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PAPER WEALTH
S'poreans buying unusual items to burn for the dead during Qing Ming Festival
April 02, 2009
HOT ITEMS: (Above) A designer-styled bag, a massage chair and a treadmill, all made of paper. (Below) A fast food meal minus the food. TNP PICTURES: PEARLY TAN
THE dead want to be fashionable.
They want matching lacy bra and panty sets, fashionable bikinis, and the latest designer-styled handbags and wallet sets.
They want treadmills to keep them fit, and heavily padded massage chairs to relax them and keep them pampered.
The young and the young-at-heart want their fast-food meals.
These are some of the mind-boggling things people buy to burn at this year's Qing Ming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day, which falls on Saturday.
Mr Ang Chee Kiong, 52, owner of It Tian Heong, an incense shop at Geylang Lorong 7, said that there are more customers today looking for uncommon items.
'Clothes and food are still the most popular but we have more requests for things like yachts and aeroplanes,' said Mr Ang.
Another example is firearms, which are hot this year.
From hand pistols to machine guns, customers can choose whatever weapon they would like to equip their dead with.
Price
Prices range from less than $5 to the most expensive item - the karaoke set, which costs $60.
He said in Mandarin: 'These (guns) are our new items. People have been requesting for them for a long time, but no one has dared to bring them in so far.
'Most people buy them for their relatives who were in the army or who were policemen.'
Customers also often ask Mr Ang for recommendations to the latest fashion available.
Mrs Pauline Leck, 45, who was buying some accessories and shirts for her late husband at the store when The New Paper visited, sought his opinion.
Said Mrs Leck, whose husband died two months ago: 'I want to get the latest clothes for him. It must be the best.'
With higher standards of living, more people are seeking ways to help their relatives enjoy the same luxury.
To meet the entertainment needs of the dead, billiard tables, basketballs and mahjong sets are also available.
For some, ready-made items are insufficient.
FIRE! Paper guns.
Shopowners told The New Paper that there have been customers who have made requests for unusual items.
'We allow orders for custom-made things like jackpot machines,' said Mr P K Lim, in his 50s, owner of Lim Sam Seng incense shop.
At another incense shop in Chinatown, requests had been made for life-sized items.
Shop owner Mr Teo Bee Kim, 58, said: 'We have had customers asking for big aeroplanes, but we told them to just buy the ready-made ones.
'Most of the things we sell are manufactured and imported from China. I don't think anyone in Singapore has the skills to make them anymore.'
Mr Lim said that the strangest request they had from a customer was an order for a tractor.
'He (the customer) explained that his relative was a construction worker before and he wanted him to be able to do what he knew in the afterlife.'
But it appears that the recession has hit the industry, too.
All the incense shops visited by The New Paper reported a 10 to 20 per cent fall in sales compared to last year.
Mr Ang said: 'People have not stopped buying, but most are buying less. We also cannot set prices too high, if not people will not buy.'
Pearly Tan and Bernice Huang, newsroom interns
PAPER WEALTH
S'poreans buying unusual items to burn for the dead during Qing Ming Festival
April 02, 2009
HOT ITEMS: (Above) A designer-styled bag, a massage chair and a treadmill, all made of paper. (Below) A fast food meal minus the food. TNP PICTURES: PEARLY TAN
THE dead want to be fashionable.
They want matching lacy bra and panty sets, fashionable bikinis, and the latest designer-styled handbags and wallet sets.
They want treadmills to keep them fit, and heavily padded massage chairs to relax them and keep them pampered.
The young and the young-at-heart want their fast-food meals.
These are some of the mind-boggling things people buy to burn at this year's Qing Ming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day, which falls on Saturday.
Mr Ang Chee Kiong, 52, owner of It Tian Heong, an incense shop at Geylang Lorong 7, said that there are more customers today looking for uncommon items.
'Clothes and food are still the most popular but we have more requests for things like yachts and aeroplanes,' said Mr Ang.
Another example is firearms, which are hot this year.
From hand pistols to machine guns, customers can choose whatever weapon they would like to equip their dead with.
Price
Prices range from less than $5 to the most expensive item - the karaoke set, which costs $60.
He said in Mandarin: 'These (guns) are our new items. People have been requesting for them for a long time, but no one has dared to bring them in so far.
'Most people buy them for their relatives who were in the army or who were policemen.'
Customers also often ask Mr Ang for recommendations to the latest fashion available.
Mrs Pauline Leck, 45, who was buying some accessories and shirts for her late husband at the store when The New Paper visited, sought his opinion.
Said Mrs Leck, whose husband died two months ago: 'I want to get the latest clothes for him. It must be the best.'
With higher standards of living, more people are seeking ways to help their relatives enjoy the same luxury.
To meet the entertainment needs of the dead, billiard tables, basketballs and mahjong sets are also available.
For some, ready-made items are insufficient.
FIRE! Paper guns.
Shopowners told The New Paper that there have been customers who have made requests for unusual items.
'We allow orders for custom-made things like jackpot machines,' said Mr P K Lim, in his 50s, owner of Lim Sam Seng incense shop.
At another incense shop in Chinatown, requests had been made for life-sized items.
Shop owner Mr Teo Bee Kim, 58, said: 'We have had customers asking for big aeroplanes, but we told them to just buy the ready-made ones.
'Most of the things we sell are manufactured and imported from China. I don't think anyone in Singapore has the skills to make them anymore.'
Mr Lim said that the strangest request they had from a customer was an order for a tractor.
'He (the customer) explained that his relative was a construction worker before and he wanted him to be able to do what he knew in the afterlife.'
But it appears that the recession has hit the industry, too.
All the incense shops visited by The New Paper reported a 10 to 20 per cent fall in sales compared to last year.
Mr Ang said: 'People have not stopped buying, but most are buying less. We also cannot set prices too high, if not people will not buy.'
Pearly Tan and Bernice Huang, newsroom interns
