Persimmons, sticky rice flour sweets, a cup with incense sticks, a platter of pork, and a pile of paper money appear on the table, placed by an invisible hand. They are gifts for the souls of the dead that, according to traditional Chinese beliefs, come back to roam the world of the living during the seventh month in the lunar calendar, the “Ghost Month”.

But these offerings are only pictures on a computer screen. In an attempt to reduce air pollution from the colossal amounts of paper money burnt during the Ghost Festival, the local government of Taipei County, Taiwan’s most populous administrative district, has started to offer virtual worship.