In case it rains in heaven

I found this In Case It Rains in Heaven when I was in Vienna's MAK shop(website for the shop). This first thing that caught my attention is, I thought the title of this book is really amusing. Then I recognised the cover of it is something very "chinese-tradition" and it was surprising to see in a vienna bookshop. 


A book by Kurt Tong, born in Hong Kong, currently based in UK, a photographer who produces rich, highly-coloured photograph-prints to document a kind of special Chinese tradition, the belief of burning joss paper(ghost money)  for their ancestors so that they can enjoy their afterlives. Chinese believe that a person passes away with empty hands so it's up to the descendants to provide for the dead.

In fact, not only high valued notes with loads of zero( should be a serious problem of inflation in heaven :P), but we burn all kinds of paper-built models that resemble the real life objects. I remember that I walked pass a store selling chinese paper oblation everyday when I was still in primary school(yes we have an entire shop to sell this kind of products). They sell big houses, sport cars, servants, red wine to a box of ferrero chocolate, washing machine to mobile phones, everything needed and not needed. Something I will never forget is once I saw they sell a paper-built printer and I wondered if they need to burn some A4 paper for their ancestor as well. In fact, we all know that burning all these is only a ritual thing, but think in a poetic way, burning the memorials into ashes go up to the sky, it sounds that they may reach to the heaven someday, indeed it is romantic. 
The culture is old, but the joss paper product seems very modern and becomes more elaborate to reflect what is the desire of us(living people). ( Like I don't think my grandpa likes iphone or mcdonalds meal)
It is interesting to see the remain-unchanged belief in after-live in Chinese culture, and at the same time the influence of an increasingly westernized culture in the recent development of this tradition. 


More about the author
Born in Hong Kong in 1977, Kurt Tong was originally trained as a health visitor at the University of Liverpool.
He has worked and traveled extensively across Europe, the Americas and Asia. In 1999, Kurt co-founded Prema Vasam, a charitable home for disabled and disadvantaged children in Chennai, South India.
After gaining his Masters in documentary photography 2006, he began working on much more personal projects, drawing on his Chinese heritage and familial relationships for inspiration. Kurt Tong has received numerous awards including the Jerwood Photography Award and exhibited around the world at venues including FotoFest in Houston and Compton Verney.