Popular Science Analysis: From Shang and Zhou Paper Money to Overseas "Ancestor Money", Why Has This Paper Lasted for Thousands of Years?
03 Dec 2025
During Qingming tomb-sweeping, you may have seen elders squatting in front of the tomb, poking the burning yellow paper with a twig and murmuring softly, "Ancestors, please take it." This seemingly ordinary "joss paper" has long been integrated into the worship memories of Chinese people, but few know its origin can be traced back to the Shang and Zhou dynasties more than 3,000 years ago. From the initial "burying real coins" to today's trending term "ancestor money" on overseas cross-border platforms, the thousand-year spread history of this paper hides the underlying code of human emotions and cultural inheritance.
Archaeologists discovered dozens of cowrie shells and bronze coins neatly arranged beside the coffin in the tomb of a Shang Dynasty noble in Yinxu, Anyang, Henan Province——this is the earliest evidence of the ancestors' concept of "treating the deceased as the living". At that time, people believed that the deceased still needed material support in another world, so they buried real currency with the dead. However, burying real coins was extremely costly and unaffordable for ordinary families. By the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, "joss coins" made of clay and jade appeared, which was the initial exploration of balancing worship costs and emotional needs.
It was during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties that "paper money" truly became a fixed custom. With the popularization of papermaking technology, cheap and easy-to-process paper gradually replaced pottery and jade imitation coins. Historical records show that at that time, "fire was forbidden during the Cold Food Festival, and people all folded willows and inserted them on doors, burning paper to worship ancestors". There even appeared workshops specializing in printing paper money, with simple cloud patterns and ingot patterns painted on the paper. This custom not only took root in the Central Plains but also spread to Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia through cultural exchanges, becoming a common worship symbol in the East Asian cultural circle.
Today, the popularity of this Eastern paper overseas seems accidental but is actually inevitable. On cross-border platforms such as Amazon, the monthly search volume of the keyword "ancestor money" exceeds 100,000, and joss paper printed with "Heaven and Earth Bank" has long been on the bestseller list of worship supplies. Behind this is a dual driving force: cultural communication has made overseas groups come into contact with this tradition, and the common emotional needs of human beings have made it take root.
Interestingly, archaeologists have long discovered that this thinking of "providing underworld materials for the deceased" is a common expression of human civilization. The "Book of the Dead" unearthed in the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh is a papyrus scroll full of blessing spells. When buried, it is matched with imitation food and tool models, which is logically similar to the "material supply" of Chinese joss paper. In medieval Europe, there was a custom of "burning the deceased's clothes". People believed that flames could transform clothes into items for the deceased to wear in another world, which is essentially consistent with the emotional core of burning joss paper.
This cross-civilization resonance has made our cross-border joss paper pay more attention to "traditional genes + modern adaptation" in design. We retain core cultural symbols such as the vermilion seal of "Heaven and Earth Bank" and cloud patterns, allowing overseas Chinese to feel the familiar sense of ritual; at the same time, it has passed the EU ROHS environmental certification and uses degradable pulp materials, which produces 60% less smoke than traditional joss paper when burned, adapting to strict overseas environmental regulations. The feedback from Mr. Zhou, a Chinese in Los Angeles, is representative: "When I burned it for my father, a foreign neighbor came to ask. I took out the certification report and the comparison chart of the 'Book of the Dead', and he kept saying 'this is the way of longing for all mankind'."
From the cowrie shells in the Shang Dynasty tombs, to the paper money in the Wei and Jin workshops, to the "ancestor money" in the hands of overseas netizens, the form of this paper has been constantly changing, but it has always carried the same original intention——concern for the deceased and respect for the inheritance of life. When overseas users write the names of their loved ones on joss paper, and Chinese people complete worship with compliant paper money, we will find that what has spanned thousands of years is never a piece of paper, but the sincere emotion in human hearts that "you have never been forgotten".
Interactive Topic: What other global similar customs of "providing supplies for the deceased" do you know? Share below
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