<p>A 19-km highway in Yiliang county in southwestern Yunnan province is surrounded by mountains on both sides. The mountains are dotted with white-coloured tombstones marking the graves of the ancestors of the resident. <br /><br />Local officials said the white markers were desecrating the mountain, and therefore ordered people to paint their deceased relatives' tombstones green, "so the mountains could have a more unified colour", China Daily reported.<br /><br />Government officials were making announcements on loudspeakers that every household should paint their ancestors' tombs green, or cover the white gravestones with a green cloth. Those tombstones that stayed white would be blown up with explosives, a report in Kunming-based Chuncheng Evening News said.<br /><br />Staff in district offices said "higher-level officials" ordered them to urge the villagers to do that, because "the white spots on the green mountain were ugly".<br />Villagers were not very pleased with the government decision.<br /><br />"Green tombstones are the weirdest things I've ever heard of," a 60-year-old man said. "The gravestones are meant to allow later generations to pay respect. Why do they have to be green?"<br /><br />But he finally painted his father's tombstone green, because he "did not want it blasted". The green paint "blurred the writings on the monument", he said.<br /></p>
<p>A 19-km highway in Yiliang county in southwestern Yunnan province is surrounded by mountains on both sides. The mountains are dotted with white-coloured tombstones marking the graves of the ancestors of the resident. <br /><br />Local officials said the white markers were desecrating the mountain, and therefore ordered people to paint their deceased relatives' tombstones green, "so the mountains could have a more unified colour", China Daily reported.<br /><br />Government officials were making announcements on loudspeakers that every household should paint their ancestors' tombs green, or cover the white gravestones with a green cloth. Those tombstones that stayed white would be blown up with explosives, a report in Kunming-based Chuncheng Evening News said.<br /><br />Staff in district offices said "higher-level officials" ordered them to urge the villagers to do that, because "the white spots on the green mountain were ugly".<br />Villagers were not very pleased with the government decision.<br /><br />"Green tombstones are the weirdest things I've ever heard of," a 60-year-old man said. "The gravestones are meant to allow later generations to pay respect. Why do they have to be green?"<br /><br />But he finally painted his father's tombstone green, because he "did not want it blasted". The green paint "blurred the writings on the monument", he said.<br /></p>