Shun Tak Holdings, run by a casino-magnate, Stanley Ho, is constructing a columbarium that will provide around 50,000 niches.

This can cost as much as HK$200, 000 (US$25, 704) in a private columbarium, but all manner of different deals are on offer depending on the location and the size of the niche.

About 600 laypeople and nuns attended a memorial service last weekend for remains of revered figures moved to a newly-built columbarium in Wenzhou diocese, eastern Zhejiang province.