Here’s a great story from China Daily, that raises a deep philosophical question:

China bans tomb-sweepers’ "vulgar" burned offerings
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-04-25 21:25

China has banned its citizens from burning paper models of condoms, luxury
villas and karaoke hostesses when paying respect at the graves of their
ancestors.

Many Chinese burn paper money as a sacrificial rite to honor deceased
relatives, but economic development has brought more unusual tokens of gifts for
the after-life.

Now, anxious to curtail a modern version of what they see as feudal
superstition, the authorities have issued new funeral and internment regulations
that include fining citizens who burn "vulgar" offerings, a Chinese newspaper
reported Tuesday.

The burning of luxury villas, sedan cars, mistresses and other messy
sacrificial items … will be investigated and punished," the Beijing News
quoted Dou Yupei, deputy secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, as saying.

Over the last two years officials have discovered people burning paper
offerings of the potency drug Viagra, extra-marital mistresses and even
"Supergirls" — dolls modeled on winning contestants of Chinese television’s
hugely popular American Idol spin-off, Mongolian Cow Sour Milk Supergirl.

"The tomb-sweepers’ feelings are understandable," said Dou. "But burning
these messy things — not only is it mired in feudal superstition, but it just
appears low and vulgar."

The new regulations follow reports earlier this month of authorities calling
for people to honor relatives online through special Web sites’ virtual memorial
halls.

 The question is: how do we know what we might need in the afterlife?   For a Taoist the answer is simple: we need nothing because there is no afterlife, not in the sense of a "life" similar to our earthly existence where we might need things.  There is only a return to the vastness of Way.

     For a Confucian, however, the question is open.  Confucius himself was silent on the afterlife. He did not talk about it, and that silence could be interpreted as a recognition that it was simply beyond his capacity to understand.  We do not know if he believed in an afterlife or not; he just didn’t engage the question because there was quite enough to discuss regarding worldly affairs. 

    In a way, the burning of paper representations of things as a symbolic offering – they float up to heaven in the smoke – to the dearly departed, is somewhat consistent with a Confucian concern for honoring parents and ancestors.  It might be a bit materialistic for Confucius himself – for him what mattered most was the maintenance of human relationships, not the transfer of material goods.  But it seems a harmless expression of continued engagement and love to burn paper models in remembrance of those who have died.

     Viagra?  Well, maybe not, since the goodness of sex, for Confucius, might lie not in the physical pleasure itself, which could verge on the self-indulgent, but in the possibility of children who would carry on the creation and reproduction of human relationships.  And I am fairly certain that ghosts do not have children… do they?

     And finally, who are these authorities who say that they want to "curtail" "feudal superstitions."  Didn’t they get the memo on the Yellow Emperor?

     UPDATE: both Asia Pundit and Imagethief blog this as well.