Dead get a taste of modernity
Source: Xinhua |
April 5, 2012, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THOSE who died three decades ago in China may have missed out on the country's miraculous reform, from a business backwater to the booming second-largest economy in the world, but "filial" offspring yesterday ensured their deceased family members got to see what's going on.
Hundreds of millions of Chinese went to the graveyards of loved ones to observe Qingming Festival, or tomb-sweeping day, a traditional Chinese holiday. While many still burned traditional offerings - paper money, cakes, and fruit - others decided that the dead should have a taste of the enormous material gains, and perhaps the decaying morals, of today's Chinese society.
Replicas of various items including trendy iPhones, flashy Ferraris and Lamborghinis, luxury handbags, villas, and even bikini-clad mistress dolls, were all on sale at stalls near cemeteries and on online stores on Taobao.com.
A saleswoman at a stall in Chongqing in China's southwest said she sold made-to-order mistress dolls for 20 yuan (US$3.20). "Villas, cars, mistresses, we make whatever modern-day items you can think of," she was quoted as saying by the Chongqing Evening News.
Another vendor nearby sold elaborate paper villas. A replica of a furnished four-story villa complete with electronic home appliances and even a guard at the front door sold for 200 yuan. And there were paper replicas of BMW or Mercedes sedans.
"A BMW for 20 yuan - it doesn't come cheaper than that!" the vendor shouted. "Buy one for the old man so he can have a luxurious experience in the afterlife."
Fancy cars, villas, guards and, more controversially, mistresses, are among the latest status symbols associated with the country's rich and powerful. However these items aren't as popular because most people are scornful of this excessive extravagance, the vendors admitted.
Paper iPhones and iPads, though, are a bit more popular.
"Chinese society has gone through a great many changes over the past few decades," said one customer, who declined to be named. "People up there should also be offered the joy brought by these latest technologies."
A paper iPhone comes complete with the full set of accessories - the phone, headset, cables and a cover. Prices vary from 20 yuan to a staggering 438 yuan on Taobao's online stores.
China's Internet users are able to see the funny side of these iPhone offerings. "How will my old man know how to use this thing?" one customer asked.
"Well, Steve Jobs is there," the vendor replied. "He should be able to teach the oldies how to use an iPhone. But don't forget to burn the charger too, or the old man will have a hard time trying to use it!"
The new paper offerings may be innovative, but online surveys show that 80 percent of people have yet to take to them, dismissing them as "too trendy" or "too costly."
"Qingming is the Chinese equivalent of Thanksgiving," said Li Hanqiu, an official with the Chinese Society for the Study of Folk Literature and Art. "There is no point being too extravagant with the offerings. Your attitude is far more important."
Other new tomb-sweeping initiatives which have fallen foul of netizens and the media are the new services offered by funeral agents, who can send surrogates to cry at gravesides. A Tianjin funeral agent posted online videos, and a price list charging 300 yuan for a 10-minute session of wailing at the grave of your choice.
Hundreds of millions of Chinese went to the graveyards of loved ones to observe Qingming Festival, or tomb-sweeping day, a traditional Chinese holiday. While many still burned traditional offerings - paper money, cakes, and fruit - others decided that the dead should have a taste of the enormous material gains, and perhaps the decaying morals, of today's Chinese society.
Replicas of various items including trendy iPhones, flashy Ferraris and Lamborghinis, luxury handbags, villas, and even bikini-clad mistress dolls, were all on sale at stalls near cemeteries and on online stores on Taobao.com.
A saleswoman at a stall in Chongqing in China's southwest said she sold made-to-order mistress dolls for 20 yuan (US$3.20). "Villas, cars, mistresses, we make whatever modern-day items you can think of," she was quoted as saying by the Chongqing Evening News.
Another vendor nearby sold elaborate paper villas. A replica of a furnished four-story villa complete with electronic home appliances and even a guard at the front door sold for 200 yuan. And there were paper replicas of BMW or Mercedes sedans.
"A BMW for 20 yuan - it doesn't come cheaper than that!" the vendor shouted. "Buy one for the old man so he can have a luxurious experience in the afterlife."
Fancy cars, villas, guards and, more controversially, mistresses, are among the latest status symbols associated with the country's rich and powerful. However these items aren't as popular because most people are scornful of this excessive extravagance, the vendors admitted.
Paper iPhones and iPads, though, are a bit more popular.
"Chinese society has gone through a great many changes over the past few decades," said one customer, who declined to be named. "People up there should also be offered the joy brought by these latest technologies."
A paper iPhone comes complete with the full set of accessories - the phone, headset, cables and a cover. Prices vary from 20 yuan to a staggering 438 yuan on Taobao's online stores.
China's Internet users are able to see the funny side of these iPhone offerings. "How will my old man know how to use this thing?" one customer asked.
"Well, Steve Jobs is there," the vendor replied. "He should be able to teach the oldies how to use an iPhone. But don't forget to burn the charger too, or the old man will have a hard time trying to use it!"
The new paper offerings may be innovative, but online surveys show that 80 percent of people have yet to take to them, dismissing them as "too trendy" or "too costly."
"Qingming is the Chinese equivalent of Thanksgiving," said Li Hanqiu, an official with the Chinese Society for the Study of Folk Literature and Art. "There is no point being too extravagant with the offerings. Your attitude is far more important."
Other new tomb-sweeping initiatives which have fallen foul of netizens and the media are the new services offered by funeral agents, who can send surrogates to cry at gravesides. A Tianjin funeral agent posted online videos, and a price list charging 300 yuan for a 10-minute session of wailing at the grave of your choice.
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