Some people are said to be so poor at punctuality that they’d be late for their own funeral – but not Chinese student Zeng Jia, who staged her own service because she wanted to be alive so she could ‘enjoy it’.
The 22-year-old forked out a princely sum for the coffin alone, decorating it with row after row of flowers.
She also paid for a photographer and a team of make-up artists to make her appear more ‘dead’ as she lay in the casket with her favourite doll on her chest.
After an hour lying in state as mourners eulogised about her, surrounded by origami doves hung from the ceiling, Zeng, from Wuhan in Hubei province, arose to join the mourners at her wake.
‘It struck me that people spend all that time and effort on someone when they are gone and they cannot appreciate it,’ she said.
‘I wanted to see what people would think of me so I decided to hold my funeral while I could enjoy it.
‘Experiencing death has made me appreciate life more keenly.
‘I feel so good living after coming out of the coffin.’
Zeng apparently came up with the idea after attending her grandfather’s funeral recently and invited friends and family to witness her own.