Woman leaves teaching to sell coffins in Europe, now earns ₹50 crore: Her business mantra -- ‘People die every day’

LISA Liu, 29, earlier worked as a teacher. But, she left the job in July 2023 due to exhaustion and voice strain. According to Personage magazine, a woman from Heze, China, has made it big after changing her profession.

Liu entered the coffin export business and focused on European buyers, especially Italy. A factory tour showed her the entire production process, helping her overcome cultural fears about coffins. In China, death is often seen as taboo. Any association is often viewed as bad luck.

However, Liu’s workers treated coffins as ordinary wooden products, sometimes even using urns for storage. Italian coffins differ from traditional Chinese ones as they are lighter and decorated with religious carvings. Both the body and coffin are cremated together.

Heze’s abundant paulownia wood, known for its light weight and fine grain, is well-suited to this market. Local coffins cost about $90 (₹8,000) to $150 (₹13,500), far cheaper than European models, which cost more than $1,000 (₹90,700).

Liu’s factory exports around 40,000 coffins yearly. The teacher-turned-entrepreneur earns nearly 40 million yuan (over ₹50 crore) in revenue, according to the South China Morning Post.

Despite changing European Union rules and rising shipping costs, Lisa Liu remains confident about the future of Heze’s coffin export business. She believes steady global demand will continue.

“People die every day, and everyone will eventually need a coffin,” Liu said.

China’s wider funeral industry is also expanding, according to SCMP. Mibeizhuang village in Hebei province has become a major centre, with streets filled with shops selling funeral clothes, wreaths and body bags.

In recent years, villagers have introduced eco-friendly items such as biodegradable joss paper and electronic wreaths. These products are exported to Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States through e-commerce.

Some young people in Western countries even live-stream the burning of joss paper as a form of prayer. These products sell for much higher prices abroad than in China, SCMP reported.

Reports say Mibeizhuang’s funeral goods industry crossed one billion yuan (₹1,313 crore) in annual value in 2020. Meanwhile, Huian city’s tombstone exports to Japan are worth nearly two billion yuan (over ₹2,625 crore) each year.

Funeral sector in India

Indians spend over ₹26,000 crore each year on funerals, according to a June 2025 report by research analyst Indranil Chakraborty. The market includes cremation or burial, transport, ritual items, ceremonies, documents and memorial practices.

Costs vary widely, from about ₹25,000 to ₹1 lakh in major cities and ₹10,000 to ₹30,000 in smaller towns, according to the report.

Despite this scale, services have long depended on informal networks and uneven pricing. New funeral service startups are now trying to change this situation by offering end-to-end support.

According to the report, future growth may include pre-planned funerals, eco-friendly cremation choices and digital memorial platforms.

Interest from social entrepreneurs and early investors suggests the sector holds both strong social impact and long-term business potential. Families seek simpler and more compassionate support in times of loss, the report adds.