The only family events that rivaled funerals for lavishness in pre-Communist China were marriages. Fancy marriages were suppressed during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s but have sprung back.
That has raised the question of how much pent-up demand there may be for a revival of traditional funerals and burials.
Burials pose more challenges than weddings for Chinese authorities, however, because China still bans private ownership of rural land. Cities are too crowded to accommodate new cemeteries.
So the Chinese government is unlikely to let its citizens start burying loved ones in coffins again any time soon. "If the government allowed them to do it again," Ho said, "I cannot imagine how they would control it."
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