Markets in everything — funeral guests

Liu and her five-member Filial Daughters’ Band are part of a thriving mourning business in Taiwan. They’re professional entertainers paid by grieving families to wail, scream and create the anguished sorrow befitting a proper funeral.

The performances are as much a status symbol for the living as a show of respect for the dead on this island of 23-million people lying 145 km off the Chinese coast.

Weary, grieving relatives hire groups like the Filial Daughters’ Band to perform their mournful stuff for $600 for a half day’s work.

Here is the link, and thanks to Pablo Halkyard for the pointer.