Going to Extremes:
It is said that around the early 1960s, a certain leading figure in the government and party passed away, and his funeral, as was customary, was turned over to Extreme Joy. Concerned about the arrangements, the late president inquired as to the cost of the coffin, and the person he asked responded (deliberately or not, who knows?) by stating the expense of the entire funeral. Upon hearing the answer, the late president was appalled and felt that Extreme Joy was making windfall profits; this was an important reason why Extreme Joy was forced later to close its doors.
In his "Two Supplementary Essays on the People's Livelihood and Recreation," President Chiang Kai-shek stated, in order to insure that the people's funeral arrangements would go without worry, that every locality should have a publicly funded funeral hall. This discussion later became the starting point for the construction of funeral halls in the Taiwan area, and also meant that Extreme Joy would no longer be able to monopolize the market. In 1952, Taipei City provisionally set up a simple funeral hall. Then in 1968, the Taipei Municipal Funeral Hall was constructed. The national elder Yu You-jen was the first whose funeral made use of that hall.
After the establishment of the public funeral homes, funerary societies large and small, copying the style of Extreme Joy, popped up like mushrooms after a spring rain. Traditional local operators in this line also followed the herd and held funerals in that fashion. Extreme Joy faced intense competition, and Boss Chien steadily shifted his capital into other areas. In 1971, after the city government tore down the hall in the name of clearing away illegal construction, Extreme Joy passed away into history.
Struggle for business:
The Extreme Joy Funeral Hall came to its end in the early 1970s, which was just when Taiwan was entering its economic take-off. People were busy making money, and had less and less time to take care of family funerals on their own. As a result a large number of funerary societies appeared, becoming an essential new "service industry" of the time.
According to estimates of the Office of Funerals of the Taipei City Government, in Taipei City alone there are more than 200 funerary societies, counting the illegal as well as registered ones. To beat the competition, operators have countless strange tactics and unusual approaches, some being better than others.
For some companies, in order to win business, they have invested a great deal of capital, and, on the basis of the logic that "lamb's wool grows on the body of the lamb," they routinely get the money back from the family of the deceased.
"The more 'flower vehicles' [trucks with strippers, a common part of funerals], dramatic troupes, and other participants there are in the procession, naturally the more the funerary society earns," points out one operator who has been managing funerals for over 40 years. Orthodox and honest operators are pained at such spectacles but find it hard to end the absurdities.
With the "Business of Extreme Joy" having developed to its current level, were Mayor You to be able to see from the grave, he would certainly be shaking his head!
[Picture Caption]
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The funerary societies have all the funeral accoutrements you could imagine. Even if they are only used once, one must still select the best.
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Funeral homes handle all matters large and small; they can even find a "filial daughter" to help the family fully express its filial obligations.
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The Extreme Joy Funeral Hall had its days of glory, and many well-known figures had their final rites here. The photo is from the funeral of Mr. Hu Shih. (photo courtesy of the Hu Shih Memorial Hall at the Academia Sinica)