Editing Veneration of the dead (section)

===China===
[[File:Longshan Temple DSC02236.jpg|thumb|Burning of [[incense]] during a veneration at [[Mengjia Longshan Temple]], which is dedicated to [[Guan Yu]], [[Mazu (goddess)|Mazu]], and others]]
{{Main|Ancestor veneration in China}}
[[Ancestor veneration in China|In China]], ancestor veneration (敬祖, [[pinyin]]: ''jìngzǔ'') and ancestor worship (拜祖, [[pinyin]]: ''bàizǔ'') seek to honour and recollect the actions of the deceased; they represent the ultimate homage to the dead. The importance of paying respect to parents (and elders) lies with the fact that all physical bodily aspects of one's being were created by one's parents, who continued to tend to one's well-being until one was on firm footing. The respect and homage to parents is to return this gracious deed to them in life and after. The [[Shi (personator)|''shi'']] (尸; "corpse, personator") was a [[Zhou dynasty]] ({{BCE|1045–256|link=y}}) sacrificial representative of a dead relative. During a ''shi'' ceremony, the ancestral spirit supposedly would enter the personator, who would eat and drink sacrificial offerings and convey spiritual messages. Spiritual messages usually were conveyed in the form of [[poe divination]], or to confirm whether the ancestors consent on the messages requested by the divinator.

====Offerings====
[[Image:Burning-money-and-yuanbao-at-the-cemetery-3249.JPG|thumb|left|140px|Burning offerings]]

In traditional Chinese culture, sacrifices are sometimes made to altars as food for the deceased. This falls under the modes of communication with the [[Chinese spiritual world concepts]]. Some of the veneration includes visiting the deceased at their graves, and making or [[Papier-mache offering shops in Hong Kong|buying offerings]] for the deceased in the [[Chinese New Year|Spring]], [[Double Ninth Festival|Autumn]], and [[Ghost Festival]]s. Due to the hardships of the late 19th- and 20th-century China, when meat and poultry were difficult to come by, sumptuous feasts are still offered in some Asian countries as a practice to the spirits or ancestors. However, in the orthodox [[Taoist]] and Buddhist rituals, only vegetarian food would suffice. For those with deceased in the afterlife or [[diyu|hell]], elaborate or even creative offerings, such as [[domestic worker|servants]], [[refrigerator]]s, [[house]]s, [[car]], paper money and [[shoe]]s are provided so that the deceased will be able to have these items after they have died. Often, paper versions of these objects are burned for the same purpose. Originally, real-life objects were buried with the dead. In time these goods were replaced by full size clay models which in turn were replaced by scale models, and in time today's paper offerings (including paper servants).