Even the Dead Have an iPad in Hong Kong
Hong Kong's Chung Yeung Festival Honors Their Ancestors
10.05.2011 - 10.05.2011
Today is Hong Kong's Chung Yeung festival, the day where ancestor reverence boils over and the country shuts down to show their respect.
Besides being a national holiday with government offices and banks closed, many Hong Kongers visit cemeteries to clean family member's graves and burn paper replicas of objects the dead might want in the afterlife (such as an iPad).
Stores that only sell these replicas - ranging from air conditioners to dentures that price from around $2.00 on up - line the street in the Sheung Wan neighborhood, one of the city's last with terraced turn-of-the-century buildings just starting to trend upward as hip galleries and glassy apartment buildings pop up.
Fingers crossed, these mom and pop shops survive the neighborhood's change. Where else will the dead (and their families) be able to grab a pack of Marlboro's or six pack of Heineken?
Click the following link for more photos: Hong Kong Fuey!
Posted by bucketbath 07:55 Archived in Hong Kong Tagged beer of holiday day festival dead money paper cigarettes chung yeung
Hi that is great you were in Hong Kong during this interesting festival. How is your ankle doing? Can't wait to read about your next adventure. Love the picture.
Love Aunt Pam and Uncle Hal
by Aunt Pam and Uncle Hal