China city lambasted for banning burning of ‘hell money’ to commemorate ancestors during Ching Ming Festival
- Ritual sees burning paper miniatures of gold bars, cash, cars, houses
- Tradition shows respect to dead, ensures wealth in afterlife
A city in China that has banned the manufacture and sale of ghost money and other paper funeral products used to worship ancestors has been told the rule is “too straightforward and rude”.
Burning paper gifts for the dead, such as miniatures of gold bars, cars, houses, animals and even maids, is an important traditional ritual for Chinese people when they visit the graves of their ancestors.
As well as a way of paying respect, burning paper gifts is also believed to ensure that deceased loved ones will be wealthy in the afterlife.
Ahead of this year’s Ching Ming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Festival, which falls on April 4, the authorities in Nantong, in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu, have come under scrutiny after they outlawed the making or selling of paper offerings.
While branding the offerings a “symbol of feudal superstition”, the authorities said the main reason for the ban was to protect the environment and prevent fires, the news outlet, thecover.cn reported.
Anyone who violates the rule will have their products confiscated and be fined up to three times their income, the local civil affairs and market supervision authorities said on March 25.