actually the show from zero to hero, is putting what the chinese believe about life after death into a show. Of course, for viewership and it is DRAMA, it is abit exagarating lah. beside its 'kua zhang' scene, it is actually reflecting the strongly rooted chinese belief to the chinese.
The Chinese, like many other race and civilisation believes in life after death an life is continous in the next phase and it is similar to the current world. It is called the netherworld. The suffering hell portion is only part of the netherworld. only those who deserved to be punished will go there. the rest will just stay in this dimension(netherworld).
Of course ,the paying of taxes, shares and buying dreams is exagarating, but the rest are just simple examples to the chinese belief.
One example is the attire. notice the guys are red and women are green? it is according to the chinese custom -red for guys, green for women. the 'yi bao', paper offerings in boxes, packages during qingming or seventh month, they got gender differences one. red for male, green for female.
another example is the scene asking ancestor to let them strike 4D. one need to give offerings to the ancestor first. well, the chinese actually have this belief of 'xiang huo'. the worship of the ancestor(the tablets) need to be continous without stopping, passing down from generation to generation and must be sincere in worship. to keep the 'fire' burning. The chinese believe this will provide blessings for the entire family.
As for burning of the bones, notice Bao uses talisman to burn. maybe that is why the scriptwrite says it can hurt zhengde's soul. its not ordinary fire anymore.
And also, mis-handling of the body(ash, bones) will affect the soul in the chinese belief.
another this is in the begining, Edmund chen's soul is still around his body when he is in coma. this is also true in chinese belief. the soul is make up of diff entities and not all is fully gone when a person die. not to mention just in coma. thats why went a person is in coma, speaking to him helps in a way. in science they say the brain still can process. in belief, the soul is still around.
When edmund chen just died, he is not sure he is dead. cos he 'died' in a accident. that is why in chinese belief, they have funneral ritual and iti s esp impt when the person died a wrongful death or accident.
as for newton and melvin, they just represent the ox head and horse face guards. :hoho:
the main thing is life is not the end when a person dies. the chinese is not alone to belive that. the eygptian is another civilisation that have strong belief in that.
That is why there are mummies, and the chinese have offerings.