The Chinese holiday Tomb Sweeping Day was Wednesday of this week. Everyone had off work to celebrate (except for us foreign teachers, naturally). This holiday is to commemorate the dead.
Those with deceased friends or family burn paper money, and the money is said to go to the dead so they can use it in the other world. People start small fires in public to burn it, usually on sidewalks and street corners, like hobo fires. The idea is similar to the ancient Egyptian's idea of burying the pharaohs with everything they will need in the next life. China is trying to change the practice of burning paper money and move people towards leaving flowers at tombs instead, but it is a slow change. Leaving flowers for the dead is a new concept for them.
Chinese don't bury their dead, there really isn't room for cemeteries. They cremate them instead and keep the ashes in tombs/monuments, often in the same location as the crematorium.
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