A Chinese Funeral

None of the quiet soft lighting, low music and dignity there. If I had not known what the place was I would have taken it for a normal business. Loads of people all pushing and shoving to make sure they could be first in the queue to get the myriad of bits of paper needed to book and buy the services on offer. Plus some attempted haggling over prices. But as these places are government run the price on the sticker is what you pay.

Coffins were stacked on a rack nearby allowing you to choose easily and around the corner was a glass cabinet holding samples of the caskets for the ashes. Another counter hired out traditional mourning clothes. The staffs were brusque -as is usual in China-none of the sympathetic quiet service you might expect in a western funeral parlor. It is after all a business and one where the customers never run out.