Deposit book, cheque book and bank card for the Bank of Hell

From a Chinese supermarket, London, England, AD 1990s

Chinese money for the spirit world

A strong belief in the afterworld is found in Chinese communities throughout the world. It is important to respect the ancestors, and to keep them happy in the spirit world. One way to do this is to seek the help of deities, usually Buddhist or Daoist. Another way is to send money, and imitation paper money is burned in order to transfer money from the human world to the spirit world.

Sometimes the paper money is for extraordinarily high denominations, often millions of dollars, or as here, for as much as you can imagine! You can buy them in Chinese supermarkets everywhere.

J. Williams (ed.), Money: a history (London, The British Museum Press, 1997)