Culture questions

1. In Asian culture spirit money and objects like paper houses, boats, cars, clothes, etc. are burned to give to the dead, who are considered to live on in the Next World, the Yellow Springs. If you don't burn the paper money, etc. then they will have no money to buy the things they need. Also, this is why food and drink are laid out, so that the dead can feed off the vital essence of the food. The concept in Asia culture of 'hungry ghosts' is an ancient one. The mother was burning papers with the directions to their new home (since the old one was destroyed) in case the spirits of her husband and daughter might want to come see them or help them from the spirit world; if you want to send something to the Dead, you burn it, like incense, paper money (AKA 'hell money'), etc. This is a very old and enduring belief, that the dead must be assisted in this way or they will be restless and hungry and wandering, and thus come back to cause the family harm in some way.

2. What you saw was Huo Guo or 'hot pot', a really wonderful kind of meal where a big bowl of hot broth with various herbs and such is boiling in the middle of the table, usually with a gas flame under it to keep it hot. In these restaurants you choose many kinds of meat, sliced paper thin and rolled up on a dish, tofu, fresh vegetables, etc. to cook in the broth. You drop it in with chopsticks, wait a couple of minutes for it to cook (meanwhile sipping your beer or munching on pickled garlic or peanuts), then take out the meat or vegies and dip them in an incredibly delicious sauce which is usually based on ground sesame seeds,a little peanut butter, cilantro and other spices. It is a Mongol dish originally and is VERY popular in northern China. In Sichuan and other places further south, the hot pot is quite spicy, made with Sichuan red pepper oil floating in the broth, but in Beijing you can get many different kinds and ALL of them are fantastic!

3. The Lantern Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the first month of the New Year, however, I think her the lanterns were shown more as symbols of the dead--glowing spirit lamps to represent the souls of those who died in the earthquake. Lanterns can be seen as a symbol of joy, love and hope, however, they are also a sort of symbol of the soul, since they are fragile constructs filled with Light...as are humans.

Hope this helps!