Funeral Service in Taiwan

choi

Joyce Huang, Taiwan's Lungyen Brings Its Funeral Business To the Mainland. Forbes Asia, Aug 12, 2013 (cover story)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/forb ... ss-to-the-mainland/

Quote: "He [David Lee] started Lungyen two decades ago, and it can claim to be the world’s third-largest funeral specialist by market capitalization, at $1.23 billion. Only Service Corp International (SCI) and Hillenbrand of the US are larger.

"Whether for future or current use, the resting places account for 70% of the company’s sales and have quadrupled in five years. (In the first half of 2013 the company reported pretax profit of $32.7 million on $68 million of revenues, a sales drop-off from the year-earlier period when its latest outdoor urn spaces were put on offer.)

"All clients are treated with care with a money-back satisfaction guarantee. * * * while pro bono funeral services are given to those in need.

"The success and scope of the 480-employee outfit in Taiwan, no doubt, has caught the attention of the city government of Wenzhou, in China’s Zhejiang Province, which approached Lungyen to lead its effort to pioneer funeral reform on the mainland. In March Lungyen committed to eventually put $489 million into the city, including service instruction and the construction of a top columbarium.

Note:
(a)
(i) David LEE/  Lungyen Life Service Corp    (董事長) 李世聰/ 龍巖股份有限公司
(ii) "general manager LIU Wei-lung"    總經理：劉偉龍
(b) "Sun-Life of Japan"
(i) 株式会社サンライフ  Sun Life Corp
http://www.sunlife.jp/
(ii) "SUN LIFE CORPORATION is a Japan-based company primarily engaged in the hotel, funeral and Buddhist memorial, as well as nursing care businesses." Reuters' business profile.

(c) "Meantime, Lee initiated expensive construction of a 20-story columbarium at his cemetery site, a so-called yin zhai (residence for the deceased). Cremation is now the vastly preferred means of handling the deceased in Taiwan, where the price of scarce burial grounds has skyrocketed."
(i) columbarium
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/columbarium

Pay attention to its etymology.
(ii) "yin zhai"  龍巖陰宅

PAGODA塔位商品
http://www.lungyengroup.com.tw/Product/Pagoda
("純白似雪 來世無瑕[:]  國際建築大師安藤忠雄首件寶塔空間設計，讓先人進駐於此，光宗耀祖，與有榮焉。
國際藝術大師王俠軍設計白瓷面板，精緻高雅，意義非凡，品味提升。
世紀夢幻組合之設計、絕無僅有，數量有限")

The quotation explains what the article later (in Web page 2) states, "Renowned architect Tadao Ando and glass artist Heinrich Wang were recently recruited by Lungyen to collaborate on the interior design of the pagoda’s 17th floor, where their artistic exhibit, 'Flawless,' anchors urn spaces that go for a minimum 30% premium, at up to $44,000 apiece."

(d) "QIAO Kuanyuan, a business professor at the University of Shanghai for Science & Technology"
乔宽元/ 上海理工大学
(e) "YANG Kuo-chu, deputy director of the Life Ceremonial Research Centre at Nanhua University in Taiwan"
私立 南華大學(嘉義縣) 生死學系助理教授 楊國柱