From a modern summer villa with an outdoor pool to a fully equipped film studio or a casino, paper model makers in Taiwan are ensuring the dead enjoy an eternity of luxury.
Across the globe for ethnic Chinese, burning paper offerings has long been seen as a way to send ancestors gifts that they can use in the afterlife.
In recent years, traditional paper incarnations of money and gold bars have given way to the more modern — paper iPads and mobile phones, washing machines, cars, televisions and credit cards.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
However, a handful of paper model makers in Taiwan are taking the art to a new level and crafting offerings that bestow on the dead the kind of trappings only experienced by the truly rich and famous in the land of the living.
“We believe that people will move on to another world after they die,” Taipei businessman Chen Shu-hsuan said, as he attended his uncle’s funeral.
Moments before, family members prayed as a detailed model of a two-story mansion created for the deceased went up in flames, complete with working lights, paper staff and a luxury car tucked away inside an attached garage.
“We hope he would live a good afterlife in that world so we prepared a paper house and a lot of paper money so he could have the means to live well,” Chen said.
The practice of burning offerings originated in Taoism, a leading faith in Taiwan, with the gifts primarily offered at funerals, death anniversaries and during key festivals when ancestors are honored.
Chen said his family intended to burn more offerings for his uncle at yesterday’s Tomb Sweeping Festival, when ethnic Chinese traditionally visit and tidy the graves of their ancestors to pay respect.
Model maker Lin Chien-chiang, 55, has been in the business for 30 years and said that consumer demands are becoming increasingly complex.
These include miniature banks, a space shuttle, and even an entertainment complex featuring a casino and a hostess club complete with ladies dressed in figure-hugging outfits.
His most popular offerings include realistic miniature gadgets, such as smartphones and laptops, and a “mini vault” containing a wad of US dollars, gold bars and credit cards.
Lin’s company is also one of a handful in Taipei that still manufacture bigger, traditional Chinese-style houses made with paper and bamboo, but they fell out of fashion because of environmental concerns, as they used to contain styrofoam.
“We are making changes to produce smaller and more intricate models to better suit the times. And using more environmentally friendly materials,” Lin said, adding that fewer than 20 percent of his orders now are for traditional houses.
Veteran craftsman Chiang Yueh-lun, 51, recalled his most unique order: A lifesize paper double of a young man killed in a car crash to be placed on top of the badly damaged body inside his casket.
“Some people think our business is bad luck because it has to do with the dead, but I believe we are accumulating good karma for the services we provide,” he said.
Han Ye-an, 40, started her business after she could not find an ideal paper house for her grandfather when he passed away 12 years ago. She eventually made a paper villa with an outdoor hot spring that her grandfather had loved.
Han believes that the offerings not only serve as a tribute to the deceased, but also help the living cope with loss.
“We can continue to express our love,” Han said of the paper gifts, adding: “We are not forgetting our loved ones and they are living in our hearts.”
Han offers a variety of handcrafted everyday items, such as paper clothes, bags and cosmetics priced from about NT$100.
At the other end of the spectrum, the price tag can be steep.
She once built an elaborate film-studio boasting sets from different time periods for the family of a deceased entertainment tycoon. The bill came to US$64,000.
The tradition has crossed over into Taiwan’s other faiths. Han estimates 20 percent of her customers are Christian.
She is to display some of her designs at an exhibition on Taiwan’s funeral culture in Paris from June, including a dim sum restaurant based on a product she previously made for a customer.
“I hope Western societies will understand our practice,” she said. “Paper offerings are not something scary. I want to make beautiful items that make people feel their loved ones are living a better life in heaven.”
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
RSS