Chinese folk religion has traditionally described the person as possessing two distinct kinds of soul, the hun, a lighter, heaven-oriented spirit that ascends after death, and the po, a heavier, earth-oriented soul that remains associated with the body and the grave, and both must be properly settled for a death to be considered complete and safe for the living. The ancestor tablet kept on a household altar is understood to house or provide a point of contact for the hun, allowing descendants to make offerings of food, incense and burnt paper money that the deceased is believed to receive and use in the afterlife, sustaining a continuing relationship of exchange rather than a one-time farewell.
Neglecting these obligations, whether through a family line dying out, forgetting an ancestor's proper rites, or performing a careless or incorrect burial, is believed to leave the dead soul dissatisfied, potentially transforming a properly cared-for ancestor into a dangerous, hungry, wandering ghost with no living family to feed it, the same category of restless dead placated during the Ghost Festival each seventh lunar month. The belief therefore ties correct ritual practice directly to family fortune: a family that keeps its ancestral obligations current can expect protection and blessing, while one that lets them lapse invites misfortune traceable to the neglected dead.