China Hope Live » Chinese folk religion

Tomb Sweeping Day (清明节) 2010 in Tianjin

Joel — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:54:46 +0000

It’s Tomb Sweeping Day (清明节 / qīng míng jié), the time when families go maintain their ancestors’ graves and burn offerings to them. See the links at the bottom for more about Tomb Sweeping Day and the tradition of burning spirit money. These photos are from around our neighbourhood tonight.

According to one of our Chinese tutors, who has a law degree and teaches at Tianda for her day job, among Tianjin’s new April enforcement of previously unenforced laws (like spitting and bikes going through red lights) is a crackdown on street vendors. That includes the little wheelie carts selling spirit money and a surprising variety of other paper offerings.

Burning paper money in the street is not illegal, according to our tutor, but it is discouraged and in some cases grudgingly accommodated (see the propaganda posters in this post). Selling the spirit money, however, is illegal, and apparently they’ve had the obligatory news stories of vendors getting raided, etc.

If they stop letting bikes go through red lights (traffic has been noticeably changing) I’m going to be bummed. I have a couple language school buddies who’ve developed a whole set of terms a la CHiPS for essential bike rider maneuvers in Tianjin traffic. Looks like our days of no-rules, every-person-for-themselves, in-the-way-means-right-of-way bike riding might be numbered.

More about Tomb Sweeping Day and burning money in the road:

New Photo Gallery: Bi Gan Temple in Henan

Joel — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:19:34 +0000

The Bi Gan Temple (比干庙) near Xīnxiāng (新乡) in Hénán (河南) claims 3000 years of history, priceless historical treasures and the two kinds of mythological figures especially beloved by Mainland Chinese: money gods and honest government officials. Click the link or the photos below to read the somewhat gruesome legend and see the photo gallery:

Bi Gan Temple 比干庙 near Xinxiang, Henan 新乡，河南 – 2010 Feb 22

The Chinese Santa Claus

Joel — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:45:03 +0000

Or maybe Santa Claus is the Western money god…

财神到
cái shén dào
“The god of wealth arrives”

This just went up at the subway station/shopping center that I walk through to get to work (小白楼). He faces a McDonald’s. Chinese New Year’s decorations are going up everywhere.

You can see lots of Chinese money god （财神 or 财神爷） images by doing a google image search for 财神。

For details on the story behind one particular incarnation of the Chinese money god, see Bi Gan Temple 比干庙 near Xinxiang, Henan 新乡，河南 – 2010 Feb 22.

A graphic look at the Chinese Hell

Joel — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:18:31 +0000

The Frog in a Well Chinese history group blog visits a temple in Xi’an depicting the various specific torments in Chinese Hell. It’s not uncommon for temples to depict Chinese hell with large, grotesque statues. WARNING: disturbingly graphic.

Happy Burn-Things-in-the-Road-to-Your-Ancestors Day

Joel — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:37:50 +0000

Last night was “send cold clothes” (送寒衣 sòng hán yī), the day in the lunar calendar when millions of Chinese go out to the intersections to send burnt offerings to their ancestors. Here’s the sidewalk outside our apartment complex this morning:

Drawing circles around the pile is part of the tradition, it apparently helps the stuff intended for your ancestor not get mixed with anybody elses’ or stolen:

For better photos and a fuller explanation, see:

Passed some street vendors selling paper clothes and ghost money while on my way to get Muslim food for dinner:

How to hate people in China

Joel — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:48:06 +0000

In China there are special traditions for expressing hatred of your enemies. We’d first heard about this kind of thing from our neighbours, who, when making dumplings on a particular holiday, chop up the dumpling filling as if they are chopping up their enemies, and pinch the dumplings closed as if they are pinching closed the mouths of their enemies.

In Hong Kong, having your enemies vicariously beaten is a specific religious service that people pay for. See video here and download a paper from Chinese University of Hong Kong’s anthropology dept introducing and explaining this practice here (pdf) (see pg. 213 – the 3rd page in – for a description).