Even the dead face grave times in this crisis

In China, market crash forces austerity in ancestral offerings

HONG KONG: On Tuesday, Wong Siu-lam climbed up a Hong Kong hillside to the grave of his parents and made offerings to his ancestors. But his propitiatory offerings at this year’s Chung Yeung festival were markedly different from last year’s, when he had offered a small roasted pig that cost HK$350 (about Rs1,750).

The global financial meltdown, which has wiped out millions of dollars in shareholders’ wealth in Hong Kong and China in just the past month, has enforced an element of austerity in people’s lives that now extends even beyond the grave. “I could not afford to buy my parents a roasted pig this year so I offered them paper cut-outs of pigs and burnt them at their grave,” says a contrite Wong. “I hope they will understand that times are tough.”

In the Chinese belief system, it is customary for people to make food offerings during Chung Yeung festival at the graves of ancestors and seek their blessings. The size of the offering is seen as a marker of the respect in which the ancestors are held, and in good times, the offerings were generous. But this year, soaring inflation and the financial tsunami, with the risk of an economic recession and feared job losses, have combined to render the offerings rather more Spartan.

Owners of roast meat shops in Hong Kong said business had slumped this year because fewer people were making offerings of real food, and opting for the symbolic, scaled-down offering of paper cut-outs and burning them at the graves. Against the HK$400 for a roasted pig, paper cut-outs cost only about HK$25, and evidently Hong Kong people were making the trade-off as part of the belt-tightening measures that the economic downturn has enforced. 

But even though the offerings were purely symbolic, there was no holding back on the trappings of symbolic luxury intended for their ancestors to enjoy. Among the paper cut-out offerings made this year were those of yachts, high-definition television sets, golf equipment, massage chairs and branded handbags. Also on offer were paper cut-outs of “treasure chests” containing “gold and silver ingots” and high-denomination “hell money”, intended for use in the after-life. 

But the prices of even these offerings have soared to reflect high inflation. A vendor of joss sticks and candles, which are also burnt at the graveside, said prices this year were about 50% higher than last year. 

It’s often said that the only things certain in life are death and taxes. But from the experience of the Chinese people, it would appear that even death cannot insulate you from the ravages of recession and inflation.