Arbor Memorial

Have you Pre-Planned for Life’s Important Events?

adminold — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 17:38:03 +0000

People say that we may not always be together while we’re alive, but we can be buried together after we die.

Life is priceless, but the cemetery has a price

People say that everyone is equal when it comes to dying, but not with the price of the cemetery.

In Hong Kong, “it is hard to find a burial place” has become a cruel reality. The rich spend a lot of money to buy columbarium with sky-high prices, while ordinary citizens can only apply for the government’s columbarium. Most of the columbaria are nearly full – reusable plots that are subject to mandatory exhumation after just six years.

In China, the use of the cemetery is only available for 20 yearsii. After 20 years, if you do not continue to pay, the ashes will be removed. Moreover, the price of cemeteries is more expensive and unacceptable. For the people who more traditional, it is impossible to buy cemeteries for their families.

The Branch Manager of Valley View said that older people and young generation are increasingly starting to plan for themselves and bring their children to Valley View for consultation.

“Plan ahead for the future and don’t burden your family and friends,” are on the minds of most people.

Adults plan for themselves and their parents for this eventuality and do not want to be unprepared.

“Pre-Plan before the rain.” is what most Chinese adults have in mind.

The Benefits of Pre-Planning

Savings: Planning early offers cost savings of up to thousands of dollars.
Reduces the burden on your family: Planning your final arrangements ahead of time reduces the responsibilities on your family at their time of distress.
Peace of mind: Gain comfort in knowing your plans are ready.

This Ching Ming, Valley View invites you to join our free Pre-Planning seminar.

During this seminar our representatives will guide you on how to pre-plan with the benefits of unburdening your loved ones and preserving your traditions, and get details on our upcoming special discount.

This year’s free Pre-Planning Seminar will be hosted on

Valley View Funeral Home & Cemetery

Date & Time: March 24, 10AM to 2PM (Cantonese & Mandarin)
Venue: Vancouver Marriott Hotel （2nd floor conference room）
7571 Westminster Hwy. Richmond BC V6X 1A3
Event highlight: All attendees will receive a gift, and enjoy a complimentary steak, chicken, or vegetarian course meal lunch.

Richmond Funeral Home

Date & Time: April 28, 10AM to 2PM (Cantonese & Mandarin)
Venue: Richmond Funeral Home
8420 Cambie Road,
Richmond, British Columbia V6X 1K1

Limited seating available!

Click here to learn more and register for a chance to win a smartphone. *

Valley View, a great choice in Vancouver, BC

Valley View is one of many Arbor Memorial locations in Vancouver, and features a funeral home and a cemetery. Our facilities make planning final arrangements easier and allow you to cherish the memories of loved ones.

With a peaceful ambience, Valley View Funeral Home & Cemetery can help you design personalized ceremonies and receptions.

Regardless of your background and religious beliefs or languages, we will address your needs from beginning to end.

Valley View maintains over 120 acres of beautiful, manicured land. You and your family can take a leisurely walk in our forest and enjoy the natural scenery.

We have a new Harmony Phase 3 – A spacious area specially designed for housing over 700 new niches: made from anodized light bronze aluminum with glass fronts and interior LED lights; A top and bottom trim piece is made of marble.

Our on-site funeral home has a chapel that seats 300 people, and a large reception area for memorials, receptions, and celebrations of life. This gives your family and guests more quality time to appreciate the memories of loved ones who passed away.

You can put your trust in our compassionate professionals, whether you are planning ahead or at a time of need.

Avoid the last-minute regret and plan ahead.

No one knows what will happen in the future.

This Ching Ming, let’s Pre-Plan before the rain. For you and your family, please choose Valley View Funeral Home & Cemetery by Arbor Memorial.

Valley View Funeral Home & Cemetery
14644-72nd Avenue, Surrey, BC V3S 2E7
604-227-8828

(*No purchase necessary. **Terms and conditions apply. Contact the cemetery office for details.)

What to consider before making the most important decisions in the last course of your life?

adminold — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 19:26:02 +0000

Life is full of choices–

When dining with friends, is it Western food or Chinese food?
When encountering yet another bottleneck at work, do you look for a new job or start your own business?
When living in Canada, do you buy a house or keep renting?
And there are choices that will have an effect even after you have left this world,
such as how will you choose how your remains will rest?

Burial: A widely respected, long historic tradition

As a custom with thousands of years of history, burial used to be the most common funeral choice for Chinese communities. Burials focus on expressing respect and gratitude to ancestors and it is the most basic way to demonstrate filial piety.

It is precisely because of this that in overseas Chinese communities, the market for burials Remains in demand and, Chinese communities around the world in honour their family roots and by inheriting of an ancient Chinese practice.

Cremation: economical, environmentally friendly, and gradually gaining mainstream popularity

With the acceleration of urbanization, aging populations, and an increasing value for environmental protection, cremation has become a popular choice for Canadians and Chinese communities.

According to media reports, cremation rates in Canada reached 75% in 2021, an increase of about 25% over the past 20 years. Data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China also suggests that cremation rates in China will reach nearly 59% in 2021 compared to 47% in 2015.

While burials require the purchase of larger cemetaries and tombstones, cremation often uses less land and resources and can effectively reduce funeral costs with economic advantages.

At the same time, technology developments have allowed new generations of crematoriums to be able to significantly reduce pollution emissions with less groundwater pollution risks compared to burials.

More importantly, with the changing modern perspective of “hou yang bo zang,” people generally respect this principle of “thick nourishment and thin burial–,” that is, children should respect their elders and strive to improve their quality of life so that the elderly can enjoy their old age comfortably vis-à-vis Pre-Planning. It is important for children to Pre-Plan for their parents and arrange funerals and cemeteries to ensure that everything will go smoothly when their time comes.

Whatever your decision,

Arbor Memorial serves the needs of Chinese communities

Whether a cremation or burial, the decision should fulfill yours’ and your family’s emotional needs and come after you and your family have fully understood each option.

Since 1947, Arbor Memorial has provided thousands of Chinese Canadian families with professional funeral, cemetery, and cremation services. With over 90 funeral homes, 40 cemeteries, and 20 crematoriums, Arbor Memorial is one of Canada’s largest funeral service providers.

More Chinese Canadians are choosing cremation as part of final arrangements. At Arbor Memorial, cremation often combines traditional funeral or memorial practices, such as with visitations and services held at the funeral home, church, or crematorium chapel prior to the cremation. At most crematoria, if being arranged in advance, the family can witness the container or casket being placed in the cremation chamber.

Arbor Memorial’s collection of quality cremation products, like keepsake urns made bronze, marble, or wood, jewelry, and memorial record packages, will help ensure that the memory of your loved one will be with you forever.

An urn can be buried in a special cremation garden, or placed in niche, often indoors, protected from the elements for easier year-round visits. If you already own or have access to a family lot, you may choose to inter the remains there after obtaining proper authorization from the cemetery management. If you and your spouse have different preferences for cremation and traditional burial, with Arbor Memorial, all you need to do is just simply choose a lot or crypt in a cemetery that allows for the burial of both a casket and an urn together.

Arbor Memorial has a deep understanding of Chinese cultural rites, traditions, and customs. For more than a decade, we have been building Chinese gardens at Arbor cemeteries across Canada. Every Chinese Garden is unique, reflecting the desires and personality of the local community. Our Chinese team of fluent Cantonese and Mandarin speakers and cemetery and funeral experts will help you to personalize and create a loving tribute that reflects your beliefs, lifestyle, and budget and eases the stress on your family and friends.

Pre-Plan before the rain
For you and your family,
please choose: Arbor Memorial

Reference:

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/916310/cremation-rate-in-canada/

[2] https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/more-turn-to-sea-burials-and-cremation-in-china-as-cemeteries-become-crowded

Arbor Memorial Inc.

The right time to plan is NOW

adminold — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 23:42:00 +0000

Advice & Etiquette, Pre-Planning

The right time to plan is NOW

Like many Canadians, you are probably planning for the future, by saving for your retirement, having an estate plan and a legal will. Pre-planning your final arrangements is the logical next step – but it is often overlooked, even though the need is an absolute and unavoidable fact of life. It is a hard topic, and many hesitate and feel indecisive when it comes to pre-planning. Yet Arbor Memorial believes that the right time to plan is now.

And, here is how:

Let’s begin with an overview of what pre-planning will cover. Funeral planning, cemetery planning and final arrangements needs will be taken care of for you.

Working with our professional, it is easy, efficient and affordable to navigate the road to pre-planning funeral and cemetery arrangements, which only requires 4 steps as follow:

Consider

your needs

The first thing to make an informed decision is to do your research – learn about cremation and burial options and their pros and cons. Among all facts need to be considered, take any requirements of faith and budget into account, which will most likely decide the shape of your preferred arrangement.

Compile

your information

Gather your personal information, account numbers, location of important documents, contacts etc. And this information will be compiled into one journal: The Official Family Registry™ from Arbor Memorial.

Create

your unique plan

We will customize the plan to suit your taste, culture and budget, either in traditional way or a modern manner – many options are available for your consideration. During this process, you can share your thoughts with family members and a planning specialist. You can decide how you want to be remembered.

Complete

financial details

You can choose convenient payment terms that are comfortable for you and Arbor Memorial will do our best to fulfill your needs.

Besides simple steps above, here are some tips that are good to know:

Funeral bills are due right after the services are complete, but insurance money is often not available until weeks or months down the road. The best option is to pre-pay expenses today

Your legal Will is NOT a reliable place to record your funeral and cemetery wishes because the Will may not be read until AFTER the final services are already over.

Hopefully, this article clarifies the process of pre-planning, and it seems to be less a hard task after all. Feel free to chat with your local funeral and cemetery specialist for more detailed information or simply

Cemetery Costs are at a premium in Asia

adminold — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 17:54:46 +0000

Advice & Etiquette, Funeral, Pre-Planning

Cemetery Costs are at a premium in Asia

Why not consider a place with a beautiful view in Canada?

One of the fastest growing industries in the 21st century, it is not real estate,

not spirit industry either. It is the funeral industry.

In the past, only senior people consult in the cemeteries. They want to choose a place for themselves, but they avoid the topic unconsciously.

Now, there are more and more younger people. They are more open-minded and understand the true feelings and real needs of their loved ones.

From people’s past avoidance of the topic of funeral to today’s open discussion, it can be seen that people began to pay attention to the topic of “death” and began to accept “pre-plan”.

It may be difficult to find a satisfactory cemetery in hometown, either for yourself or for your family. Nowadays, more and more Canadian Chinese take Canada as a consideration.

Better Experience

In Asia, very few people choose to visit cemeteries due to uncomfortable atmosphere.

However, in Canada, cemeteries are often described as being “as beautiful as a park”.

Less Expensive

CCTV News reported that the average price of cemetery plot in Beijing increased by 50% within two years. Compared to the average price of real estate in Beijing, this rapid rate of growth makes it prohibitive to be buried in China.

In Canada, Arbor Memorial has cemeteries across the country, offering a wide range of options and reasonable prices.

More Caring

Arbor Memorial has been serving Chinese families for decades. We have a deep understanding of the needs of Chinese people and can arrange pre-plan services in response to Chinese cultural practices.

Moreover, many Arbor locations reflect unique Chinese culture and traditions of residents. Arbor Memorial will do its utmost to help you with your needs, from start to the finish.

Last but not the least, our advisers work closely with you to plan in advance so you can customize your final arrangements and blessing land (Burial Place), to reflect your taste, lifestyle and budget, and to ease the stress on your family and friends.

Pre-plan now! And pre-order your blessing land!

Find yourself or your families a place with a beautiful view in Canada!