China News Service, September 30. According to the WeChat public account of the Ministry of Natural Resources, starting from 2025, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Veterans Affairs will organize and carry out special work on the real estate registration of the Martyrs Cemetery (hereinafter referred to as the "Special Work"). After more than a year of hard work, all 5,439 martyrs’ cemeteries across the country (including martyrs’ centralized burial cemeteries and martyrs’ ashes halls) have been registered and issued certificates, successfully achieving the goal of “gardens with certificates, clear ownership, and clear four-dimensional rights.”
The Martyrs Cemetery is a sacred temple where revolutionary martyrs are buried and red memories are buried. It is a core position for inheriting red genes and promoting the spirit of heroes. Issuing a real estate certificate for the martyrs’ cemetery is by no means an ordinary real estate registration business, but a legal protection of property rights for the resting place of the martyrs, safeguarding the glory of the heroes and protecting the red roots.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Veterans Affairs jointly issued a deployment document to clarify goals and tasks, determine methods and paths, and consolidate work responsibilities. On the one hand, it strengthens regular guidance to local governments, and makes every effort to ensure the orderly advancement of special work by organizing regular consultations and judgments, holding city (county) special trainings, etc.; on the other hand, it organizes working groups to conduct surveys and surveys in Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning, Hunan and other places to help local governments solve congestion and difficult problems.
In view of the actual situation of the martyrs’ cemetery being built over a long period of time, with complex land types and incomplete ownership information, all localities adhere to the principles of respecting history, putting easy things first before difficult ones, following laws and regulations, and implementing policies in categories, and promote the resolution of difficult problems through methods such as "leadership alliances", "listing supervision" and "one case, one discussion". Jiangsu and Hubei and other places have established a joint meeting system at the provincial, municipal and county levels to standardize the five links of preliminary investigation, data review, on-site survey, ownership identification and certificate processing, create a standardized process, and escalate the situation when encountering cross-regional registration, process obstruction, etc.; Shandong, Hebei and other places have established Establish a special work team, mobilize key personnel, and formulate registration plans item by item in accordance with "one park, one policy, one issue, one discussion"; Guangdong, Yunnan and other places encourage grassroots bold exploration and form experience and practices such as historical data review, survey definition, and standardized operating procedures to provide demonstrations for related work across the region.
In terms of simplifying the application process, all localities have fully implemented "one-window acceptance, parallel review, and time-limited processing". For applications with clear ownership and complete materials, "immediate processing and quick processing" will be implemented; for applications with multiple parcels of land and multiple buildings (structures), "consolidated processing, joint confirmation of rights, and joint annotation" will be implemented to minimize the processing time limit. Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and other places can accept and issue certificates on the same day for qualified applications. For cemeteries located in remote areas with inconvenient transportation, various localities have innovated service methods and established "mobile service teams" to provide door-to-door services and full-service assistance, realizing the transformation from "waiting to apply" to "proactively coming to the door". Real estate registration agencies in Sichuan, Inner Mongolia and other places proactively contacted the retired military affairs department, intervened in the pre-review of materials in advance, and provided full guidance on material preparation, form filling, and process connection, effectively reducing the number of multiple and repeated operations at grassroots units. Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province carried out on-site research and on-site discussions to bring registration services to the front line.
The special work has achieved full coverage of the rights confirmation and registration of the martyrs’ cemetery, adding a “golden bell” to the protection of the martyrs’ cemetery. All localities strictly implement national unified registration standards, and note in the appendix column of the real estate certificate that "the real estate is a martyrs' cemetery and may not be changed in use without authorization, and may not be mortgaged or sold." This strengthens use control and permanent protection, and lays a solid foundation for legal protection and property rights for the long-term protection of martyrs' cemeteries.
In the next step, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Veterans Affairs will further shoulder their political responsibilities, establish and practice a correct view of political performance, and effectively protect red resources and inherit red genes with heart and soul. The two departments will carefully summarize the experience of special work, publicize typical local practices, continuously enrich and expand practical paths for red resource protection, and establish a practical orientation. The natural resources department will continue to register the real estate of the newly built Martyrs Cemetery, and provide daily registration services for those that have been renovated and expanded in accordance with laws and regulations after the initial registration; registration will not be processed for violations such as mortgage financing and sales, and the public welfare nature of the Martyrs Cemetery will not change. The Department of Veterans Affairs has given full play to the role of the joint coordination mechanism for the protection of martyrs, and jointly with the procuratorate and other departments has continued to correct and severely crack down on illegal occupation of martyrs’ cemeteries and use of martyrs’ cemeteries for commercial activities and other illegal activities.
