Limited burning of paper offerings at funeral parlour since weekend power outage
Power restored at Global Funeral Parlour in Hung Hom on Wednesday but services still limited as exhaust ventilation system not fully repaired
A prolonged power outage since Sunday has forced a funeral parlour to limit the burning of paper offerings due to poor ventilation, though some of its other services have resumed.
Power was restored at Global Funeral Parlour in Hung Hom on Wednesday, with lights and air conditioning returning across its five floors and large fans and air coolers deployed to further cool the premises.
But the burning of paper offerings, a traditional ritual in Chinese funerals, remained limited as the building’s exhaust ventilation system had not been fully restored, with repair work still ongoing, according to a staff member.
“We try not to burn too many paper offerings for now, because the exhaust ventilation is still a bit weak,” the staff member told the South China Morning Post.
Funerals proceeded inside two halls, while notices about the power situation remained posted near the passenger lifts.
Cheng Chi-kit, chairman of the Funeral Business Association, said the outage hit the parlour on what was already the hottest day in the city’s recorded history, with multiple lighting failures on about half of each impacted floor.
The biggest impact, he said, was the loss of air conditioning and ventilation in the mourning halls.