By Hou Changxi

Burning Money

By Hou Changxi

John is an American student who came to China to learn Chinese. He has a great variety of interests and is particularly curious about a great many things. He feels that China has a “boatload” of holidays, and wants to understand them on a deeper level.

He set out to observe and participate in various Chinese holidays.

On Tomb-Sweeping Day, which takes place on April 5th, he observed lots of Chinese people scurrying around to pay their respects to their ancestors. To satisfy his burning curiosity, he inquired of his classmate, a young girl named Xiao Zhao, what the difference between Chinese Memorial Day and Valentine’s Day was.

Xiao Zhao explained, “Tomb-Sweeping Day and Valentine’s are both holidays on which you should spend money and send flowers. The difference is that on Tomb-Sweeping Day, you have to pray to the dead and burn fake money so your ancestors won’t end up poor in the afterlife; but on Valentine’s Day you have to pray to God your girlfriend doesn’t burn through all your real money or you’ll end up poor.”

John thought for a while and it finally dawned on him, “Okay, so it turns out Tomb-Sweeping Day and Valentine’s Day are both about burning money.”

(FromThe Joys of Life,Tianjin People’s Publishing House. Translation: Chase Coulson)