Night-time Cemetery Rituals, Singapore (9) - An altar for the Hell's Ghost King 'Da Shi Ye'

In Singapore and Malaysia, the inversion of Chinese Underworld traditions has meant that Underworld demons are now amongst the most commonly venerated deities in statue form, channelled through their spirit mediums, tang-ki. The Chinese Underworld and its sub-hells are populated by a bureaucracy drawn from the Buddhist, Taoist and vernacular pantheons. Under the watchful eye of Hell's 'enforcers', the lower echelons of demon soldiers impose post-mortal punishments on the souls of the recently deceased for moral transgressions committed during their prior incarnations. Until 2020 when most of the graves in Chao Chu Kang Cemetery had already been exhumed to make way for an airstrip, Underworld temples would visit at night during Chinese Ghost Month to make offerings to the spirits there who had been allowed out of the Underworld. Every ritual is overseen by the Ghost King, and the ominous looking cardboard or plastic statues if him are believed to house his spirit who's job it is to make sure that all of the wandering spirits invited to partake of the ritual behave in an upright manner. At the end of each temple's rituals, the image will be burned, "sent off" back to the Underworld through the transformative powers of immolation.