Is China The Most Superstitious Country?

Since moving to China we realised that there are many gifts that you can't give and thing s that you can't do because they are considered bad luck. So we thought in this podcast-style episode we would talk about if China is the most superstitious country.
Leave a comment letting us know if you have any weird and wonderful superstitions from your country, we have shared some of ours from the UK.
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[@Mariobrownio1989]

The white and yellow flowers are meant for funeral only. The clocks gifts is not time ticking away. Gift a clock is songzhong (送钟)，which sounds the same as 送终, which translates to "farewell at death"

[@leogogo7041]

Let me explain. Giving a clock can be called "送钟 in Chinese . "送" means "send" or "give", "钟" means "clock", and the another Chinese character with the same pronunciation as "钟" is "终" which mean "end". At the same time, "送终" means let you go to the end(die). There is indeed this kind of pronunciation associative logic, but it is generally not so serious, especially if you are a foreigner.

[@modestjin3700]

The 4 superstition, black and white superstition are weakened a lot in China nowadays, I think. But clock as a gift, cutting hair during spring festival, and green hats still have a strong color of bad luck.

[@yupyinwang8562]

But chrysanthemum is still not a good choice.

[@user-ft9tw9zw5p]

@@yupyinwang8562 Correct!

[@rannulfr57]

Haha, green hat is not rly a symbol of bad luck, it's a symbolic saying of ' you've been cheated on'

[@iamcanadianedmonton]

whenever i fly, if i can choose my own seat, I always skip row 14, 24, 34 , 44, 54 and 64. 😂😂😂, love from canada.

[@relaxwhc]

Actually the clock gifting is related to funeral

[@yaqiwang5242]

One big one in my area is, do not split a pear for sharing because in Chinese, the words sounds `separation`.

[@Nicofilms]

Yes I heard this too!

[@melissabensley5409]

more like se(pear)ation am i right 😭

[@cyrus-tang]

Chinese people do not buy new shoes at Lunar New Year (if they need new shoes for this festive period they’ve gotta get them before the first day of Lunar New Year). We do not have hair cut in the whole of the first month of LNY either. Do not wash hair on the first day of LNY.

[@Reporterfy]

Nice video guys

[@Mariobrownio1989]

I agree about the new year cleaning and working rules. You should always do all the cleaning prior to the new year holiday. Working hard label of anything is bad luck, or bad taste during the holidays. This is also why you cook a lot on New year's,then eat leftovers for a few days

[@Ibrahim86373]

Yes, some parts of China are still very superstitious, Taiwan province is praying to gods for rains in such a modern day

[@huangshijian3068]

哈哈哈 我笑了。。。

[@tmq7288]

哈哈哈，相比他们求神，我觉得他们用飞机把水运到天上洒更迷惑

[@chencong9490]

哈哈哈

[@Ryan-iq6xb]

Lunar calendar February 2nd is the busiest day in the year for barber. It is the “Dragon’s head up Day”.

[@rae9925]

Before the spring festivals, you do a deep clean of the house, get rid of all the bad mojo, and prepare to celebrate. Once the new year arrives, it's brand new good fortune that you want to accumulate, so no sweeping nor tossing out garbage for a few days at least.

[@nileshbhattacharya2526]

Thank you Nico sis for this wonderful video. I really appreciate it. Today's video I ❤️ so much. . Xie xie 🙏..

[@leiyue1411]

another one is don't cut a pear in slices and share with others. The word Separation sounds the same as cut pear.

[@delilah9108]

1:55 well in Greece when it is Tuesday the 13th they consider it as bad-luck day and most people are scared of everything

[@chickendinner992]

Never heard ab the most of the 'rules' for chinese new year, but yea red is definitely preferred for the new year and the 2nd of Feb (lunar calendar) is the preferred day for a hair cut

[@andyl3655]

Hahaha so much fun watching this, a little bit of revision 🤣

[@cyrus-tang]

Nico’s new hair colour looks very cool! Good dye. Lol

[@Nicofilms]

Thanks a lot!

[@sysfunc8851]

To be honest, I was attracted by the title of this video. Superstition is everywhere, but I'm convinced that China can never be the most superstitious since it has a civilation of 5,000 years and contributed one of the greatest philosophical theories in the world, namely, Confucianism.

[@KarlXiao18]

I think the year you were talking about "to skip & not celebrating" is 32. This is an interesting but also complicated one and in fact started very recent, ie not a traditional superstition, only concerned by some people. It's all about the candles on the birthday cake: 3 long ones + 2 short ones, represents 10 years & 1 year respectively. 3 long (things) and 2 short (things) is actually an idiom in Chinese: 三长两短, means someone has an accident (usually fatal). This idiom is coming from the description of a coffin (without the lid): 3 long pieces (2 sides + the bottom) and 2 short pieces (2 ends) of wood. Interesting enough, it is also very easy to overcome this taboo as well: either by placing different number of candles (eg 32 candles), or eat something else instead of the cake.

[@RespectOthers1]

Nicely researched. So many conflicting interpretations of the same thing. Another one is dropping/smashing crockery on the floor is considered bad luck in some cultures but the Greeks do it purposefully at weddings.

[@yinhoukhor7109]

Brilliant!! I bloody love this!! Very intriguing topic of discussion!! Also loved the dialogue in this!! Great work Nico and Jack yet again!! As for the black Cat "superstition," how SUPER stupid are most people in general?!! Imagine how ridiculous it would be if people said black people are bad luck?!! That's how stupid this is!! I'm an owner of a black Cat and ALL Cats are the best!!! Number thirteen is easily one of my favourite numbers!! Also a pretty lucky number for me too!! I must admit, even as someone who is of Chinese descent, I find a number of Chinese traditional superstitions to be very, how should I say, EYE ROLLING!! And that's putting it very politely!! Examples? Number four, no clocks as gifts, hair cutting causing uncle's death, and not wearing the colour green. For the last one, notice the irony of how many men who have had unfaithful partners, didn't even wear green? Here's a thought, maybe they should start wearing green after all because they're badly in need of greener pastures!! I bloody loved the dialogue in this video!! Such as, "what should you NOT give as a gift to your girlfriend?" To which Jack answered: herpes and weight loss pills. GOLD!! Fuckin' GOLD!! Also, I prefer cakes on birthdays. Especially cheesecakes!!

[@dunwallghost7315]

In China, some days during the night you might see people crouch on the quarter of crossroad, paint a circle on the ground, burning papers and maybe some liquor too. that's people mourn their family numbers who passed away. the myth says when you become a spirit, you might feel so confused that you stay between life and afterlife, so your relatives light up a fire on the corner of crossroad to guide you, also the paper "cash" or cloth or any symbol somehow will sent to the spirit which helps them to reach the afterlife bit easier.

[@megrez7s]

I cut my hair during the new year period in the UK one year. Sadly, my mother's second elder brother passed away in China the same year. Even long-distance couldn't stop the effect.

[@tweedy4sg]

Its taboo not to give clocks as gifts in Chinese culture because 送钟 (gifting clock) and 送終 (seeing someone 'go' at his/her deathbed) are homonyms i.e. pronounced the same in Mandarin & Cantonese, that i know of. I am not sure though if its universal across all dialect groups in China. It isn't a homonym in my dialect, Minnan (or Hokkien). But because Mandarin has become the Putonghua - common language for speech in China, it has pretty much made this act universally taboo.

[@soul832006]

Not sure about that umbrella one. 雨伞 sounds very different to 情变 or 婚变. Even separate 分开 sounds very different to 雨伞.

[@oceanz8892]

Coz 伞 sounds the same as 散…

[@user-np7lu2hb1g]

哈哈，你可以把它看作是一种传统~

[@luyanglee3647]

About the birth day year, I think they are referring to 本命年, which is when Chinese zodiac reaches the one you were born (so your 12th, 24th, 36th ... birthday) , it's called 犯太岁 and supposedly you will have bad luck for the year and you should pay special attention to how you celebrate (and thus break the curse)

[@chickendinner992]

spot on

[@user-tj6ot7tw8g]

Chinese absolutely hate the #4 on your car plate. Super rich people spend hundreds thousands dollars to buy a plate number without "4" ...

[@chocolatesoldiertv7284]

The most problem with superstitions to me are contagious, when you tell me about them I start minding them a lot

[@dragonball3503]

Off the Great Wall made a video about this topic before lol

[@relaxwhc]

Extremely dangerous taboo: Never, never, ever eat these: Cow's eggs and chicken's milk

[@wayne0316]

People from northern part of Shanxi province skip their birthdays every 9 years, like 9 18 27 36 and so on.

[@Nicofilms]

Thanks for sharing!

[@damanchan6839]

I once accidentally kicked the shrine of a local deity (a very small shrine old Chinese people put next to their door), my grandma instantly made me light an incense and apologise to the god

[@leiyue1411]

People give yellow flowers to dead to pay respect and wear a white flower at funeral

[@yummyboy9156]

So what is the magpie superstition???? i always see a black and white bird

[@spendingtimetogether8428]

Who buys their SO an umbrella though? LOL.

[@Mariobrownio1989]

The hair cutting rule is only for man, and man should cut their hair on the second of February of the transitional calendar. It is called dragon raises his head, 二月二龙抬头 🤣

[@relaxwhc]

Wear green hat in China, because that would put people in a giggle 😂

[@delilah9108]

I am 20 and thinking of moving to China. Do you have any help on “What I need to be prepared for?”

[@chrisshi9006]

Learning some Chinese culture before coming :)

[@user-rb7us2qm7c]

Don’t take it seriously when colleagues comment on your weight change or ask about your partner. It’s common practice here and people simply use these as icebreakers for the day or to show their care for you.

[@delilah9108]

@@user-rb7us2qm7c thank you for the advice.

[@relaxwhc]

Privacy level in China is different from the west

[@xz334]

just keep your mind open and everything will be fine

[@relaxwhc]

The green hat is known as the forgiveness hat 原谅帽 in China. When you forgive someone, you wear a green hat.

[@dionydonny]

🤣🤣🤣🤣 hope the readers won't take your words seriously...

[@leiyue1411]

Forgive someone has affairs with your partner.

[@user-rb7us2qm7c]

My greatest fun is to spend the Saint Patty’s Day in the West because...you guess it

[@relaxwhc]

You should try to burn some joss money, paper cars and paper houses

[@peterlee3735]

Do not give a clock because 送鐘 = 送終 :)

[@eduardochavacano]

perhaps the Chinese overseas are even more superticious. Chinese people from Guanxi, Anhui, and Shanxi used to laugh at me for saying I believe in Feng Shui.

[@gdurling1]

Can not give scissors it represents cutting ties with the relationship.

[@recuerdo5845]

🤗🌹🏵️🌼🙏🌷🌸

[@relaxwhc]

Do buildings in China have the fourth floor?

[@eric_panshengmou]

yeah.

[@relaxwhc]

Why do Irish people love to wear green hats? Maybe green goes well with their red body hair?

[@jiuzhouqingyantiaoshizhuang]

China's stocks have red colour for rising and green colour for falling because red represents fortune and wealth. While in the west the colours are the opposite with green represents rising.

[@facefunny2518]

Maybe it is true!

[@jaiswaladitya511]

You forget india

[@Orwellian-Purple-Grapes-1984]

Some are superstition, but others are not. Some of these supposedly "superstitious" gifts have culturally related symbolic meaning behind them. For example, gifting someone a clock means you want that person to die, so basically it's a way to insult the receiver. It's the same as sending a pig's head to a Muslim. Everyone knows the pig's head itself is harmless, but the gesture behind it is meant to insult the Muslim. You don't do it unless you really hate that person.

[@andreikomarov5862]

Thank you guys, nice topic. In Russia a lot of people superstitious too. Poor black cats around the world. People hate them especially they are crossing the road .

[@shermanng27]

some are true. superstition are long time culture. time will change.

[@cyrus-tang]

Generally Chinese people do not like dressing in black while black is chic in fashion sense in the West.

[@relaxwhc]

Number 95 is good in Chinese culture 乾卦九五爻，飞龙在天

[@soul832006]

My superstitious story is a bit creepy. I think black crows are bad luck. They used to hang around the window in the apartment we rented. Shortly after that things started going wrong like my laptop breaking, graphics card on my tower etc. But it all came to a nasty head when my wife walked in on a thief who ran at her and scared her out of the house!! The next morning was a Sunday morning and we heard the crow tapping on our window. We looked out the front to find our car gone! Our brand new Audi had been stolen by the thief who had taken a spare key that my wife accidentally left in the house. When we went to view the car, it was completely written off in a terrible state (car was only 1 month old :( the police caught the guys after the crashed. On the way back in our rental car, we were hit from behind by another rental car 🤦‍♂️ Received a couple of fines for outrageous speeding offences which were cancelled since they were proven to be done by the guy who stole our car. Then to top it off, my wife had a huge fight with the landlord that culminated in the landlord throwing a chair across the living room. We moved out and haven't encountered crows since and haven't really had any bad luck since then either...

[@Nicofilms]

Omg that is crazy! Crows freak me out! I think that was a good idea to get out of that place and I’m pleased things have been looking up for you since!

[@dragonball3503]

Yea in that country they’ve been sweeping away the health

[@peterlee3735]

Never give a Green Hat to your male friends, especially your boyfriend or husband!

[@eduardochavacano]

especially when they are short, because it will make them look like a Leprecon.

[@willengel2458]

green hat is quite recent for i can't find it any where in older literature.

[@rannulfr57]

will engel yea, it's not a superstition, it's like a catchy word becoming symbolic as time goes by

[@phoenixy1292]

In China you shouldn't give others a set of cups or tablewares either, they sound directly like tragedy and misery in Chinese

[@tonygan1132]

No, but Some people just under-educated

[@relaxwhc]

Never give joss money to your friends.... I think it's OK to give joss money to your enemies

[@danieltan4284]

we Chinese are more superstitious than you already know, trust me, LOL..... not exactly strict with it though, LOL....

[@user-uf3sr9dt6c]

有人不喜欢4，但我喜欢4

[@user-tj6ot7tw8g]

They told me that the Forbidden city is haunted at night. The security guards saw many abnormal things during tge night shift.

[@relaxwhc]

The Chinese don't shave or cut their hair, because they believe cutting hair is disrespectful towards the parents.... So don't cut or shave your hair... This is the taboo that the Chinese know, but never practice, because rules are mean to be broken.

[@zhedonglao4520]

Stopped watching because of blinking background.

[@wilfredcheung140]

There are laws in China for promoting superstition, make sure you don't name your sources :) According to the CCP Chinese people are not superstitious.

[@andrewzhang985]

胡说八道！