• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

In Perspective, Planet: Hell Bank Note

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Chinese people usually burn their dead and may keep the urn at home. But they also put a little tab with the name and sometimes picture of the deceased member of their family on display in their local temple. They also bring offerings of candlelights, incense, food and sometimes (fake) money as is shown here. It is like a miniature graveyard.


 

Ruben Alfu

New member
Hi Jerome,

Very interesting, I don't remember having seen urns kept in this manner. There's so much to read in this photo about human nature...

Regards,

Ruben
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
I don't remember having seen urns kept in this manner.

This was with ethnic chinese, but not in mainland China. You don't see this often in mainland China, many religious practices have been actively discouraged by the communist government for years.
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Hi Jerome,

I like this photo. But I have been wondering about the title "Hell Bank Note". Money to get out of hell or something else?
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
"Helll Bank Note" is written on top of the bank note. You can read it on the picture. This is common for fake money given to the deceased.
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
A very interesting photo Jerome.

However, I am bit confused with the term ' ethnic Chinese '. Are the mainland ' Chinese '

not ethnic Chinese. For example the Han Chinese.

A very good insight in people's way of life, and the respect for their dead.

Thanks for sharing.
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
However, I am bit confused with the term ' ethnic Chinese '. Are the mainland ' Chinese ' not ethnic Chinese. for example the Han Chinese?

By "ethnic Chinese", I mean the people of chinese descent living outside mainland China. I thought the expression was widely used.
 

Mark Hampton

New member
Chinese people usually burn their dead and may keep the urn at home. But they also put a little tab with the name and sometimes picture of the deceased member of their family on display in their local temple. They also bring offerings of candlelights, incense, food and sometimes (fake) money as is shown here. It is like a miniature graveyard.



This slays. Beautiful. Thanks for posting. I learnt something today Jerome.
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
It's curious that English is used in a Chinese funerary setting.

Wikipedia has an interesting account of the hell bank note.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_bank_note

Thank you for the wikipedia link. I did not find it very odd that the words were in English, because this was taken in Malaysia where English is a somewhat official language. Besides the notes may have been printed in Singapore, where English is definitely an official language. But the wikipedia link makes it clear that this kind of notes use English in mainland China as well, and English is certainly not an official language in mainland China. Apparently, it is just a representation of western money.
 
Top