The place to ask China-related questions!
Beijing Shanghai Guangzhou Shenzhen Chengdu Xi'an Hangzhou Qingdao Dalian Suzhou Nanjing More Cities>>

Categories

Close
Welcome to eChinacities Answers! Please or register if you wish to join conversations or ask questions relating to life in China. For help, click here.
X

Verify email

Your verification code has been sent to:

Didn`t receive your code? Resend code

By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .

Sign up with Google Sign up with Facebook
Sign up with Email Already have an account? .
Posts: 2020

Peasant

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Q: Burning little mounds of paper on the side of the road?

I was biking home late a night a few weeks ago and passed a old woman crouching on the ground sobbing loudly as she placed pieces of paper (or documents or old photos or something) into a small mound fire she had set up on the side of a quite road, assumedly to mark the passing of a loved one. Aside from being one of the most heart-breaking things I've ever seen, it got me thinking....is every single ash mound that you see on the side of the road for a funeral? Or do the have another purpose? I only ask because I feel like I see these things constantly, oftentimes with people standing around burning stuff, but they don't seem to be sad or anything. Do they have another purpose. And for bonus points, anyone know the Chinese phrase for this activity? Thanks!

 

 

 

 

10 years 45 weeks ago in  Culture - Beijing

 
Answers (4)
Comments (4)
Posts: 7485

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Too my knowledge it is burning of money (simulated) for the dead

It is more prominent in  April (i think the 4th) when they have a holiday to sweep the graves

Report Abuse
10 years 45 weeks ago
 
Posts: 3339

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Jeez, you must be new. Yeah, it's a way to give money to the dead. 

 

:

Not new here, just occasionally oblivious.

 

Didn't realize that people did this outside of Qingming. That's cool though. 

10 years 45 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
10 years 45 weeks ago
 
Posts: 9755

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Tomb Sweeping day is called Qingming, it is not on April 4th as it is according to the lunar calendar (but it is about that time of year)

The burning of fake money as worship to the dead also happens on e.g. anniversaries relating to the deceased, I would think people should go to the grave for doing this, but those you see at the roadside or other places may be because that was where the dead died or because it is not practically possible to go to the tomb. Maybe some also just do it if they happen to miss their loved-one on that day.

 

Try to search for keywords "joss money" or "qingming"

paulmartin:

From the 13\11 till the 1\12 is a time for yoy too remember your ancestors,it/'s not tomb sweeping day yet,it;s one of the thing's i really like China for,personal closeness too your sometimes unknown family but respect all the same

10 years 45 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
10 years 45 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1426

Shifu

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

The idea behind it, as I've been lead to understand it, is that the spirits of the dead can become benevolent if treated well but can curse the living if they are neglected. This actually tells us something rather profound about Chinese conceptualizations of the universe in a spiritual sense. Specifically, the reward for ones actions on earth is based around being loved and remember by ones descendants through eternity. Right and wrong then, can be said to be determined primarily by how they effect the family, or institutions that are judged to be family like.

 

Anyway, it is a charming ritual, and I would like to actually watch somebody do it in its entirety, but I can never seem to work up the nerve as I feel like I'm intruding on something that should be private.    

Scandinavian:

unless this is a scare tactic from the good people of the fake paper money industry, actually I would like to know where in the Chinese culture this comes from, I am relatively sure that burning stuff is not a Buddhist thing

10 years 45 weeks ago
Report Abuse

mattsm84:

No, it's Dao. But then Chinese Buddhism, Dao, and Confucianism kinda got compressed together. I have a textbook that shows a time line for each of the three of these and all of the places that they overlap. 

10 years 45 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
10 years 45 weeks ago
 
Know the answer ?
Please or register to post answer.

Report Abuse

Security Code: * Enter the text diplayed in the box below
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <br> <p> <u>
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Textual smileys will be replaced with graphical ones.

More information about formatting options

Forward Question

Answer of the DayMORE >>
A: 1. Apply at FindJobz, top L corner of this screen! 2. Have a look
A:1. Apply at FindJobz, top L corner of this screen! 2. Have a look over the Internet with "Requirements for an English teaching job in China" in search for more details.You could also look at the guidance titled "How to use an Internet, search engines in particular ..." for more in-dept knowledge. 3. As you can see from no. 2,, main requirement for an ET job in China is holding of a native English passport (UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and S. Africa), no different than anywhere else in the world. 4. Non-English native passport holders qualify for an ET job in China only if they hold BA degree completed in the native English country.However, most recruiters and hiring managers in China aren't aware of that exemption, so if you hold a degree from one or two native English countries, I suggest you include that into Introduction letter. Good lucky! P.S.Application for the NASA's Moon-to-Mars Program at the Cape Canaveral is less stringent than applying for an ET job as a non-native Englisher ...That of course, is an opinion of a non-English native teacher with lengthy English teaching experience in several different countries.  -- icnif77