China will crack down on profiteering in the nation's booming markets for funerals and burial plots, state media reported Tuesday, amid a growing outcry over the soaring costs of a proper burial.

New draft regulations will rein in speculative trade in burial plots, which are now typically about 14 times more expensive than 10 years ago, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Cemeteries will only be allowed to sell tombs or urns for ashes to customers with death certificates of relatives or friends," it quoted the draft regulations as saying.

Violators face fines of up to three times the profit they make.

Similar penalties will be imposed on those who build graveyards without approval or who sub-lease burial plots to others, it said...