Believe it or not? A youth is said to have fallen sick recently after he had burnt a paper replica of an iPhone for his dead grandfather in conjunction with the annual Qing Ming (Chinese Tomb Festival).

According to his family members, the young man had told them that his dead grandfather had acknowledged receiving the IT tool, and since he did not know how to use it he wanted the youth to teach him.

The youth is said to have suffered a fright from his dream, and fell sick thereafter.His family members said they then consulted a medium, and following prayers and burning of some paper money, the youth is said to be feeling better now.

One of the family members, who requested anonymity, said the youth had returned to his workplace in Singapore after he felt better, and swore that he would never again lay hands on such items in future Qing Ming.

The incident might sound ridiculous, but similar tales have emerged during every Qing Ming as families burned modern ‘IT tools’ for their dead ancestors.

One housewife, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said she was unsure whether to believe in such tales, “but for the sake of peace and harmony in the family, I forbid my children to burn such modern items for the dead ancestors”.

清明热词:“纸iPhone”成清明祭品

A coffee shop owner in Sibu Jaya said he had been following the tradition of burning items during Qing Ming, “but our family only burns paper money”.He said this was being done in accordance with the teachings of the Chinese Dao Religion, in which only the burning of paper money was mentioned.

“The practice has been commercialised in the modern days when traders start selling other items for burning, like boats, houses, mansions, motorcycles, luxury cars, maids, shoes, cigarettes, and, now, the IT items.”

He said this also happened during Christmas when profit-oriented parties churn out attractive figures of Santa Clause and promoted food like ginger bread and Christmas pudding, the items of which had nothing to do with the spirituality of the celebration.

【新闻快讯】清明节是华人慎终追远的日子,但是马来西亚越州有一名20多岁青年,早前拜山时将纸扎iPhone烧给爷爷,岂料“科技盲”的爷爷报梦,向他查问手机操作功能,吓到他一病不起。

青年在爷爷坟前,将纸扎iPhone火化,没料到当晚入睡后,竟梦到爷爷现身说收到iPhone,却不会使用,要孙儿教他如何使用。虽然爷爷的“报梦”没有恶意,但由于梦中对话内容太真实,让青年非常惊吓,之后更病了数天。家人决定给爷爷再烧金银衣纸,青年才恢复精神。

有网友调侃,烧IPhone不烧充电器,怎么给祖先用,一定要配套。也有网友笑称说,烧下去,老人家不会用啊,不用担心,乔布斯下去教祖先们使用了。