhist chanting, Christian prayers, or simply standing quietly for a while, every religion, every place and every family does it differently. The government pages we read do not prescribe any of it.

We do not write up details we cannot source. For how your family does it, the undertaker, your religious community or your older relatives will know best.

Burial overseas: choosing a cemetery, asking about its rules

If the burial is where you live now, the rules are set by that country, that city, and often that particular cemetery. We cannot tell you foreign law and will not guess.

Whether you can burn anything, or leave food offerings, has no single answer. What you can do is ask the cemetery office before you choose. These are questions worth asking, not answers:

• Is the plot permanent, or for a fixed term? How is it renewed or moved?
• Is burning incense, joss paper or candles allowed? Only in a set place, or in a set container?
• Can food offerings and flowers be left? When do they have to be cleared?
• Are there rules on headstone size, material, or Chinese characters in the inscription?
• Are there sections by religion or culture?
• If the family later wants to move the remains, or take them to Hong Kong, what is involved?

If your family burns joss paper (paper offerings for the dead) or leaves food at the grave, these are practical questions to ask, not fussy ones. We have not verified the official procedure for bringing a body from abroad to Hong Kong for burial, so this page does not cover it; for ashes, see Cremation in Hong Kong.

Afterwards: Qingming and Chung Yeung

Qingming (spring) and Chung Yeung (autumn) are two festivals when many Chinese families traditionally visit their ancestors’ graves, sweep them and make offerings. A burial gives the family a grave to go back to. But if you live abroad, or the grave is in Hong Kong and you cannot get there, the question comes each year: what do we do this time?

• Going to the grave yourself for the first time. See What to bring to a Chinese grave visit.
• The first year after a burial. Some families visit a new grave earlier; see First Qingming after a death.
• If you cannot get there. See Tomb sweeping when you cannot visit the grave.
• At home. No ancestral tablet or censer needed: see Ancestor worship at home, without an altar.

Families do this differently. Doing what you can, with care, is already the remembering.