Paper offerings for dead man, made for Chinese community

This box and its contents - clothes and possessions for the afterlife, made of paper and card - were made for the Chinese in Singapore, as funerary offerings for a man. They would be burnt in a Daoist ritual, to transfer them to the spirit world.

The paper-covered cardboard box is in the form of a chest, with 'male' written on its front. Its contents - all made of paper or card - include a hat, shoes and shirts, jewellery, cigarettes and a lighter, good luck charms, money and a portable phone.

Ancestor worship is important to the Chinese. Paper offerings are burnt to supply the spirits of the dead with a full range of possessions for the afterlife. These ceremonies occur as part of the funerary rites, and then annually.

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