What are the funeral options in Hong Kong?

Two things first

First: we are a joss paper shop. We do not arrange funerals, cremations or burials, and we do not perform religious rites or chanting. This page mainly puts in order what government pages say; the section on religion quotes a research report and a church document. Each point links to the original.

Government pages change. When you actually make arrangements, go by the latest version of the government pages.

Second: every route below is one the government itself lists. None of them is the more “filial” choice. Filial piety (孝) is the duty owed to parents and ancestors. The official pages do not rank the options by it, and neither do we.

The official order: three steps

In Hong Kong, public crematoria and cemeteries are run by the FEHD (Food and Environmental Hygiene Department). The government’s After-death Arrangements website sets out the process in steps. The first three look like this (checked 26 September 2026):

1. Register the death. In the government’s words: “The registration of deaths may be conducted by the family members of the deceased in person or by their authorised licensed funeral parlours / licensed undertakers of burials.” The site says it normally takes 30 minutes.
2. Arrange the funeral. From the funeral arrangements page: “After the death of a family member, the bereaved have to engage a licensed undertaker of burials or a licensed funeral parlour to assist with the funeral or burial arrangements.” A licensed undertaker is what many countries would call a funeral director.
3. Cremation or burial. From the page on handling the body: “After the funeral, the body should be transported to a crematorium for cremation or a cemetery for burial.” The same page notes that, by law, cremation or burial must be handled by a licensed undertaker.

The funeral arrangements page also advises families to “understand the details of service charges of different licensed undertakers of burials or licensed funeral parlours; and carefully consider whether the items suggested are necessary and whether the charges are reasonable.”

That is the government speaking, not us. Asking what each item is for, and what it costs, is not rude. It is what the official page tells you to do.

The funeral: a parlour hall, or a hospital farewell?

The funeral arrangements page lists two formats: a “traditional funeral (conducted at a service hall of a funeral parlour)”, and “farewell services in hospitals (conducting simple memorial rites at a hospital / public mortuary)”.

In Cantonese the second is called 院出 (yuen chut, roughly “leaving from the hospital”). The government’s page on it explains: “The bereaved engage an undertaker to collect the body from the hospital or a public mortuary, and then proceed with the funeral procession directly without holding a ceremony at a funeral parlour.”

In a hospital’s dedicated room or farewell room, the same page says: “A simple farewell rite of about 30 minutes can be conducted (please confirm the time with the relevant hospital first).” If the family wants to burn paper offerings, the page also says: “Burning of joss sticks or joss papers are usually restricted. Only outdoor joss paper burners can be used for burning a small amount of joss papers,” and “a few hospitals do not have joss paper burners.”

Which format to choose depends on the person’s wishes, the family and the budget. Undertakers and funeral parlours set their own prices, which are not on any official list, so we do not quote them.

Cremation

A cremation is booked as a time slot at an FEHD crematorium, by the family or by a licensed undertaker on their behalf. FEHD’s fee list shows HK$1,220 for an adult cremation (checked 26 September 2026; the page gives no effective date).

On how many families choose cremation, the government’s After-death Arrangements website says: “In recent years, while some people have still opted for burial, more than 95% of the members of the public have adopted cremation as the way to handle deceased bodies.” (The page gives no year for the figure, only “in recent years”; checked 26 September 2026.) Whichever route you take is your family’s decision; how many others choose it does not make it better or worse.

The steps, the fees, where the ashes can go and how to bring ashes to Hong Kong from abroad are on our page Cremation in Hong Kong.

Burial

Four FEHD public cemeteries offer coffin burial. FEHD’s burial page says burial there is not permanent: remains buried for more than six years must be removed or exhumed (checked 26 September 2026). In Cantonese this is 執骨 (jap gwat), literally “picking up the bones”.

Private cemeteries, such as the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries, set their own terms and fees; ask them directly. For how the six-year rule works, the fees and visiting afterwards, see Burial in Hong Kong.

“Green burial”: scattering ashes on land or at sea

If you have heard “green burial” used differently where you live, note what it means on Hong Kong government pages: handling the ashes after cremation by scattering them in a Garden of Remembrance or in designated waters, instead of placing them in a niche. From the government’s green burial page: “The FEHD currently provides free scattering services in Gardens of Remembrance and designated Hong Kong waters.”

A Garden of Remembrance is a garden where ashes are scattered; FEHD has 14 of them, inside 10 public columbaria. For scattering at sea there are three designated areas, and families can use FEHD’s free ferry or apply to scatter the ashes themselves. Both need an application in advance; see the ashes section of our cremation page.

Scattering means there is no headstone. It does not mean there is nowhere to remember them, which is the next section.

Online memorials

FEHD runs a free Internet Memorial Service (in Chinese, 無盡思念, “endless remembrance”). Families can write the person’s life story and upload photos, and friends can leave messages.

It covers, among others, people cremated at public crematoria, ashes scattered in FEHD Gardens of Remembrance or designated waters, ashes placed in public columbaria, and burials in public cemeteries; see the site for the full conditions (checked 26 September 2026). If you are abroad, it is one of the few things you can do without getting on a plane.

Taoist, Buddhist, Christian, non-religious: what differs?

First, in Hong Kong the lines between religions at a funeral are not as sharp as you might expect. A Hong Kong study records:

Below is only what we found a source for. Where we found nothing, we say so rather than guess:

Families where relatives hold different faiths are common. An undertaker, your religious community, or older relatives can help you work out a form everyone can live with. For what to wear to each kind of service, see What to wear to a Chinese funeral.

If you are abroad and cannot get back

A number of steps can be delegated, and the government pages say so themselves:

• Registering the death: can be done by an authorised licensed funeral parlour or undertaker (step one above).
• Booking the cremation: can be done by a licensed undertaker; see our cremation page.
• Applying for a public cemetery grave: FEHD says a licensed undertaker can apply on the family’s behalf; see our burial page.
• Cremated abroad, ashes coming to Hong Kong: the Hong Kong end currently needs no application to the HKSAR Government, but the departure country and the airline may have their own rules; see our cremation page.

We have not verified the official procedure for bringing a body (rather than ashes) back to Hong Kong, so this page does not cover it. If you phone an office in Hong Kong, remember the time difference: Hong Kong is on UTC+8.

Other questions around the funeral

• What to wear? Guests, the family and children: What to wear to a Chinese funeral.
• The seventh day, the hundredth day, the first year? Chinese 49 days, 100 days and first year.
• Weddings and Chinese New Year while in mourning? After a death: weddings and Chinese New Year.
• Qingming, when you cannot visit the grave? Tomb sweeping when you cannot visit the grave.