Smiling South may be an illusion to the satisfaction that dearly devoted ones project when they see the amount of ritual offerings they are receiving from their beloved on mother earth. chinese and other asians have a cultural tradition of honoring the dead by burning incense, joss sticks, paper monies(to be used in the afterlife), paper replicas of clothes, jewelry, cell phones, shoes, laps, various food items, abalone, ramen, beer, shark fins;(kudos to r.m. for the list). i just went for the joss sticks.(incense) SMiling South is an one stop shopping center for all things related to worshipping and attending to the needs of the dearly departed. buys: joss sticks(5) –a big bundle. was priced at 5.50 but the lady sold it to me for 5 since i was so filial, i guess. notes: –would definitely repeat. –they have many kinds of joss sticks, even smokeles ones.
W Y.
Place rating: 5 Fremont, CA
Nice owners there! Very helpful to answer so many questions about Feng Shui, charged very reasonable too! Thanks!
E. M.
Place rating: 5 Berkeley, CA
The best selection I’ve seen of Asian paper funerary offerings and shrine supplies. Besides the usual paper clothing, paper jewelery, paper shoes they have paper electronics such as cell phones, laptops and neck massage machines as well as foods of all kinds. They have paper dim sum in paper steamers, paper roast pigs, chicken, ramen in bowls and ramen assortments in packages, trays of assorted meats, cans of beer, cans of abalone and shark fin, toothpaste with dentures, and much more. All of this is in paper, intended for burning as ceremonial offerings to the dead. Towards the back there are wood shrines for sale in all different widths from very narrow for small spaces to very wide for larger spaces. There are also lots of large ceramics and several display cases full of little wood, ceramic, and metal figurines for putting on the altars.