Beijing's 'trousers' get a wash

File photo shows the spirit money or joss paper being sold at a market. [Photo/IC]

Kid burns RMB5,000 for ancestors

Chinese people burn "spirit money" – paper notes of currency for the afterlife – for their ancestors to spend in the next life. But one kid made a costly mistake of burning 5,000 yuan of actual RMB instead. The 4-year-old boy in Wuhan, Hubei province "sent" RMB5, 000 in cash to his ancestors at their tomb, Wuhan Evening News reported on Wednesday.

The 5,000 yuan, now presumably in the underworld, was from his grandparents, a birthday present that had been placed inside his backpack.

The family bought a pile of spirit money or joss paper from a local store. As the grandparents burned the spirit money for their ancestors, the boy was allowed to burn some as well. It was a whole lot of fun, and the kid was excited to find even more 'spirit' money in his backpack, which he promptly burned as well.

The next day, the boy's grandmother checked his backpack to see if he'd found his gift, only to realize that it wasn't there. When she asked him about it, the boy responded, "Didn't great-grandpa let me burn it?"

Instead of blaming him, the doting grandma just gave her grandson another 5,000 yuan.

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