crowded saturday

Went Comex just now..to see see look look and help friend look out for printer prices... As usual, full of people and 'rubbish' on the floor.(those leaflets). First time park my vehicle in Suntec carpark, it was also packed, but the rate is good. After 5pm, 2.14 bucks flat fee.

While we were going back, we saw a small cat IN the carpark. How on earth did a cat landed in a carpark? Hmm.. we were afraid the cat would get run over by cars. Out of kindness, we gave the cat a 'lift' out of the carpark.

The best thing then happened. The cat intially was quite frightened behind my van, so my friend went behind to accompany it. And guess what, it poo-ed in my van! omg. luckily it was not alot of poo. Just '2 pieces' (yes, we counted). We got ride of the poo as well as our 'passenger' at Boon keng area, clear up the van and spray some lemon scent car freshner.

Haha..but it was a good deed after all.

Wall-E

Yes. Its 'cartoon' and its NICE!

the Earth as a garbage dump, a future reduced to ruins. For the past 700 years, what's left of humanity has been cruising the skies in a spaceship. Only a tiny robot, WALL-E (for Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth class), scoots around on urban terra firma compacting trash into piles that grow into skyscrapers.

The first, virtually dialogue-free half hour is jaw-dropping perfection, as WALL-E (his eloquent beeps come courtesy of Ben Burtt, whose sound design for the film deserves an Oscar just for starters) watches a space probe land and discharge a sleek, robot named EVE (for Extra-Terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator). EVE (voiced by Elissa Knight) looks like an egg-shaped i-Pod with the power to vaporize any potential threat, a scary prospect. But it only takes a moment for WALL-E to fall hard for this cutie, who lets down her guard when he shares his treasures, including an eggbeater, a Rubik's cube, a Zippo lighter, a brassiere (don't ask), and bubble wrap that provides hours of popping fun. But it's a fragile sprout of plant, which WALL-E keeps in old shoe, that gets EVE jazzed. Before she heads off for the Axiom space station, with WALL-E in hot pursuit, the two strike up an odd-couple relationship

Wall-E is a very organised movie which shows the versatility of Pixar once again. The movie starts with a 5 minute clip of Presto, some random rabbit and magician short movie from Pixar, then snippets of the universe and the song 'Put on Your Sunday Clothes' starts playing. Then shows our little Wall-E cleaning up Earth. Soon, Eve came along to Earth looking for signs of life (Plants). Wall-E, after 700 years of loneliness, developed 'Love At First Sight' with Eve. As a token of love, he gave Eve a plant he had found. Here's when the plot starts. They got back to Axiom, a spaceship where humans moved to. Everything is robot-controlled. So humans can no longer walk, and gone fat. It's a battle of wheter going back Eath or not. And by the end, you'll feel light-hearted and touched even by the robots. Pixar has already bought your sympathy in the beginning, the por Wall-E with slanted eyes living and cleaning Earth alone, and falling in love with a robot Eve with no feelings. Really a delight.

i give 4/5 stars!!!!

Happiness and its causes..

http://www.happinessanditscauses.com.sg/

i think if anyone can afford it, should attend.... to find happiness and its causes....

we seriously lack of 'happiness' in modern days.

配合

配合

做事情必须靠天时地利人合。
简单来说，就是时机。时机一到，机不可失。
要成功，就要配合，配合局势，配合世间，地点，人物。

这就如同一场戏。戏要如何演，剧情如何发展，很多时候都要一定的配合。
我，渴望简单的剧本。所以希望无须配合太‘困难’的事物，人物。
但是，有时就是无法好好配合，这是造化弄人？还是自己愚昧？

盼望简单，却不简单。是事情其实根本不简单，还是自己太‘不简单’？
是时机不配合我，还是我自己出了问题，无法配合时机？

许多的问号，配合下去，把它们‘解答’之后，又有更多‘问号’。
应该如何‘配合’？

真是新官上任三把火！

Holding inquiry first would have been decent thing to do, says chef de mission of S'pore team By Marc Lim, Sports Correspondent and Peh Shing Huei, Senior Correspondent

BEIJING: Earning the players' trust and support may have been her main aim. But in wanting to be the 'players' president', Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) president Lee Bee Wah has inadvertently put a dampener on what should have been one of Singapore sport's finest occasions. Team Singapore officials in Beijing told The Straits Times that while Ms Lee may have had the interests of the players at heart, they questioned the timing of her revelation that team manager Antony Lee's services were no longer required by the STTA.

Mr Lee and head coach Liu Guodong, whose future is also under a cloud, had helped the team win a silver at the Beijing Olympics, Singapore's first Olympic medal since weightlifter Tan Howe Liang's silver at the 1960 Rome Games.


... the rest of story you guys should know..its hot on the news..

anyway, imo, Miss Lee is totally ignorant to make such haste remarks.

i once watch a business program. It takes about leaders making important decisions. The CEO cum lecturer advises that we should always try to allow at least 1 day of thinking before finalizing the decision.

Miss Lee barely sit on the president chair for 3 months and she had already affected the morale of the team. Like what some others mentioned, she really do not know 'sports' and 'human management'. She failed as a good leader. What worse, she is a MP.

Please wake up Miss Lee. You do not earn your respect this way.


真是新官上任三把火！

北京奥运2008 圆满落幕

北京奥运2008 圆满落幕

观赏了精彩的落幕演出。真的太棒了。可惜的是我错过了之前的开幕礼，但是这闭幕演出实在精彩。这是一个很好的文艺演出，表现了中华文化精髓以及华族文化和西方，现代文化的结合。
古典中华乐曲，如‘金蛇狂舞’加上流行摇滚乐；舞台设计如同北京的‘鸟巢’体育场和‘水利方’一样，表现了中国思想- 天圆地方的概念。

嘉宾和许多演出陆续登场，中国人的拿手好戏如特技表演和中国人的主要‘资源’- 人力 都发挥的淋离尽致。几千名演员和工作人员在现场演出和活动，丝毫不乱，很有程序的进行，真的不简单。张导真的很厉害。

北京奥运2008， 让‘世界更了解中国，也让中国更了解世界’-这句话真的很贴切。

精彩的开幕，闭幕礼，用心的举办奥运，使到它圆满进行，这也带给了将在2012举办奥运的伦敦(英国)和2010举办青年奥运的新加坡带来一些压力。但同时也给予它们宝贵的参考元素。
伦敦在闭幕礼上也呈现了8分钟的表演。David Beckham也登场亮相。演出满特别，但是主题却是以‘伦敦街道’来做布景，描述英国人在巴士站等巴士，一辆双层巴士登场。巴士登场还可以，毕竟这是伦敦的‘地标’之一。但是演出音乐却是纯摇滚乐，hip hop 流行舞蹈。我感到很纳闷。这是让世界了解大英帝国和伦敦的时候。虽然之前英国也曾举办过奥运，但这毕竟是庄严隆重的盛会，这些演出真的难登大雅之堂。

英国历史文化悠久，为何不充分表现出来呢？

再来就是那伦敦市长上台接棒时候，大衣竟然没扣上，双手还时不时放在大衣口袋里面。其他国家领袖，奥运委员会会长都没这么‘潇洒’，这区区伦敦市长，有必要这么‘潇洒’吗？

zhou gong jiang gui 周公讲鬼 CD

上星期五到碧山第八站 (junction 8) 的户外广场参加了周公讲鬼CD签名发布会。因为之前向YES933 订购了一张周公讲鬼CD。

现场来了许多‘意外嘉宾’，如superband Soul组合，Diya，Jeff Wang, Fann Wong, 陈靓宣，姚懿姗等。他们都是"周公" 崇庆的朋友，前来支持崇庆的CD。
我一向对‘鬼’都一定兴趣。这次购买这CD也是好奇和吸收一些灵感。当然，我知道CD里面的故事可信度不高。

我很兴奋的回家听这CD，发现CD只有38分钟，故事收录也只有10多则。这或许有点短吧。有些故事是在每个周末在YES933播出的‘周公讲鬼’；里面听过的，有些则是没播出的新故事。不是全部都很恐怖，可能我胆大吧。但是的确在夜深人静时候听这CD，真的有些毛骨耸然。
CD也附赠了一张以‘护身符’图案设计的书签，还真的很有创艺。明信片的照片也很用心的设计。整体来说，购买这CD是值得的。

歌曲会过时，但是，鬼故事可是‘一代相传的’。百听不厌。

12 Lotus

Using religious icons inappropriately is disrespectful to the religion.

Furthermore, the story plot is lousy. give ppl an impression that they are 'singing' for the sake of singing. the jokes are even 'lamer' than Jack's. At least Jack's movie has a message, clear message and the decent plot. 12 lotus' story is weak.

No one forces the little girl to sing getai and who on earn will wear the costume(getai attire) 365 days a year? even go salon also wear that feathery thingy..omg.

The story, the whole movie is really a disappointment.

my rating: 0.5/5

Our PM's National Day Rally Speech

I listened to PM Lee's speech on monday... although i missed the first half hour.

You can really see how the society changes, how time changes. Rally speeches are never boring rattling non stop, staring at the audience with poker card expression.

Our dear PM Lee uses 'multi-media', demostrating how he used his Nokia phone with Quick application, taking live video streaming, using powerpoint presentations etc.

Issues like Singaporeans not getting married, having less children, inflation, democracy (freedom of expression) were touched on.

In general, Our govt has done improvement, or at least tried improve the current situation. More incentives given to us to counter inflation. Well, although the amount we get, really didnt help alot actually, but its better then nothing.

More incentives also given to families having the 3-4 kids. I think this is useless. In fact, more subsidy should be allocated to ppl having the 1st child. Its always the toughest to have the 1st. And many couples in modern time actually do not wish to have kids.

Our PM also talked about Singaporeans getting married late or not getting married. Oh my.. even personal stuffs like dating, courtship, its part of rally speech! So we can see how serious this issue is. Our govt cant do much except having SDU to help these people.

Honglin park - speakers' corner, now they allow 'demostrations' too. And its no longer under SPF to register to speak, its under National Park. lolz. Abit more 'green and friendly'.


PM Lee also commented on our 'gracious society'. Are we ready for 2010 Youth Olympic Game?
This is a big question... looking at it now, imho, a big NO from me.

We really need to improve on our courtesy, our views, our perspective in life.

We live in a small island, our heart need to be big, our mind need to think great. But its really the otherwise now..

I think education plays an important role. To solve these problems, one should start from small. Education system should cover ethical issue, moral values and character buidling in greater emphasize. For goodness sake, we can learn a little lesser on 'algebra or E=MC2'... Kids now do not take moral values, character buidling seriously. Even adults. What important is '$$$' only.

Over emphasize on 'competition', '$$$' many not be a good thing. there must always be a balance. We are just a little red dot. We should be contented in what we achieved and be humble.

We should have a bigger heart and more tolerance in things around us. Life is not only about 'me me me'. To have a gracious society, or even to have more kids, the idea of 'social responsiblity' and 'traditional value system' should not be discarded. Sometimes, 'old' doesnt means no good.

No matter what we are Asians. Asia values still suit us. We still eat rice, not baked potatoes. (although occasionally eating that is nice..lolz).

Well, its give and take. The problem we faces now, is a result of our emphaise on pushing our economy, becoming more competitive and thus neglected other social, humanity issues.

Congrats to Singapore..

The Singapore women's table tennis team won the country's 1st olympic medal in 48 years!

Congrats!!!

ppl say 'why so serious'...i say 'why so shallow'?

Why so shallow?
Common sense really prevails…

We are not God, so when we make decision, when we make comments, we generally take the ‘majority’ or the given facts available. If we always ‘take care’ of ‘special cases’… our life will be VERY difficult and we will not be able to make decisions at all. We will be too ‘troubled’.
Why so shallow?

‘Rich in history’ doesn’t mean ‘out dated’. People tend to draw correlations to things around them without looking at facts deep enough. ‘New’ doesn’t mean ‘good’ too.
Why so shallow? Why must ‘challenge’ everything we see? Compromise and acceptance do not mean ‘weak’. Think deeper

I really think a lot of people are real shallow. Either they think too much and start to debate over stupid small tiny issues or they never think deep enough. Sometimes we need to ‘stereotype’ to facilitate work and plan. Sometime, we shouldn’t, we should investigate, that’s when finding out information, gathering of data.

All things have 2 side of the coin. God gives us a brain. We should use more.

Getai show..

It has been nearly 10 years..since i seen a 7th month getai show (stage performance).

Some people see it as superstitious, some see it as a form of low class entertainment, i see it as a folk culture, local culture.

I appreciate this culture, but i also have my own opinion on it.

Many times, the singers, hosts will speak and share 'dirty' jokes, crude jokes. Well, its a form of 'entertainment' but lets not forget the main purpose of such shows are NOT for human but spirits.

I believe respect should be given and in terms of religious morality, it should have some reservation when coming to giving crude and 'dirty' speeches, with sexual content in them.

However, this getai show i seen tonight was special. Amount of 'crude and dirty' speeches were near to zero. 3 hours of solid pure singing. With sincerity from the various singers.

and i notice a trend in getai, more and more young singers on stage. Although the songs are still mainly older songs, with occasionally some new trendy ones.

Overall, it was enjoyable, i see many happy faces and i know these people enjoyed too.

Beijing jiayou and Happy Birthday Singapore!!

Beijing Olympic 2008 kick start already.... jiayou to all countries!!!


and..

Happy Birthday Singapore!!!

Breathing life into ghost month

STRAITS TIMESAug 6, 2008

Breathing life into ghost month


A Month Of Hungry Ghosts sees the festival through the eyes of devotees, performers and ghost busters.


A MONTH OF HUNGRY GHOSTS (PG) 99 minutes/Opens tomorrow/***
THIS film, which looks at a month Singaporeans know about, or rather think they know about, promises to deliver a fresh perspective.



By and large, the promise is kept: Viewers come away having seen more than the usual cliches about getai and street opera singers. They get an understanding of the universal human need for solace and communication, even beyond death.


Thanks to the news training of producer Genevieve Woo (a producer/news anchor on Channel NewsAsia) and the considerable technical skills of American director/producer Tony Kern, the surface-skimming, exotic-Asia circus sideshow so beloved of foreign news crews is avoided.
Instead, the camera focuses on a small group of characters - heartlander Auntie Phua, a group of paranormal-investigation geeks and a Tibetan Buddhist monk among them - and lets the ghost month come alive through their eyes and voices.


For example, the hell money ritual is often regarded by outsiders as a chore done out of robot-like duty. But for Auntie Phua, it is simply an act of love, done with as much tenderness and care as one would plan a party for a relative on this plane of existence.


Ninety-nine minutes can be a long time, so the film mixes it up by adding animated sequences and real newsreels of old Singapore. The newsreels are especially fun to watch and add greatly to the humour of the film.


However, viewers may find some parts slow-moving, especially where the film tries to heighten the chills with special effects. Some on-camera speakers also go on for too long.
The tone of the film, while respectful, is not pedantic, nor does it take sides. It does not try to persuade you of anything other than that at this time of year, some think the dead move among us, as real as any living person. What the believers say - and see - can be fascinating.
John Lui

"Gui Jie" explores why devotees practise 7th-month rituals

"Gui Jie" explores why devotees practise 7th-month rituals

By Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia



"Gui Jie" explores why devotees practise 7th-month rituals

SINGAPORE:

Genevieve Woo not only reads news on MediaCorp's Channel NewsAsia, she also has a passion for making movies. She spent one and half years to make her latest film called "Gui Jie" - Chinese for "ghost festival".

The festival takes place during the seventh month in the lunar calendar. Believers say spirits roam the earth during that month. Genevieve said: "When we first started, we met a lot of naysayers. They would say, 'hey, the Hungry Ghost Month - we grew up with it, it happens every year, don't romanticise it. People just burn stuff, that's all you need to know'. "When I went to deeper research and met the people who are active participants and devotees of this festival, there was so much out there.

And this is what I want to share with Singaporeans."

Director Tony Kern said their 90-minute documentary will add to the present mix of Singapore-made films on the festival. He said: "You're going to see not only 'getai' (song performances on a public stage) and street opera; you're going to see the invitation of the spirits, you're going to see rare rituals, and you're going to get inside to the underlying aspects of why these people practise seventh-month rituals."

The producers are in talks with distributors to show the film in Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong. There are also plans to submit the film for international festivals in Cannes and America.

ERP

我的天啊！ 在我家的巴耶黎峇上段路(upper paya lebar road)，一条新的地下快速公路(应该是PIE或则KPE)，朝后港方向；出口处竟然设了ERP电子道路收费闸门！！！

below shows an example of the infamous Singapore ERP...

钱不够用2

钱不够用2

观赏了钱不够用2.. 感觉蛮不错。同一天晚上，又看了电视节目‘艺点心思’,嘉宾是粱导演。 他的用心，他的经历，值得我们学习。不屈不挠，刻苦耐劳，而且懂得关心家人。人家说他有大头症，他很真诚的说，每个人，尤其艺人，到了颠峰时候，必定有点‘飘飘然’的感觉。西方人就很有信心为自己感到骄傲，而西方这样做，没人骂，华人这样，被人炮轰。

粱导很直接的说，为何不能让努力成功的人，成功时候能享受以下，‘骄傲’一点？没错，我认为，让人开心，自豪一点，自己又不会少块肉！毕竟他们是很辛苦才熬过来的啊。
广东话说‘憎人富贵，厌人穷’。真妙，现今社会很多人就是这样。人家富贵就讨厌妒忌，人家穷困就嫌弃。

话说回来...

不同导演不同风格，何必强人所难？难道现在人不懂百花齐放，各有千秋？
几天前看到一则文章，说到好莱坞电影，多么‘烂’的片，都能破票房，反观我们亚洲片，很用心的片，都比不上好莱坞的‘烂’片(票房上)。

因为舍得花钱制造爆炸场面，性感男女主角就卖座？

粱导电影的确还有很多进步的地方。CG技巧还很生疏，动作打斗戏还很粗糙的拍摄。
但是，粱导肯用心拍电影，拍出老百姓的心声，很‘grassroot' 草根，很本土风味。

就是这样，有人说他没创意。的确，他的创意有限，可能不比现代新近导演来的‘新潮’和‘hip' 的题材构思，但是，很本土风味或许就是他(粱导演)的宗旨，粱氏幽默就是风格。

论幽默，有美式，港式，台式以及新加坡式，也就是粱式笑话为先驱。不是每个人都能接受不同形式笑话，幽默。我个人比较本土幽默，对于美国西方幽默，我有时还搞不太清楚。
谁说本土不能出海外？方言=低级？ oh come on! 方言也是语言啊，何来低级之分？
如果老美讲的不是英语而是福建话，搞不好我们全部现在都讲‘流利福建话’。
如果普通话不是以北京话为主，而是以广东话，搞不好我们的‘母语’是广东话。

法国人，西班牙人等欧洲人都以自己本土语言，文化为荣。虽然很多人不懂他们的语言文化，但是他们还是很自豪的显出自己的文化如民歌，舞蹈，语言等。

方言所以不是粗俗。当然，讲方言的电影也不要一直吵吵闹闹，骂三字经等啦，不然就未免太粗鲁了。你知道吗，很多学者认为，用福建，广东话来背唐诗其实比用普通话来的优美！
本土本地色彩浓厚就不能出海外发展，不值得看？你知道很多好莱坞电影，都是在宣扬‘大美国主义’，‘美国英雄主义’。这，不就是美国‘本土文化’-自大狂吗？

现在讲的是 ‘appreciate diversities'. 就算不了解，不懂，也要设法了解以及尊重，和懂得欣赏不同文化。

我们呢？ 很多都只会‘扮清高’， 自以为是。

英文媒体给‘钱不够用2’半颗星，真的侮辱这电影，以及观赏‘半颗星’的观赏者。拿艺术片的条件衡量商业片？ 猫和狗一样吗？笨蛋。

Overall, Money no enough 2 is a decent film. Although Director Jack should improve on CG effects, action scenes and also stop making it too obvious to promote the product of the sponsors lah. lolz.

btw, beside plain laughing, there are very touching scenes and it is a good film to educate people at the same time on family love and the great love of a mother. Filial piety - a virtue that Chinese emphasizes alot. Not many films nowsadays are educational at same time entertaining..many are just to let you have some thrill and thats it. No value (virtue) at all.

以另一个文化来决定另一个文化是否‘高尚还是低级’ - 这种人才真的‘低级’。
英文也不是全球通，世界很多地方都不讲英文。美国很'in' 吗？ 美国中部等地区的人其实都是大穷人以及极度无知的人，教育水平超低。

奉劝国人，国庆要到了，不要太自卑啦。

i give 3 out of 5 stars for this movie.

oh yes oh yes

yes.. i do burn 'papers' during 7th month, im a Chinese and Chinese pray to 'ghosts and spirits'.

Every year, people grumble and critize about 'pollution' and 'littering'... for crying out loud, what about the litters created EVERY Xmas and New year count down?

for crying out loud, the damaged ozone layer apparantly is not in Asia but the West, and i think the west don't burn papers.

For goodness sake, look at how cars, CFCs, disposable utensils, plastics, industries produce harmful gases and waste for our mother earth. Which is more serious and need more attention?

Some papers, after burning, do produce harmful gases, but its the manufacturers' fauly, greed for more profit and attempt to attract customer using colorful and new materials. It is not the custom itself that is to blame, it is the modernized, capitalistic mind of those businessman.

Turn a big round, who are the ones who pushes 'modernization' and lead people to become more materialistic, and thus neglecting moral ethics? Certainly its not the issue of race or culture, but the 'decaying' state of modern people's moral values.

The same kind of unethical act happens in other areas as well. Not only in manufacturing offering papers.

and here it goes..

the chinese burn papers and pray to spirits, but the Chinese did not go round declaring 'holy war'

the chinese burn paper and pray to spirit, but the chinese did not go round colonizing other lands and countries

the chinese burn papers and pray to spirits, they did not declare 'crusade war' nor ethinic cleansing act

the chinese burn paper and pray to spirit, but they did not create a hole in the ozone layer

the chinese burn paper and pray to spirit, but they did not call other countries who do not support them names

the chinese burn paper and pray to spirit, but they did not plant bombs and attack other countries with no WMD at all

the chinese burn paper and pray to spirit, but they did not call your ancestors demons when you bow to your ancestors

the chinese burn paper and pray to spirit, but they did not call what you believe demons either

the Chinese burn papers and pray to spirit, but they did not smash and destory what you respect

the chinese burn paper and pray to spirit, an attempt to ease sufferings of other beings which they totally do not know

the chinese burn paper and pray to spirit, their only wish is that their future generations will have a good life

the chinese burn paper and pray to spirit, the chinese travels all around the world, and they survived

the chinese burn paper and pray to spirit, the chinese civilisation is one of the oldest remaining civilisation still flourishing

‘熬’过去了

终于，上个星期四...我‘熬’了过去了。失眠总算可以康复。心中的焦虑，原来是那么可怕的。哈哈。

但是，我与此同时，又被一些事情所感到难过。

人，最无奈是身边人不珍惜缘分。

奇妙的缘分，有缘才能一同共患难。
兄弟情，欢喜悲伤一同感受，
说分离，是否表示缘分已尽？

A MONTH OF HUNGRY GHOSTS - 鬼节

A MONTH OF HUNGRY GHOSTS - 鬼节

August 7th - Official Premiere!
NEW! - Official Premiere Day - August 7th at Golden Village and Sinema
NEW! - Singapore Theatrical Release - August 7-28 at Golden Village and Sinema

more info, pls refer to: www.hungryghostmovie.com

an interesting movie feature local celebration of the 7th month festival.

Anyway, the 7th month festival, aka festival of the middle season(zhong yuan), should not be addressed as 'hungry ghost'.

1. 'hungry ghost' is a buddhist term, not a taoist's
2. 'ghost' in chinese pov is just a term for the soul for the dead. so why assume all of them are hungry? Human beings are more hungry, hunger for fame, wealth and of course..food. Singapore is a food paradize!

In a nutshell, this festival is originally from China and as a religion, it is not a buddhist festival initially but a Taoist's.

1. 7th month falls on autumn period, a time of harvest, the Chinese practices agriculture and ancestor worship (thanksgiving).

2. the term 'zhong yuan' already explains it is chinese, not indian. zhong yuan refers to a particular deity in taoism. 'shang yuan' (upper season), 'Zhong yuan' (middle season) and 'xia yuan' (lower season) - heaven. earth and water. Each festival for different purpose. zhong yuan is for salvation, repentance of sins.

3. According to historical findings, cultural and religious literature dating this festival can be traced back to the Han dynastty (around 2000 years ago). Buddhist observation of this festival arised only at Tang dynasty, much later.

4. The 'evidence' Buddhist produced, saying this festival is from India etc, cannot be sustained because there are evidences found, that late buddhist literature copied many ideas from early taoist literature.

5. zhong yuan festival is calculated using chinese calendar and for crying out loud, inda has a different system. Highly not possible for it to be able to calculate the festival and fall on the same date.

6. practice of burning papers, dated to also Han dynasty, a way to give offerings, paper was used to replace real artifacts and through burning, its transmit across dimension, from physical world to spiritual. It was never the intention to be comercialized and overly modernized or to burn in great ridiculous quantity. Its the sincerity that counts and to do things in moderate has always been part of the chinese teachings. In another words, it is the 'hunger for wealth', 'capitlistic attitude' and overly westernization that lead to people, misunderstanding the true meaning behind.

7. the world of the dead, in chinese pov, is similar to the mortal world, just that they are spiritual and invisible, what ever we need now, they benefit as well. Because of love and compassion, the chinese burn papers and offerings. Easing their sufferings. Bigger scales could be performing of salvation rituals - to provide salvation, leaving the sea of sufferings to the heavenly paradize.

bottome line, it is love, compassion and filial peity that this festival is trying to bring accross.