Mindful of the area's Asians, Service Corporation International designs a cemetery putting to use the principles of feng shui.

In the corner of the Forest Park Westheimer cemetery, a turtle, phoenix, tiger and dragon adorn four pagoda entrances leading to a garden said to bring good luck and harmony in the afterlife.

Houston-based Service Corporation International built this garden, which it says is the first feng shui-designed cemetery in Houston, and has plans for an Asian chapel as a portal to this community.

"The Asian population in Houston is growing, and we saw the need to dedicate our services to them," said Gillian Loney, the cemetery's general manager. "The garden is one more way of showing that we care about their families."

With the immigrant communities influencing the way of living as well as the way of dying across the nation, funeral home companies, which have seen a decline in the U.S. mortality rate, have been adding services to boost a slow-growth business.

SCI, the largest company in the cemetery and funeral business, is not the first to address the needs of the Asian community.

Several years ago, Houston-based Carriage Services, which operates the majority of its 130 funeral homes and 31 cemeteries in Northern California, also started consulting feng shui masters for its services.

"They place a high value on afterlife, so we find them good customers," said Mel Payne, the chairman and CEO of Carriage Services, the nation's fourth-largest funeral operator.

"Market share in this business is not different from any other. You have to earn it. You have to establish credibility and the reputation of meeting their unique cultural needs."

These specialized offerings are not limited to any single ethnic group.

Next month, SCI is planning to open in Houston two funeral homes of its brand Funeraria del Angel with services designed to be in touch with the language and customs of the Hispanic population.

"Wherever we operate, we try to learn the needs of the immigrant population and provide for their cultural traditions," said Greg Bolton, spokesman for SCI, which operates about 2,000 funeral homes and cemeteries in North America and Puerto Rico, including more than 30 locally. "There are other places where we have Asian gardens, but nothing like this."

More than 1,700 plots

SCI's $3 million garden, developed by Costa Mesa, Calif.-based landscape architects Clark & Green Associates, incorporates suggestions of the feng shui master and architect C.C. Lee and features more than 1,700 plots.

Clients can purchase single spaces with memorials for about $6,000, or invest more than $1 million in family mausoleums.

Outside the garden, plots are available for $1,200 depending on the location.

Forest Park cemetery has hired a community liaison who speaks several languages, from Cantonese to Vietnamese, and the company hopes the feng shui garden also attracts those who have worked in Asia or are married to Asian-Americans.

"It's a very smart thing for any service provider to increase the areas of commonality with the population they are trying to service to," said Dan Isard, president of Foresight Cos., a funeral home consulting group. "If you can demonstrate that you can bridge the communications gap and provide for their cultural needs, they will give you their business."

Connection to cemeteries

Feng shui, the Chinese art of placement, was originally formulated for designing cemeteries to honor the deceased, according to Terry Abraham, co-author of the book Chinese American Death Rituals: Respecting the Ancestors.

"Because feng shui has been revived, it's not unlikely that people would use it as selling point, especially if they are appealing to the Asian community," Abraham said.

Abraham said some immigrants from Asia choose to move bones and ashes of their ancestors to the United States and often prefer traditional graves to cremation, which has been enforced in some Asian countries to save space.

"They have such a rich tradition and heritage, and now that they live in the United States, they want to bring their loved ones here," Loney of the Forest Park cemetery said.

With cemetery plots facing all of the eight compass points in a circle, clients can choose how to position the deceased. Feng shui followers believe that personal astrology determines the best direction for the head when laid to rest, which is said to bring good luck to families for generations.

This is what Peter Chiang, a retiree from Taiwan, had in mind when he purchased a $110,000 plot close to one of the pagodas.

"I have never seen anything like that in Houston and even in Taiwan," Chiang, who moved to Houston 15 years ago, said of the garden.

"There is a pond in the garden and a dragon on the pagoda; those are all good luck, not only for me but for generations to come."

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