SHANGHAI (SCMP): In China, death is traditionally seen as a taboo and often tied to bad luck.
But in Heze, a city in eastern China’s Shandong province, this cultural barrier has given rise to a booming industry.
According to Personage magazine, Lisa Liu, 29, from Heze, was once a teacher. Exhausted and hoarse from the pressure of work, Liu switched careers in July 2023.
After a chance interview, she went into coffin sales, focusing on the European market, particularly Italy.
Her boss took her on a tour of the factory, where she saw the entire coffin production process, from log cutting to carving and assembly.
To the workers, a coffin was just a wooden object. Some even used empty urns as storage boxes at home.
This helped Liu overcome her superstitions about coffins being “inauspicious”.
Unlike heavy, dark-coloured Chinese coffins, Italian ones are lighter and often feature religious carvings.
In China, cremation involves only the body, whereas in Italy, both the body and coffin are cremated together.
Heze is reportedly home to three million paulownia trees, known for being lightweight, having a low ignition point and featuring beautiful grain, therefore making them ideal for the Italian market.
According to the mainland Chinese media outlet Jimu News, Heze’s coffins, priced between US$90 and US$150, are more affordable than European coffins, which range from US$1,100 to US$2,100.
Liu’s factory reportedly exports around 40,000 coffins to Europe each year, generating an annual revenue of nearly 40 million yuan (US$6 million).
Despite challenges such as changing European Union (EU) policies and rising shipping costs, Liu remains optimistic about the future of Heze’s coffin industry.
“People die every day, and everyone will eventually need a coffin,” she told the media.
Similarly, Mibeizhuang village in Hebei province, northern China, has also become a key player in the country’s funeral industry.
The village streets are lined with hundreds of shops with signs like “funeral clothing”, “flower wreaths” and “body bags”.
In recent years, villagers have also introduced eco-friendly products such as biodegradable joss paper and electronic flower wreaths, which are sold through e-commerce platforms to Southeast Asia, Europe and the US.
In the West, young people live-stream burning joss paper to pray for blessings. On one major platform, a stack of paper money is priced at US$15, while in China, it costs less than 10 yuan (US$2).
According to China News Weekly, Mibeizhuang’s funeral supplies industry exceeded one billion yuan (US$145 million) in annual production value in 2020.
In Huian, a city in southeastern China known for its granite, tombstone exports to Japan are valued at nearly two billion yuan annually, the mainland media outlet 36Kr reported.
The rise of China’s funeral industry reflects the complex attitude Chinese society holds towards death.
A funeral insider based in Wuhan, central China, told the SCMP: “We both avoid it and depend on it.”
Many Chinese people believe that merely mentioning death brings bad luck.
The number four is especially avoided because its pronunciation in Chinese is similar to the word for death.
Sociologists have observed that as Chinese funeral customs and industries expand globally and are adopted by different cultures, there is a shift in how death is perceived within Chinese society.
Yang Lei, an associate professor at the School of Sociology in Huazhong University of Science and Technology, told the SCMP:
“The public has undergone a rational shift regarding the so-called taboo against discussing death, or what could be seen as a ‘demystification’ of the perception of death.”
An increasing number of young people in China are confronting the taboo of death.
Last January, prominent Chinese agent Yang Tianzhen staged her own funeral on her birthday, including a memorial service, farewell ceremony and life reflection with friends.
Also, a video influencer @Xiaogang hosted his funeral in Beijing, designing his coffin to resemble a spaceship.
Xiaogang, reflecting on the missed opportunity to say goodbye to his grandmother and a near-death car accident, says these experiences deepened his understanding of life and death.
In Shanghai, a death experience centre offers people the chance to undergo a simulated process of death, cremation and rebirth.
Meanwhile, a funeral services company operates a Ferryman Café, where patrons exchange life and death stories for a free cup of coffee.
On mainland social media platforms, topics like “taking your own obituary photograph” and “writing your will” have generated millions of views.
The younger generation is also entering the funeral industry, becoming undertakers, funeral planners and cemetery designers.
Sociologists note that this openness to death reflects a deeper contemplation of life’s meaning.
Luo Yan, a social worker associate professor from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said:
“For the past century, Chinese individuals have been bound by familial responsibilities. In modern society, as individual obligations weaken, people are left questioning the purpose of their lives.”
Professor Yang added: “Death acts as a mirror, forcing us to confront what truly matters.”
She also advocates for the establishment of death discussion salons in public spaces like libraries and museums to foster life education. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
