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Paper Effigy Maker
墨書 Inktalez
Chapter One Paper Effigy Maker
My name is Pan Shenbao, and I am a poor child. My father passed away when I was three, and my mother died when I was five. It was Grandfather who raised me single-handedly.
Grandfather is a Paper Effigy Maker. To put it simply, a Paper Effigy Maker is a Paper Craftsperson. Paper Craft, also known as paper mache, involves cutting paper, painting, weaving straw, bamboo weaving, and pasting. To put it nicely, it is a traditional folk art of China. To put it bluntly, it is a craft that makes offerings for the dead. The items made are not particularly artistic; they are just things like Yin Yang, Paper House, and Paper Horse that are burned for the deceased.
Because of this, Grandfather taught me how to make paper from a young age, and later I inherited his craft.
Making paper has been an old profession in the field of Paper Effigies of Young Boys and Girls. In ancient times, “Paper Effigies of Young Boys and Girls” referred to: Golden Chrysanthemum—tea-selling women; Kapok Flower—physicians; Daffodil—singing women in restaurants; Firethorn Flower—performers; Earth Flower—porters; A Fortune Teller—fortune tellers; Second Gate Herbalist—herbal sellers; Three Doors of Color—magicians; Four Gates Performer—street performers; Five Doors of Storytelling—storytellers; Six Doors Troupe—street singers; Spirit House Paper Horse—those who set up tents for paper crafting; and Eight Doors of Chat—theatrical performers. Among these, the term Spirit House Paper Horse refers to people like us who make paper.
In our line of work, many believe that the items made such as Paper Figurine and Paper Horse are only sold to families arranging funerals. If you think this way, you are mistaken because during the day we conduct business for the living arranging funerals, but at night, we deal with the dead. As the saying goes, a Paper Effigy Maker, with Ghost Paper, makes offerings with Ghost Paper for the deceased. It is precisely because our shop is filled with Paper Figurine, Paper Horse, and Spirit House Ghost Sedan, that it is common for wandering souls to enter our store!
I still remember an incident from my childhood when Grandfather was still alive. One night, I was playing with friends from the neighboring village until late and only headed back to the shop after having dinner at their house.
I remember it was already past ten o'clock at night. The night was particularly dark, probably around the seventh or eighth day of the lunar month, so only one round of Mao Yue Liang hung in the sky. Although it wasn't bright, I could still see the path ahead clearly enough that I didn't need a Flashlight. I made my way toward the Shop in the dark.
The journey back from the neighboring village to the Shop was about four or five miles. Since it was in the countryside, it was all mountain roads, and on my way home, I had to pass by a Mass Grave Site.
This particular Mass Grave Site was notorious among our villages. In all surrounding villages, anyone who died—regardless of age or gender—was buried there. Therefore, tales of things like Ghost Fire, ghostly wails, and eerie sounds were frequently shared among villagers.
The Unmarked Graveyard covered a vast area with numerous raised mounds. There were old low tombs that had been there for years as well as newly erected graves adorned with wreaths. The mountain path I took back to the shop passed through this Unmarked Graveyard. Normally, it would take about ten minutes to walk through it, and even running would take several minutes.
That night, just as I passed by this Unmarked Graveyard, I suddenly heard a series of “thud thud thud” sounds coming from ahead. Upon listening closely, I realized that the sound was actually hoofbeats. I was curious at that moment; who could be traveling at such a late hour? And riding a horse no less?
At that time, I didn't suspect much because in the countryside, there were only a few hut families that raised horses, mainly for carrying heavy loads. What intrigued me was that in the countryside back then, unlike today's cities, people rarely traveled at night because there were no entertainment activities, not even television. So generally, after dinner, people would go to bed early.
Before long, the sound of hooves grew closer, and I saw a man riding a white horse approaching me through a low mound in front of an unmarked graveyard.
Seeing the white horse coming my way, I hurriedly stepped aside to let him pass. However, the white horse stopped right in front of me, and the man on its back asked if I was the grandson of Old Man Pan from Yaoshan Village.
Looking at him, I realized he wasn't from our village. Although I didn't understand which village he was from, I was surprised that he knew my grandfather. So I nodded and confirmed it.
Upon hearing this, the man told me that he had recently bought a palanquin from my grandfather's shop, but it had broken down. He went to find my grandfather but discovered he wasn't at the store, so he asked me to help fix it at his home.
Seeing how late it was, I asked if he could just give me the address and let my grandfather come by tomorrow to repair it. However, he refused and insisted that he needed the palanquin tonight and couldn't wait.
He appeared quite anxious, which didn't seem like a lie.
I didn't think much of it at the time; I assumed he was preparing for a funeral and needed it that night. So seeing that he couldn't wait, I nodded in agreement and asked how far it was and which village he was from.
He said it wasn't far and just ahead. Without thinking much about it, I followed him as he led the way to his home.
Indeed, he didn't deceive me; his house was just up ahead. However, when I saw the house, I frowned because it was incredibly low, almost like a mound. What puzzled me even more was that having lived in the village for years, I had never known anyone lived here. I always thought this area near the unmarked graveyard was deserted.
When we arrived, he invited me inside. The interior was quite simple; in the living room stood a colorful palanquin that looked very much like the paper sedan chairs made in my family's shop.
I say this because the palanquin before me was a real palanquin and not a paper one at all.
I asked the other party about their Palanquin, suggesting they bring it out for me to repair. They pointed to the real Palanquin in front of us and said, "This is it. Please fix it quickly; I need to carry my wife out soon."
I was stunned at that moment, thinking I must have misheard. However, after confirming multiple times that this was indeed the Palanquin bought from my shop, I started to feel scared, realizing I had definitely encountered something supernatural.
I didn't dare to ask more questions. Seeing that only one of the carrying poles was broken, I quickly asked them to find a bamboo stick and fashioned a new pole to replace the broken one.
After finishing this, I was about to leave when the other party insisted on giving me some compensation for my hard work. I didn't dare accept their money; even if they offered me more, it could very well be Ghost Money. However, despite my repeated refusals, they seemed determined not to let me go without accepting it. So, with a bitter face, I accepted the money they offered and hurried out of their house, then ran home as fast as I could...
When I returned to the shop, Grandfather was sitting inside. Seeing me come back in a fluster, he asked what had happened. I recounted the encounter on the way back to Grandfather, who then looked me up and down and told me that I had encountered a ghost.
When I took out the money given to me from my pocket, I discovered that it had all turned into Ghost Money, which sent a chill down my spine.
That night, I developed a high fever. Even though Grandfather made me drink talisman water, it took two days of lying in bed before I started to feel better.
Of course, Grandfather's skills were not simple; he used to be a Yin Yang Master. He changed his profession during the campaign against the "Four Olds" and opened a Paper Craft Shop.
According to Grandfather, working in paper crafting is like eating food meant for the dead; you deal with ghosts every day, so how could you not know something about Yin Yang? You see, all things in heaven and earth are formed by the interplay of Yin Yang. Humans are yang while ghosts are yin; convex shapes represent yang while concave shapes represent yin; the sun is yang while the moon is yin. As the saying goes: "Yang spins from the left while yin meets joy from the right." Who can understand the principles of Yin Yang? Why worry about not encountering each other on earth?
Grandfather could not only recognize Yin Yang and discern fortune from misfortune but also dispel disasters and save lives—his abilities were vast. Unfortunately, when Grandfather passed away, I did not learn his skill of recognizing Yin Yang. The main reason was that I didn't want to learn; after all, as a young person, I didn't want to rely on this for a living. However, fate played its hand, and later on, I ended up following in Grandfather's footsteps—though that's another story.
However, returning to the topic at hand: they say if you don't do anything wrong, you won't fear ghosts knocking at your door at midnight. But because of this Paper Craft Shop, it was common for ghosts to knock at our door in the middle of the night. Whether it was souls of dying people coming to choose coffins or restless spirits causing trouble, one thing was certain: anyone who came into the shop at midnight was definitely not alive...
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