Chinese Hell Money (2014) | Hacker News Reader

Chinese Hell Money (2014)

planetslade.com

27 pointsDanBC12 comments

Although I understand the need, I hate grouping all 1.3+ billion people into a single stereotype/culture as the "Chinese."

I've been to china and have spent a lot of time there both studying and working and the first thing you experience in China is the diversity. There's a small part of the Chinese population that would actually consider hell money as apart of their culture.

User "stupandaus" had a good point about the different waves of Chinese immigration to US/Canada which included different ethnicity and even language that would give a reason why hell money isn't seen in some areas.

I took it as an interesting, harmless, and creative funerary tradition and nothing more. It doesn't (IMO) reflect poorly on the Chinese people, and getting all defensive over it is silly.

You clearly took my comment the wrong way. I'm speaking on behalf of a philosophical standpoint, 1.3+ billion of an item....in this case a specific Human nationality cannot be used to generalize the whole. It's 1.3 BILLION, there's going to be so much diversity and difference in a population of that size no matter the circumstances.

I decided to use Hell Money for a project in art school and it was super easy to find in Vancouver's China Town ten or so years ago. It makes me wonder about the differences between Chinese immigrants to Canada versus the US...

There have been multiple waves of Chinese immigration to the US, with different concentrations of Mandarin vs. Cantonese speakers, education level, affluence, etc. Thus, there tends to be major differences between China Towns in different major cities.

Yeah, I figured it was something like that, any reading suggestions?

It should also be fairly easy to find in Toronto. I can attest that my grandparents tend to burn stacks of Hell money whenever we visit the cemetery. Followed by the usual feast afterward.

It was the same with my family when growing up in Hawaii.

Based on the responses in this thread, it seems to be more prevalent in areas with Cantonese populations.

Pretty much every grocery store in Chinatown in NYC that I've been to has had them.

Same with Chicago

During visits to Taipei I would pass a shop that sells all sorts of items for the afterlife. Among the largest items are dollhouse-sized mansions made of wood and paper.

The tradition reminds me of the Egyptian rulers who were buried with everything they might need on the other side.

I remember playing with these as a (culturally ignorant) kid. To me i was just a baller.

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