Do-it-yourself funerals(2)

Afraid to speak

Few people so far have chosen to take this opportunity. "The elderly are afraid to speak about their funerals. It is all right for them to buy graves when they are alive because they want to make sure that they have a place for their soul to stay when they pass away. Just like young people buying houses. Graves give the old a sense of security. But in the Chinese tradition it is thought to bring bad luck to talk about or prepare for their own funerals," Wang said.

Old people who have no offspring find themselves in a dilemma and want assistance. An inquiry hotline for the service was established and there have been hundreds of inquiries though few have asked for details and pamphlets to be sent to their home addresses.

"We received one call from an old man who lived in a nursing home. When we offered to send information to him and visit him, he refused. He said it would be humiliating to let others know that he had no children to arrange his funeral. He was also afraid that others in the nursing home would feel it was unlucky to have contact with anyone in the funeral industry," Wang said. "Some others have been ill and said they wanted to sign contracts but when they recovered, they did not want to pursue the matter any further."

On one occasion, the center staff visited a nursing home reserved for childless elderly people. Eight people were interested but only three visited the center later. "One of the carers at the nursing home told us that most of the people there were very worried about their funerals but were frightened of breaking the tradition of not speaking about it," Wang said.

In China funerals for most old people without children are arranged by relatives or government officials. Sometimes even neighbors help.

According to Wu the six people who have signed funeral contracts are all well educated. "We have doctors, university professors and teachers. Seventy percent of the people who phoned us are well educated," Wu said.

Under supervision

The service comes with guarantees for the participants. Wu said anyone signing a contract can choose one of the 11 funeral homes and cemeteries of the Shanghai Funeral and Interment Service Center and they can appoint a supervisor to oversee all the details.

"The client can appoint a supervisor who can be a relative or friend, or an organization, like the neighborhood committee. The client can change the supervisor whenever he or she wants to. The Shanghai Funeral and Interment Service Center is the guarantor. If there is a problem, the guarantor will help find a solution," Wu said.

The prices for the service range from 1,000 ($158) to 10,000 yuan. Some contracts cover the cost of a funeral, but not a grave or a banquet, though banquets are hard to organize in advance. "It is too much work and it is often too difficult to plan the food beforehand," Wu said. Clients can add special requests like for clothes, flowers or the type of hearse.

"We have a reserve fund of 1 million yuan to counter inflation. If a client pays 1,000 yuan for a funeral and the price goes up to 1,500 yuan when the client dies 10 years later, the price difference will be covered by the reserve fund," Wu said.

He said that the 11 funeral homes and cemetery companies contribute to the fund to ensure there is an annual balance of 1 million yuan.

"The funeral homes and cemeteries do not check constantly on the state of health of their clients - when a client dies the supervisor contacts the funeral home which then sends a hearse to pick up the body. Invitations will be automatically posted according to the client's prepared list of mourners and eventually the ashes will be taken to a cemetery or scattered at sea according to the contract," Wu said.

Applications rejected

To be eligible for this service clients must have no children, be more than 70 years of age or be suffering from a serious disease. And the client has to have a Shanghai hukou (residency permit) or to be married to the owner of a Shanghai hukou.

Zhao Huiying, a communications officer with the Shanghai Funeral and Interment Service Center, said that hotline has had many inquiries from potential clients and families who failed to meet the conditions.

Sadly they have had to reject applications from people who have children with serious mental or physical disabilities. Also rejected have been people whose children live abroad and could not return for a parent's funeral.

"The service is a non-profit service and we do not receive any contributions from the government. If we offered the service to everyone, it would be difficult to cover the expense. But we are considering allowing people whose children have mental or physical disabilities," Wang said.

Wu said that statistics from three major funeral parlors in downtown Shanghai showed that 800 young people aged between 20 and 35 years died in 2010. These young people who died were usually the only child and their parents would be unable to have another child, resulting in the problem of older people finding themselves without children.

Similar services have been running for some time in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Western countries.

"Unlike this project, the similar services offered overseas are usually profit-oriented. We have talked with insurance companies to see whether we can turn the project into a commercial one. This is the only way the project can benefit everyone. But there is still a long way to go," Wang said.