Um... that is not Chinese "good-luck paper." It's paper money you burn to the gods, usually so they will take care of your dead relatives. As the paper money is associated with funerary rites, I think this light switch would be very jarring to anyone familiar with Chinese customs. It's almost something of a taboo.

well, it's "good luck" to those who've died i guess...

but yes, tho pretty, my parents would instantly rip it down. maybe use the red lucky money envelopes or the new years banners with the calligraphy and gilded borders will be more socially accepted among your asian friends. think they would nice cropped off and such and they are abundant and super cheap in chinatown.

:O Jesus Christ! That's not good luck paper at all! It's called "gold paper", the currency for the dead. You burn them in thousands so that your dead relatives can buy stuff when they crossover. It is also used to bribe the gods for good fortune, but you have to burn them to transfer to the other side.

In the contrary, it's actually "unlucky paper" for the living. It's the kinda thing you don't wanna see when you are going gambling, asking for a raise or recovering from sickness...

In Hong Kong film industry, actors playing dying scenes are given small amount of cash in a red packet as good luck. It is believed if they were given these hell-bank-money in the red packet, they will die for real in the scene.

Please! Take it off! It's jinxed! (Besides, this is the kinda thing Chinese often laugh about Gweilo)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_bank_note

Thats good many someones mentioned this. I love the look of joss paper. But I educated myself on its cultural use and decided that symbolically this is not something I would use to decorate with. I think this is a danger of eclectic design and cultural appropriation in general. Individuals take symbols and objects from a cultural background without paying attention to cultural context or meaning. This could all be prevented by some thoughfulness and some easy research.

HA! 3rd times a charm!

I'm all for being sensitive to the socio-religious beliefs of other cultures--even if I don't share those beliefs--and now that I'm all clear on the use of gold paper, I'll skip this little collage project on my light switches. Not, of course, that I was actually planning on doing that anyway. I'm not exactly craftsy.

Now, I'm also not a believer in the doctrines of the Catholic Church, but would that same sensitivity to the inappropriate use of others' religiously-loaded symbols also apply to the purely decorative use of a bunch of crucifixes--as in the Dream Home at the Mart--or to a painted plaster figure of the Blessed Mother turned into a lamp, as I saw recently in a trendy downtown loft? It must not.

Magnaverde, as a Catholic the inappropriate use of crucifixes and other Christian religious symbols drives me batty.

I hate misappropriation of symbols whereever I see it. I hate on indiscriminate use of Kokopelli, dreamcatchers, sometimes meaningless Chinese calligraphy, Buddhas, crosses... whatever it is. But I get your point that for certain cultures using their cultural or religious symbols is seen as ironic, kitschy or good design. Its not cute IMO.

On the subject of misappropriated religious objects ... years ago, I used to have a friend (not Jewish) who would put a yahrzeit candle (a memorial candle lit on the anniversary of a loved one's death) in her bathroom whenever she had a party. Her reason: they were a safe, cheap, and no-fuss way to provide candlelight in the bathroom without having to worry about it. (Slightly larger than a votive, yahrzeit candles cost about 69 cents, come in a glass cup, and burn for 24 hours.) Offended, I tried to explain that this was the equivalent of pressing her rosary into service as the pull-chain on the water closet tank ... to no avail.

On the subject of actually decorating the outlet or cover plate, I have several that my son decorated for me during elementary school as art projects. One of the first things I do when we've moved is to pick where they'll go, remove and store the ones provided and put up my special ones. He did one during studies on the Native American tribes, and I decorate the area around it with other projects he did during that time, as well as a few items I made to compliment the grouping.

When I painted my kitchen a couple of years ago I covered the switch plates with border paper - not real original, but pleasing to me.