Li Xingzhi, a college graduate who works for a funeral services company, discusses the details of a funeral with a bereaved family member. Provided to China Daily

The funeral services industry is moving with the times and the bereaved want a more personalized service. Liu Xiangrui reports.

Inspired by a belief in "happy funerals" a director in the film Big Shot's Funeral asks his Chinese friend to plan a send-off where people leave feeling happy ?before having a stroke and going into a coma. The funeral turns into such a vast, absurd media spectacle that when the director recovers, he doesn't want to call a halt to it.

The satirical comedy captures the whirlwind changes in modern-day China, but the idea of "individualized funerals" and the role of a "funeral programmer" are still being developed.

Jiang Lin's funeral services company in Chengdu, Sichuan province, has two funeral programmers and he plans to hire more college graduates in the near future.

"I like to compare the design of a funeral to that of a wedding," says Li Xingzhi, 24, one of four college graduates who joined Jiang's company as a funeral programmer two years ago.

"The designer's job is to make them special and elicit warm feelings, although one is meant to be joyful and the other solemn," Li says.

"We collect as much information about the deceased as possible - their profession, hobbies, likes and dislikes," Li says. "We also pay attention to the preferences of the bereaved and find the best ways to console them."

The programmers decide on the portraits of the deceased at the funeral, the setting, venue, background music and sometimes provide memorial videos and websites.

Li was in charge of funeral programming for a professor from Chongqing University, who died in February, and found his family members were relatively open-minded about the event.

Li and the family members came up with the idea of playing the record of a symphony concert conducted by the professor's grandson on a projector, as the background music for the memorial.

"It was special both for the deceased and the bereaved," Li believes. "Programmers should be sensitive and try to meet their needs."

Li tends to shun the routine funeral march and suggests lighter music, like Laputa, Castle in the Sky, by Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi.

"Being responsible and accepting is just as important as being creative," Li says.

Li is passionate about his work despite occasional setbacks.

"Just like any other job, there are ups and downs but I've never thought about changing my job," Li says. "My greatest satisfaction is the appreciation and grateful hugs from the bereaved."

The recognition from his boss and his girlfriend, who works at the same company, are among the other reasons he likes his job.

"I've got ideas and my job allows me to realize them," Li says.

He earns a monthly salary of 5,000 yuan ($760), which is a competitive salary for recent graduates.

He was attracted by the funeral services major at his college after watching some online videos of inspiring funerals in Taiwan and Japan. These compared poorly with the "disappointing" funeral of his uncle, who died in a car accident.

"That's what funerals should be like, I told myself," Li recalls. "It should be a science."

Even so, his parents were not supportive of his choice of career, given the traditional taboos associated with death.

Li is against many of the traditional superstitions of funerals, such as burning paper houses or fake money.

"We need a revolution in the funeral services industry," he says. "Funerals shouldn't be a perfunctory formality or an occasion to put up a front, but instead should be a chance to show love and respect for the deceased."

"The criteria for funerals in China are higher than ever as people's understanding of them has changed greatly," says professor Wang Fuzi, director of the exequy department at Changsha Social Work College.

"Special requests are sometimes put forward by the bereaved family, which require better educated and creative young people to join the funeral services industry and satisfy their needs."

Wang adds that currently funeral programs are limited by convention and finance. It will take time for the industry to become developed and truly creative, he says.