Factory Explosion caused by burning spirit money

Factory explosion leaves one dead in Baitutan Town, China (06 April 2002). According to local sources say that the explosion was caused by a fire when local people visited their ancestral tombs on a mountain-side on the traditional Chinese (Qing Ming ) festival for remembering the dead, at which spirit paper money is burned.

The fire spread quickly, burning down hundreds of trees and igniting fireworks stored in a factory warehouse.

(People's Daily, 2002 : http://english.people.com.cn/200204/06/eng20020406_93581.shtml).

To increase the penalties on littering and burning spirit money…

The first of April was the beginning of the camaign to ban littering and spirit money burning in one city in China. The local government took part in this campaign and distributed anti-burning/littering and anti-superstition leaflets to educate people about these issues. According to the leaflets, those who sell spirit money or similar things in places such as roadsides, public halls, town or city squares, housing areas, etc., will receive penalties if caught by police. People who break this law (including the burning of spirit money) will receive a fine of 200 Yuen Renminbi.

Written by Lee Dan, 3 April 2006, http://www.qianhuaweb.com/20060402/ca264723.htm)
(Translated by Hongy)

However, people still believe that burning spirit money is really impossible for them to ban it. The mourners (in Shanghai) also can burn "paper condoms", "a paper box of Viagra", "paper call girls," to their ancestors in the underworld.

Is it necessary to burn like that? Just imagine that how many trees have been burnt every year because of these festivals?

Every image has a story to tell…

When I checked on this web site (http://www.interact10ways.com/usa/sumona.asp). I just can't believe it. This web site has no interface elements, what it has is to let the images speak for themselves. The loading time is very quick and the quality of the images is very good as well. Nothing impossible nowadays with technology…

Qingming in literature

I still remember this poem. When I was about 10 years old..everyone in my class had to remember this poem. My Chinese teacher picked a student randomly to read this poem without book. if someone could not remember….hehe…"in deep shit"..

Qingming was frequently mentioned in Chinese literature. Among these, the most famous one is probably Du Mu's poem (simply titled "Qingming"):

清明时节雨纷纷 / qīng míng shí jié yǔ fēn fēn

路上行人欲断魂 / lù shàng xíng rén yù duàn hún

借问酒家何处有 / jiè wèn jiǔ jiā hé chù yǒu

牧童遥指杏花村 / mù tóng yáo zhǐ xìng huā cūn

English translation

A drizzling rain falls like tears on the Mourning Day;

The mourner's heart is going to break on his way.

Where can a wineshop be found to drown his sad hours?

A cowherd points to a cot 'mid apricot flowers.

(Source:Wikipedia 2006)

When are spirit moneys used?

The 2 festivals of a year that Chinese people burn spirit money (Also call joss bills, spirit bills etc).

1. Qing Ming Festival
(Qing Ming Jie)
Qing Ming is usually described as a festival of the dead, which takes place fifteen days after the spring equinox. Among the Hakka, however, this festival can last as long as a month, because tombs are scattered across the surrounding hills and must be swept according to generational order. For the first sacrificial visit, to the tomb of the founding ancestor, each segment of the lineage must send representatives; as the sweeping comes ever closer to the present generation, successive visits concern ever smaller groups. Each time, after the grasses have been cleared from the tomb and the offering set out, a cock is killed and its blood poured over "sacrificial money", which is then placed according to a fixed pattern on the outer, horseshoe-shaped 'rim' of the tomb. For this reason , Qing Ming festival is more popularly referred to by its characteristic act, that of 'hanging paper money [on the tomb]'.

(Source: Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture;
Edited by Edward L. Davis. Publisher: Routledge UK, 2005, page 497)

On each Qingming Festival, all cemeteries are crowded with people who came to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices. Traffic on the way to the cemeteries becomes extremely jammed. The customs have been greatly simplified today. After slightly sweeping the tombs, people offer food, flowers and favorites of the dead, then burn incense and paper money and bow before the memorial tablet.
(Source: http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Festivals/78319.htm)

2. Ghost Festival
(Gui Jie)
The Ghost Festival (Gui Jie) takes place in the middle of the 'ghost month': the fifteeth day of seventh month. In some parts of China, a 'ritual of universal salvation' (Pudu) is performed in order to save the souls of the unfortunate dead, lest they come back or linger and cause trouble. In Minnan-speaking areas (ie Fujian), for example, every temple and every street celebrates the Pudu. This ritual does exist among Hakka, but it is not a community festival: each family prepares, on its own, a sacrifice for the hungry ghosts. In Baisha (Shanghang, western Fujian), for example, people eat early that evening and then go to a crossroads to deposit a rice cake. Even more interesting, in Dongliu (Wuping, western Fujian), people write their own names and those of their ancestors on packages of spirit money which they then burn outside the gate; at the same time, but off to one side, they burn spirit money for the souls of the unfortunate dead.

(Source: Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture;
Edited by Edward L. Davis. Publisher: Routledge UK, 2005, page 225-226)