Talk about death comes alive in ageing Hong Kong

Hongkongers are more willing to discuss death including their own funeral wishes in the wake of the Covid pandemic, mass emigration and the deadly Tai Po fire, amid a rapidly ageing population, a death education advocate says.Pasu Ng Kwai-lun, founder of Minimal Funeral and a practitioner of “life-and-death education”, said attitudes had changed and people had grown much more open to discussing death over the past five to 10 years.“People may not go as far as fully planning their funerals, but at least they are saying a few things now,” he told the South China Morning Post at a retirement expo during the Ching Ming Festival on Sunday.“Whether they want something simple, whether they want certain rituals, or how they want to be remembered.”Conversations around death remain sensitive in Chinese culture, as Ng noted his booth was “practically the only one discussing death and funeral arrangements” despite the exhibition’s focus on retirement planning, though he added that recent social changes had pushed more people to confront the issue.He pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought mortality into sharp focus, as well as a wave of emigration that has left some elderly residents with fewer family members nearby.Last November’s catastrophic fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po – which killed 168 people – had also prompted intense reflection on mortality and safety in the city.