Ethnic Chinese in Kuala Lumpur are buying huge quantities of mock bras and panties, some with leopard prints, others decorated with butterflies, to burn as offerings for the deceased during the Qingming festival on April 4, media reports in Kuala Lumpur said on Tuesday.

As a tradition, during the festival people tend the graves of their loved ones and buy paper paraphernalia, including money, model houses, cars, mobiles as an offering to wishing them a comfortable afterlife.

Matching underwear sets selling at USD 1.25 each got a good response, said Tay Lay Nahat, a shopkeeper at Magazine Road, a popular place among the Chinese here, who make up a quarter of Malaysia’s population.

Tay said many of the popular designs have been sold out although Qing Ming only falls on Friday.

“Most customers find them cute and would usually add a few sets to go with other paper clothing and items such as dresses, bags and shoes for their female family members to use in the other world,” she was quoted as saying by the reports.

Intimate clothing were in the market last year as well, but this year’s import of garments from China are of much better quality, she said.