Bold New World is back and in Shanghai! Hiu Wing’s place of birth, and we are going to show you around. So we walked into a shop of worship/incense store and it turned out to be so much more! We felt we should share with you these colorful environs and explain their contents. This incense store, near a temple will mainly sell its wares to those visiting the temple to pay respects to their ancestors, or ask various deities for solutions and blessings. From incense packs of various sizes and forms, ie. links of coins etc., you will find many shops like this with colorful and ornate stocks. This particular shop also carries various Buddha sculptures and other ‘gods’ like the female figures of ‘Guanyin’ (Bodhisattva of compassion).
Photos : Ric So
Stylee : Lorien Chan
Model and some Photo Toning : Sharon Yeung @sharonyeungg
Hair : Jose Chu
Makeup : Tiffany Lao
Whoa! What are these colorful towers made of?? Read on to find out!
Worship enclosures to the goddess, ‘Guanyin’ (Bodhisattva of compassion).
Hiu Wing holding gold coin incense sticks, wears oversized shirt by : Anteprima, vintage Michigan State hoodie by : Champion.
Hiu Wing standing in front of a wall of statuettes, wears oversized shirt by : Anteprima, vintage Michigan State hoodie by : Champion and jeans by : Zara.
Have you seen Bold New World, Prince Edward Flower Market? Featuring clothes by Leonard Paris and the shop keeps of Hong Kong >> HERE
You may have noticed the origami like paper folded flowers? These are made of Joss paper, “金紙”, pronounced “jīnzhǐ”. It literally translates to ‘gold paper’. Joss paper or ghost money is folded and burnt in Chinese ancestral worship. They are meant as offerings for the ancestor’s well being in the afterlife, even to ask for favors from the deceased.
Various shapes and sizes of incense sticks likely to be burnt at the temple near by.
A statue of a god. Some famous temples in Shanghai include : Jing ‘An Temple (Jing’An Si), Longhua Temple & Pagoda (Longhua Si), and the Confucius Temple (Wen Miao).
Hiu Wing standing in front of a wall of incense and explosives, wears oversized shirt by : Anteprima, vintage Michigan State hoodie by : Champion, jeans by : Zara and sneakers by : Adidas.
The stacked ends of incense sticks. Why are they always red or pink?
Hiu Wing at the shop counter, wears oversized shirt by : Anteprima, vintage Michigan State hoodie by : Champion.
An added surprise, since we came upon this shop during Chinese New Year, were the impressive firecracker towers near the door! Still used by the bold for celebration purposes, the practice has since been banded likely for safety measures. Clearly not banned to the point where production has come to a stand still!
“Even though some may frown on us covering an incense store out of respect to the dead, I find these colorful and cheery places. Places where we purchase small momentos and gifts to remember our ancestors and lineage. In these times where everyone is go go go and busy busy, it is nice that at least we take moments to reflect. The firecracker towers were also a sight to behold, let alone light up! Play safe!” – Hiu Wing
These large scale towers which I have never seen myself are firecracker towers. Stylish! They are likely prominently on display as this story was shot during Chinese New Year.
Joss paper comes pre-folded. Whether by the bag or a multi-layered ‘flower’ design.
See Bold New World, Light With Shade/Tung Nam Lou Hotel, featuring clothes by Sandro, Cos, and Anirac >> HERE
Towers of power! Ever seen fire crackers like these?!
Watch out Hiu! Keep away from fire!
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