Chinese torch paper iPhones, banknotes to please dead

BEIJING — As Americans hunt Easter eggs Sunday, people in China will burn banknotes from hell and torch iPhones to please dead relatives.

Each year, China's Tomb Sweeping Festival sparks creative moves by entrepreneurs trying to cash in on the tradition of honoring the deceased and giving them a comfortable afterlife. Made from paper and foil, the fake phones and other items sell for just cents or a couple dollars at street stalls and online. They compete with fake money — a staple offering — and an ever-widening array of other paper gifts that people place or burn beside the tombs of family members.

A three-day national holiday that runs through Monday marks Qingming, the "clear and bright" festival when Chinese families remember their ancestors. Public celebrations include a massive homage Sunday to the legendary Yellow Emperor at a temple in Shaanxi province. Chinese citizens are also invited to mourn online at a new Beijing government platform commemorating martyrs who died fighting Japan between 1937 and 1945.