More people planning ahead for end of life

Pre-plan funeral arrangement contracts are gaining acceptance in China with an increasing number of people thinking about planning the last chapter of their lives.

The service, which is mature in many overseas countries such as the United States and Japan, allows people to decide their own funeral arrangements, which are protected via contracts.

Once those signing the contracts die, service providers arrange funerals based on their wills with the deciders changed from relatives of the deceased to the perished themselves.

The personalized service can also involve hospice care, memorial services and death education.

Xiao Ying, born in 1984, signed a pre-plan funeral arrangement contract after her mother did so. She is divorced with a daughter.

"Tomorrow and the unexpected, you never know which one will come first," she said.

The idea originated when Xiao accompanied her mother to sign a pre-plan contract.

"I worried that my daughter didn't know how to handle this if I die, so I decided to make pre-plans," Xiao's mother said.

"Since I'm getting older, I will leave you sooner or later," she told Xiao.

They signed the contracts at Fu Shou Yuan International Group, the largest cemetery and funeral service provider in China, a signing process that was filled with a sense of ritual.

Fu Shou Yuan introduced the service in 2015 and has expanded it to nearly 40 cities across the nation.

"The demand is growing rapidly every year," said Gu Yang, a life education promoter and pre-plan service designer for the group.

Last year, the group received close to 14,000 contracts for pre-plan funeral arrangements, compared with less than 6,000 a year earlier and fewer than 5,000 in 2019.

On Thursday, the funeral service provider announced it has teamed up with JD.com and put the service on the e-commerce platform for the first time to satisfy surging demand.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has made people's attitudes more open when they talk about death, which is no longer a taboo topic in China," said Gu. "The uncertainties for the future have also increased people's anxiety, and the service is deemed as a comfort for seniors in case of the unexpected."