燒給陰間的花花世界

You Are What You Burn

燒給陰間的花花世界

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——上世紀(jì)30年代，考古學(xué)家們開始挖掘中國古墓時，意外地發(fā)現(xiàn)了形似金錠的粘土、石頭、骨頭制品。那時候一個符合邏輯的解釋是，這不過是少數(shù)人、而且是窮人的習(xí)俗——可后來在富人墓中也出土了同樣的東西。于是科學(xué)家們據(jù)此推斷，人們期望著那些陪伴逝者的隨葬物品，能在另一個世界里使用。

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.

陵墓隨葬最奢侈的例子，恐怕是今天西安的秦始皇陵。秦始皇逝于公元前210年，為之陪葬的是一整支兵馬俑軍：數(shù)千個真人大小的人型陶俑，逾百架雙輪戰(zhàn)車和600多匹戰(zhàn)馬。2200多年后的今天，與此類似的風(fēng)俗依舊風(fēng)頭不減。每逢喪事、祭祖或是清明節(jié)，在中國及世界各地其他有華人聚居的地方，都會焚燒成堆成堆的冥幣。

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，用于焚燒的喪葬產(chǎn)品種類特別多。上環(huán)(Sheung Wan)距離世界最大的金融中心之一中環(huán)(Central)只有幾分鐘路程，在那里就有一系列專營焚燒貢品的迷你超市。這些店鋪遍布蜿蜒的馬路兩邊，路邊也有商販在銷售中藥、干貝、燕窩。銷售祭品的或掛在商店雨棚上，或擺在門前的人行道上，有各式手表、手機(jī)、筆記本電腦、西裝、飛機(jī)票、信用卡，還有麥當(dāng)勞開心樂園餐、按摩椅、汽車、寵物狗、傭人——不過都是用紙張和紙板做的。早在真正的Apple Watch發(fā)布前，用來焚燒的Apple Watch就已提前幾個月在這里上市了。

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.

這些被稱為“衣紙鋪”的商店(英文稱作“joss shop”，其中“joss”意為“神靈”，來自爪哇語，是從表示“神”的拉丁語單詞“Deus”演變來的)，幾個世紀(jì)以來做的都是燒錢的生意。一些特制的紙幣上印有用仿金材料的精致葉子。但到了90年代風(fēng)云突變，天就行香燭紙業(yè)有限公司(Tin Chau Hong Worshipping Materials)經(jīng)理陳夫凌(Chan Fu Ling，音)說：“大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)開始了，一切都變了。”創(chuàng)造力因此爆發(fā)，制造環(huán)節(jié)轉(zhuǎn)移至內(nèi)地，而大部分設(shè)計工作在香港進(jìn)行。各種時尚消費品面世，名牌更是蜂擁而至：iPad、路易威登(Louis Vuitton)手袋、寶馬(BMW)、軒尼詩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.

因為完全不受監(jiān)管(衣紙鋪不受制于任何宗教組織)，部分衣紙鋪產(chǎn)品的品味，淪落到了讓人咋舌的地步。幾年前，內(nèi)地的生產(chǎn)廠家開始大量印刷紙質(zhì)“偉哥”藥片、紙質(zhì)避孕套、紙質(zhì)夜店女郎。一些衣紙鋪為了在競爭中占得先機(jī)更是動足腦筋，炮制了中國音樂電視真人秀冠軍的紙板模型，這樣先人們就可以用滿是皺紋的手臂，摟著美麗女星們一起暢游天堂了。

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.

其實，物質(zhì)與享樂也不總是衣紙鋪的主題。部分商販已經(jīng)把賭場、賽馬場、摩天樓等窮奢極欲的東西收了起來。今年流行的是健康。別提什么紙質(zhì)“偉哥” 了，現(xiàn)在是紙質(zhì)素食的時代。壁球拍、足球、自行車是主打產(chǎn)品，當(dāng)然還有Apple Watch，這樣用戶一邊運動一邊還能監(jiān)測(穩(wěn)定在零的)心率。店主陳先生對于自己的蛋白杏仁甜餅特別引以為傲，他和同事們在發(fā)明了紙質(zhì)西葫蘆配綠葉菜和芋頭片后，又設(shè)計出了這款時尚又健康的“甜點”。

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，給死人準(zhǔn)備健康餐是什么邏輯?是不是有些幸災(zāi)樂禍呀?還是說想強調(diào)，無論什么時候健身的確都不算晚?沒人在意這些問題，因為沒人指望這些民俗有合理的邏輯。“大部分人就是沿襲傳統(tǒng)，沒有考慮太多，”在衣紙鋪不遠(yuǎn)的銀行工作的約翰·鄧(John Teng)說。

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?”

一個月前，40歲左右、身材高挑的香港女子艾琳·孫(Irene Sun)來到陳先生的店里選購商品。雖然她的四個孩子在她的影響下都是基督徒，但她仍在和家中一些長輩們一樣，為4月5日的清明祭掃做準(zhǔn)備，她們就打算焚燒折成金元寶的紙錢和紙鞋。那天下午，面對衣紙鋪里繁多的選擇，她笑著說：“爺爺怎么可能知道Apple Watch怎么用呢?”