In Hong Kong is it costlier to die than to live?

Mangalore Today News Network

China, June 06, 2014:  Yes, according to press reports, the cost of a final resting place is even beyond the reach of billionaires.

“In Hong Kong, people cannot buy a final resting place even if they have all the money in the world,” said Hoi Pong Kwok, funeral director at Heung Fok Undertaker. “The government doesnt just have to settle housing needs for the living. It also needs to address those of the dead.” In land-hungry Hong Kong, where more than 7 million people are packed into just 30 per cent of the territory, failure to vacate a plot after six years means bodies will be exhumed by the government, cremated and put in a communal grave.

While the funeral policy has resulted in a surge in the number of people being cremated—90 per cent of the city’s dead were cremated in 2013, up from 38 per cent in 1975— cremation is by no means the answer for those seeking a resting place.  Securing a niche in a public columbarium—a drab concrete structure where urns are placed—can take up to five years, and there are officially more than 21,800 deceased waiting list for space, which costs more than HK$3,000.

Land shortages in the late 1970s forced Hong Kong to ban construction of new permanent burial sites, and public cemeteries were ordered to ensure the remains of the deceased be exhumed and cremated after six years to make way for newcomers.   The policy has done little to ease the grave shortage in a city where more than 40,000 people die each year.

Those who cant stand the wait must pay as much as HK$1 million ($129,000) for a niche about the size of a sheet of A4 paper in a privately owned crematorium.  At Lung Shan Temple in Fanling district, a private plot measuring 63 square inches (0.04 square metres) with “the most auspicious position” costs HK$1.8 million. 

With a luxury home in Hong Kong costing roughly HK$151,389 per square metre, that means its more expensive to house the dead than the living.  People in many parts of the world will thank the stars they are not in Hong Kong and that  they can rest in peace at any time for  more reasonable costs.  It certainly is food for thought.