Mistresses, villas offered up to ancestors on Tomb Sweeping Day
Staff Reporter
2012-04-04
10:06 (GMT+8)
15 yuan (US$2.40) will buy you a small paper mistress. (Photo/CFP)
The Tomb Sweeping Festival is coming soon and the offerings market is booming, according to the Chongqing Evening News.
In addition to hi-tech products such as the iPhone and iPad, however, the latest hot items to dispatch to one's deceased relatives by means of fire are mistresses made out of paper.
The streets of Chongqing are lined with paper offerings, including villas with appliances, furniture and uniformed body guards standing at the door.
A shopkeeper surnamed Zhang said 100 yuan (US$16) would buy a small villa, while a large villa costs 200 yuan (US$32).
In another shop, offerings such as Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and BMW cars line the shelves.
The luxury car offerings come at a bargain, the shop owner surnamed Niu said, who sells BMWs for 20 yuan (US$3.20) each.
One customer said, "My father never got to ride in a sedan car when he was alive. A paper BMW costs 20 yuan — he can enjoy one in heaven."
Niu said, "We can make anything you want. Besides paper villas and sedans, we can also make paper mistresses.
Twenty yuan for a life-size mistress and 15 yuan (US$2.40) for a smaller one."
