烧给阴间的花花世界
You Are What You Burn

HONG KONG — When archaeologists started to open up ancient Chinese tombs in the 1930s, they were puzzled to discover items of clay, stone and bone in the shape of gold ingots. Logic suggested that these represented small denominations and were used by the poor — until the same items were found in tombs of the rich. At that point, scientists surmised that the modest replicas were buried along with the dead in the hope that they would count as real gold in the afterlife.

香港——上世纪30年代，考古学家们开始挖掘中国古墓时，意外地发现了形似金锭的粘土、石头、骨头制品。那时候一个符合逻辑的解释是，这不过是少数人、而且是穷人的习俗——可后来在富人墓中也出土了同样的东西。于是科学家们据此推断，人们期望着那些陪伴逝者的随葬物品，能在另一个世界里使用。

Perhaps the most extravagant example of decking out the dead lies in modern day Xian, where the Chinese emperor Qin Shihuangdi, who died in 210 B.C., had himself buried with an entire terracotta army: full-size clay replicas of several thousand human beings, more than 100 chariots and 600 horses. Some 2,200 years later, a version of this practice is still going strong. Vault-loads of spirit money are burned throughout China and in Chinese neighborhoods worldwide, at funerals, on the birthdays of the dead and during the grave-sweeping holidays.

陵墓随葬最奢侈的例子，恐怕是今天西安的秦始皇陵。秦始皇逝于公元前210年，为之陪葬的是一整支兵马俑军：数千个真人大小的人型陶俑，逾百架双轮战车和600多匹战马。2200多年后的今天，与此类似的风俗依旧风头不减。每逢丧事、祭祖或是清明节，在中国及世界各地其他有华人聚居的地方，都会焚烧成堆成堆的冥币。

The selection of burnable funeral goods is especially vast in Hong Kong. In Sheung Wan, a neighborhood just minutes from the Central business district, one of the world’s biggest financial centers, a strip of specialized mini-supermarkets for the departed runs along a winding road, with purveyors selling traditional medicine, dried scallops and birds’ nests. Hanging from the stores’ awnings or standing on the sidewalk, there are watches, phones, laptops, suits, plane tickets, credit cards, McDonald’s Happy Meals, massage chairs, cars, houses, pet dogs, human servants — all of paper and cardboard. Burnable Apple Watches were for sale here months before the real thing.

在香港，用于焚烧的丧葬产品种类特别多。上环(Sheung Wan)距离世界最大的金融中心之一中环(Central)只有几分钟路程，在那里就有一系列专营焚烧贡品的迷你超市。这些店铺遍布蜿蜒的马路两边，路边也有商贩在销售中药、干贝、燕窝。销售祭品的或挂在商店雨棚上，或摆在门前的人行道上，有各式手表、手机、笔记本电脑、西装、飞机票、信用卡，还有麦当劳开心乐园餐、按摩椅、汽车、宠物狗、佣人——不过都是用纸张和纸板做的。早在真正的Apple Watch发布前，用来焚烧的Apple Watch就已提前几个月在这里上市了。

For many centuries the stock-in-trade of these so-called joss shops (“joss” means “spirit” and is a word, originally Javanese, derived from the Latin “Deus” for God) was money to burn. Some of the special bank notes are imprinted with elaborate faux gold leaf. But then came the 1990s, said Chan Fu Ling, the manager of a store called Tin Chau Hong Worshipping Materials: “Mass production set in, and everything changed.” Creativity blossomed. Much of the design work was done in Hong Kong, and the manufacturing took place in mainland China. A huge palette of trendy consumer goods appeared, many branded: iPads, Louis Vuitton handbags, BMWs, Hennessy X.O. brandy.

这些被称为“衣纸铺”的商店（英文称作“joss shop”，其中“joss”意为“神灵”，来自爪哇语，是从表示“神”的拉丁语单词“Deus”演变来的），几个世纪以来做的都是烧钱的生意。一些特制的纸币上印有用仿金材料的精致叶子。但到了90年代风云突变，天就行香烛纸业有限公司(Tin Chau Hong Worshipping Materials)经理陈夫凌（Chan Fu Ling，音）说：“大规模生产开始了，一切都变了。”创造力因此爆发，制造环节转移至内地，而大部分设计工作在香港进行。各种时尚消费品面世，名牌更是蜂拥而至：iPad、路易威登(Louis Vuitton)手袋、宝马(BMW)、轩尼诗XO。

Finding itself entirely unregulated (the shops are not beholden to any religious organizations), parts of the industry veered into shockingly bad taste. A few years ago, mainland factories were churning out paper Viagra tablets, paper condoms and paper bar-girls. Some joss shops tried to steal a march on the competition by making cardboard models of the female winners of Chinese musical TV talent shows, so that ancestors could swan around paradise with celebrity partners on their wrinkled arms.

因为完全不受监管（衣纸铺不受制于任何宗教组织），部分衣纸铺产品的品味，沦落到了让人咋舌的地步。几年前，内地的生产厂家开始大量印刷纸质“伟哥”药片、纸质避孕套、纸质夜店女郎。一些衣纸铺为了在竞争中占得先机更是动足脑筋，炮制了中国音乐电视真人秀冠军的纸板模型，这样先人们就可以用满是皱纹的手臂，搂着美丽女星们一起畅游天堂了。

It isn’t always about crass materialism and good times. Some vendors have recently tucked their casinos, horse-racing stadiums, skyscrapers and other outrageously indulgent items at the back of their stores. This year, being fit is in. Forget paper Viagra; think paper vegan. Squash rackets, soccer balls and bicycles are featured prominently, and alongside Apple Watches, so that while exercising, users can monitor their heartbeats (holding steady at zero). Mr. Chan, the shopkeeper, is particularly proud of his paper macaroons, a fashionable and light dessert option he and his team designed to follow the paper zucchini with shredded greens and sliced taro.

其实，物质与享乐也不总是衣纸铺的主题。部分商贩已经把赌场、赛马场、摩天楼等穷奢极欲的东西收了起来。今年流行的是健康。别提什么纸质“伟哥”了，现在是纸质素食的时代。壁球拍、足球、自行车是主打产品，当然还有Apple Watch，这样用户一边运动一边还能监测（稳定在零的）心率。店主陈先生对于自己的蛋白杏仁甜饼特别引以为傲，他和同事们在发明了纸质西葫芦配绿叶菜和芋头片后，又设计出了这款时尚又健康的“甜点”。

Wait. What’s the sense of putting someone who is already dead on a health kick? Is that a bit of schadenfreude? Or is the message that it really is never too late to get in shape? These questions go unasked, since no one expects these rituals to have a coherent theology behind them. “Most people carry out these practices out of custom and without much reflection,” said John Teng, a banker who works not far from some joss shops.

等一下，给死人准备健康餐是什么逻辑？是不是有些幸灾乐祸呀？还是说想强调，无论什么时候健身的确都不算晚？没人在意这些问题，因为没人指望这些民俗有合理的逻辑。“大部分人就是沿袭传统，没有考虑太多，”在衣纸铺不远的银行工作的约翰·邓(John Teng)说。

A month ago, Irene Sun, a tall Hong Kong woman of about 40, was browsing the goods at Mr. Chan’s shop. Although she is raising her four children as Christians, she was preparing with her older family members for a grave-sweeping ceremony to be held on April 5. They planned on burning mostly bank notes folded to look like gold ingots and paper shoes. That afternoon, looking around at the shop’s vast inventory, she said, smiling, “How would grandfather even know how to work an Apple Watch?”

一个月前，40岁左右、身材高挑的香港女子艾琳·孙(Irene Sun)来到陈先生的店里选购商品。虽然她的四个孩子在她的影响下都是基督徒，但她仍在和家中一些长辈们一样，为4月5日的清明祭扫做准备，她们就打算焚烧折成金元宝的纸钱和纸鞋。那天下午，面对衣纸铺里繁多的选择，她笑着说：“爷爷怎么可能知道Apple Watch怎么用呢？”

翻译：刘圆园