Death cannot prevent Chinese ancestors from receiving the latest gadgets, with paper iPads, laptops and LCD TVs burned at gravesides across Asia to mark the Tomb Sweeping Day last Tuesday.
Paper money, clothes, luxury cars and handbags have long been standard items for the Tomb Sweeping Day, when replica offerings are burnt for the dead to use in the afterlife.
The latest tech hardware joined the list of items which went up in smoke this year, with many shops selling the paper offerings saying they could not meet demand for replica iPads.
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
“By burning the offerings, the family want to compensate for what they have not done for their beloved ones in the human world,” Yean Han, director of Taiwanese shop, Spectacular Kind of Elysium Accessories (SKEA), told AFP.
The company, based in northern New Taipei City, sells offerings from the mundane — such as paper cosmetics and sushi bars — to the bizarre — a Japanese-style hot spring resort which carries a price tag of NT$168,000 (US$5,695).
Aside from paper gadgets, people can also buy replicas of pet food and chew toys for their dead pets, according to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post.
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透
In Singapore, 47-year-old Steven Foo ordered a paper private jet and other goods for his late mother.
“My mother loved traveling so I got her a private Boeing jet to travel around the world,” Foo told AFP.
In multiracial Malaysia, where a quarter of its 28 million are ethnic Chinese, the festival was also observed with paper offerings including iPads, diamond rings, credit cards and Mercedes-Benz cars complete with drivers.
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透
“The Chinese believe this Confucian rite will make our dead ancestors guard us against evil forces and keep bad luck away,” said George Choo, who visited the graves of his parents just outside the capital Kuala Lumpur.
He was however sceptical about offering high-tech items.
“iPad is a modern gadget that came after they died. I just wonder who is going to teach them how to use it,” said Choo.
(AFP)
即使中國祖先已駕鶴西歸,這也不足以剝奪他們收到最新(科技)小玩意兒的權利。上週二清明節,亞洲各地祭祀祖先,在墓地旁焚燒紙iPad、紙筆記型電腦與紙液晶電視。
紙製成的錢、衣物、豪華轎車與手提包,長期以來一直是清明節祭祖的「標準配備」,這些仿製的祭品經過焚燒後給往生者在死後生活中使用。
最新的科技硬體也在今年加入被化為煙霧的紙紮祭品名單中。許多紙紮店表示,紙iPad買氣旺,供不應求。
台灣為往生者服務的紙紮公司SKEA總監韓小艷告訴法新社說,「藉由焚燒祭品,親族子孫想補償他們鍾愛至親,在世時還來不及為他們做的事。」
這間位於新北市的公司,販售的紙紮從平凡如紙紮化妝品與壽司吧,到新奇怪誕如一個標有新台幣十六萬八千元(五千六百九十五美元)標籤的日式風格溫泉度假勝地,應有盡有。
根據香港《南華早報》的報導,除了紙紮科技小玩意兒,人們也可買到仿製的狗食與磨牙玩具,給他們已故寵物。
新加坡現年四十七歲的史蒂芬‧傅(音譯)訂製了一架紙紮私人專機與其他用品給他已故母親。
傅告訴法新社說,「我母親熱愛旅行,所以我給他一架私人波音飛機,遨遊世界。」
馬來西亞是個多元種族國家,其兩千八百萬人口的四分之一是華裔人士,他們在清明時節,也使用紙紮祭品例如iPad、鑽石戒指、信用卡與包含司機的賓士車,祭祀祖先。
首都吉隆坡近郊祭祀雙親墓地的喬治‧周(音譯)說,「華人相信這個儒家祭典,會讓我們已故祖先,守護我們免於邪惡勢力入侵,並避開壞運。」
然而,他對用高科技品項祭祖持懷疑態度。
周說,「iPad是在他們過世後才出現的現代科技小玩意兒。我只是不解誰將教他們如何使用它。」
(法新社/翻譯:林亞蒂)
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