In Chinese ancestor worship, it is traditional to burn offerings that look like bank notes and other goods in order to give the deceased spending money and wealth in the afterlife.

Vmenkov [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

In modern times, people burn more than money: paper cars, houses, electronic devices, and more can be purchased to offer up. This is big business: Wikipedia reports that Taiwanese temples received US$400 million in 2014 to burn ghost money.

• Joss paper
• Hell money

Categories: Asia Economics & business Places Religion & belief

The Generalist

I live in Auckland, New Zealand, and am curious about most things.