Deaths are down in New York City, and funeral homes are adapting their businesses to the cultural expectations of their neighbors. Ralph Aievoli & Sons, a family-run funeral home started by an Italian immigrant in 1900, began doing Chinese funeral services in 1997 when Chinese immigrants began moving into the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bensonhurst. Aievoli started Sunset Park's first Chinese funeral home, Wan Shou, in Sept. 2007.

VIDEOS

Audio Slideshow, Ting Guan's Funeral

Interview with Kuan Neng, a Buddhist Monk in Sunset Park

The Business of Death

LINKS

Further Reading

Smithsonian Institution describes various Chinese funerary practices

The New York Times muses on a street of funeral homes in Manhattan’s Chinatown

A citizen journalist captures a funeral procession in Chinatown