Making arrangements at a funeral parlor for a loved one lost can be an upsetting experience. One undertaker staffed by young people is trying to alleviate the agony by creating an environment where the bereaved can pour out their hearts about perceptions of life and death.

It's called Baiduren, or "Ferrymen" — a reference perhaps to Charon in Greek mythology, the ferryman who took souls across the river that separated the living and the dead.

The Baiduren salon. [Photo/shine.cn]

The Baiduren salon is decorated in a modern style, with soft lighting that contrasts with traditional funeral homes that are dim, full of funeral regalia and heavily scented by joss sticks.

An interior of the Baiduren salon. [Photo/shine.cn]

Inside Baiduren, which looks by outward appearances like a café, relatives of the dead can tell staff stories that they may not be able to share with friends and family for any number of reasons. A team of staff 40 years and younger provides the ears.

"Apart from those who want to pour their hearts out, we also receive families who want to discuss funeral affairs in a more relaxed, soothing environment," said Xiaolin, leader of what Badiruen calls the "life experiencing project."

Coffee provided in the Baiduren salon. [Photo/gmw.cn]

"Our job initially was funeral planning and handling related affairs like portrait design for customers, after a few years in business, we felt that we wanted to make a breakthrough in the industry because there are still so many stereotypes about and biases against funeral homes," he explained.

The irony of the traditional and the unorthodox in the industry, almost side by side, was not lost on Baiduren. 

Shi and his team had difficulty finding a landlord willing to rent to a funeral parlor. In the end, the site they found was in Hongkou district, a mere 10-minute walk from Baoxing Funeral Parlor, one of the largest undertakers in the city.

In the past month, the team has listened to a lot of stories — from survivors who can't seem to accept the loss of a loved one, from survivors still in shock over a death that occurred by accident, from survivors who have harbored suicidal thoughts. In turn, staff often relate their own stories of sorrow and coping.

On one wall of the salon, messages from customers are pinned. Reading through them, one senses that no matter how sad or desolate people may feel when they walk in the door, voicing emotions eases the pain by the time they leave.

The salon, from the standpoint of both staff and customers, points to a change in how people — especially the young — view death and funerals. Its customers shun a common belief that the rituals of death are a taboo to be shrouded in darkness. And those searching for jobs no longer regard undertakers as a profession to be avoided at all costs.

Indeed, many on the team at Baiduren come from different career tracks, often never thinking they would end up in the funeral business when in college.

An interior of the Baiduren salon. [Photo/shxwcb.com]

Shen Jiaying, who is responsible for new media management on the team, majored in animation in university. She decided to join Baiduren after an awful experience her family endured when planning a funeral.

Baiduren is not the only example of young people determined to make a difference in the funeral business.

Under the screen name "Tang Mu Tan Ze," a staff member of a funeral parlor in Jiangsu province channel has gained more than 1 million followers. The staffer, a woman in her early 20s, is responsible for the makeup and clothing of the deceased.

"Some people said, 'I think this is a very lofty job, and I want to do it in the future,'" she said in a video. "While I'm glad that people understand our work, I have to say this is quite a difficult job and not something one should do on impulse. You have to be mentally and physically prepared."

The Baiduren team thinks along the same lines. "Whenever we have job applicants come in for interview, we warn them again and again that this work requires being on call 24/7 and that it requires skills, including the skill of communicating with people," said Shen. "Once we had a newbie that lasted for just one day and quit."

Sources: shine.cn, gmw.cn, shxwcb.com