Liu Guigen, 49, is the first senior master of funerals in the city of Shanghai.

Employed by the Shanghai Feisi Funeral Services Agency, a company supervised by the local civil affairs bureau, Liu has presided over nine funerals as a professional to date.

Liu's interest in funerary matters began four years ago when he volunteered his services to colleagues and friends.

Last September, Liu decided to pursue his avocation full time, for which he felt he could make use of his rich experience as a public speaker.

Liu's duties range from seeing to all funerary procedures to writing memorial speeches to designing ceremonies for customers.

His service not only attracts local customers, but also those from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau who were born in Shanghai and wish to be buried in their ancestral home.

Usually he charges 100 yuan (US$12) for a simple 15-minute funeral and 500 to 800 yuan for a grand one.

"Presiding over funerals is not for everyone," said Liu. "You must be skilled in writing, organizing and interviewing. You must be innovative enough to fulfill the special requirements of your customers."

Once he organized a funeral costing over 1 million yuan for the head of a famous business group in Hong Kong. About 180 guests attended.

"What they wanted was a funeral of typical Hong Kong style. The family members were dressed in hempen mourning garments. I announced each guest's presence, directed them how to behave and then introduced them to the family to exchange bows," Liu recalled.

He claims he puts his own emotions and spirit into funerals because he regards his job as a career rather than a daily routine.

"Some people cannot understand why I chose such a profession. Actually it chose me," said Liu. "I do the best I can."

Compared to the booming market of wedding organizing, hiring professionals to assist in a funeral is still a novel idea.

There are about 100,000 funerals in the city each year.

However, only several thousand are arranged by professional funeral service agencies.

"Agencies like Feisi are enjoying steady growth," said Zhu Huamin of the Shanghai Funeral Culture Research Institute.

"But there's still a long way to go," he added.

Zhu pointed out several difficulties for the industry, including a lack of advertising and bad publicity for the industry from unqualified companies that engage in unscrupulous behavior.

"Social bias (in the profession) is also to blame," said Zhu.

But he added that he remains optimistic.

Zhu said he is confident that practices in the West, where opulent funerals are rather common, will gradually influence Chinese customers in the near future.

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