Chinese Culture (General)

Dear Anon, 1. So far, no mainland Chinese has been crowned in Miss World beauty pagent. 2. In Chinese cities e.g. Shanghai, there are beauty contests. Plus there are many Chinese models. There are Chinese "beauties". (However, it depends on the eye of the beholder). Warmest Regards, Cecil

To help better understand the relationship of Korea and China, here is another extract of Korea-China relations. Credit and Source: Britannica.com Yi Dynasty also called CHOSON DYNASTY, the last and longest-lived imperial dynasty (1392-1910) of Korea. Founded by General Yi Song-gye, who established the capital at Hanyang (present-day Seoul), the kingdom was named Choson after the state of the same name that had dominated the Korean peninsula in ancient times. But the regime is also frequently referred to as the Yi dynasty, after its ruling family. General Yi established close relationships with the neighbouring Ming dynasty (1368-1644) of China, which considered Korea a …

For those who are interested to find out what the `Fu' graphic illustration looks like, this link will show a picture of an upside down `Fu':- http://www.geomancy.net/on/about.htm

Dear Anon, Fortunately or unfortunately, Chinese Valentine day is seldom known by the Chinese. I believe many Chinese are not aware that there is such a date especially the young. Often than not, if their parents do not celebrate an event, the child, from a young age to courtship age would have never known of it nor its existence. Thus, only commercialisation can create such an awareness. In Singapore, because of western influence and many of us study English, (ENGLISH) Valentine day is commercialised to the extent that restaurants, boutiques etc.. publish it widely. And fortunately, they will try to get a pie of the business. So, if one day, many companies start to pu…

Dear Anon, The closet equivalent, I believe is `cheese'. For example, cheddar cheese is not smelly while some other cheese is quite `smelly'. I believe is the `baterial' (edible kind) that makes some cheese smelly. I am not familar with the names of cheese but the kind that is sprinkled on pizza's can be `quite smelly' (or to some, a lovely smelly smell). There is something like `blue' cheese etc... Similarly, the smelly doufu, is because of its interaction with `edible baterial'. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, 1. In Singapore and Malaysia (which are close neigbhours), majority of the time the air is clean. On the government intervention: Most of the industries are highly regulated to ensure that they do not pollute the air or waterways. In Malaysia, `pollution' is isolated to factories or industrial areas. Malaysia is one of the largest rubber producers and if one smell latex before, it is pretty smelly. But the smell is confined to within a small radius within the factory or warehouse. 2. For Malaysia and Singapore, unfortunately because the two countries are close to its neighbour Indonesia, Indonesia is considered the biggest culprit. Its farmers do `slash and bu…

Dear Anon, 1. A `popular' painting is an eagle perched on a pine tree. This is considered a suitable gift for an elderly person: 1.1. the eagle represents strength. 1.2. the pine tree represents longevity. 2. Thus the significance of the painting is symbolic of strength and longevity for the elderly. 3. Given the above combined significance, it should not be considered inauspicious to keep `an eagle' inside that house because it is a predatory bird. Thus, with many books comes various opinions and on the final analysis, each of us have to form our own judgements. In my opinion, such a painting, with its combined significiance should not be considered inauspicious. In Eur…

For those who have never visited Asia; in particular, Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia. It is worth the effort to try out the `King of Fruits' - The durian. The smell can be over powering until it is banned from Singapore Mass rapid transit stations, taxis etc.... For more information, here is one link:- http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~durian/ Warmest Regards, Cecil

This is article about a ghost and trees. I hope you find it interesting.

Dear Glyn, 1. From what I understand, it does not have anything to do with the planetary line up which occured on Friday. 2. The interesting thing is that it is once a year occurence in Korea. Frankly, I find it quite `scary' to stand at the centre or close to the middle. Although the tide will slowly recide, by imagine if water suddenly pours in and covers it up. Yes, I believe it happens only in a specific period and by chance, it occurred on that day. It may happen, a few days prior to it but this could not be predicted. One must be lucky to be there on the occurence. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Yes, indeed this is true. Traditional taboo is to keep brooms out of sight on the eve of Chinese New Year. As Chinese New Year lasts 15 days, it is also a taboo especially to take out garbage on the FIRST day of Chinese New Year or sweep the floor. It is also true that one should avoid cutting hair during the entire period of Chinese New Year. In the past, one reason for not cutting hair or been able to cut hair was because many shops (which can afford it) may be closed for the entire period of Chinese New Year. Nowadays, because of commercial reasons and high rental, many shops or saloons cannot afford to close for such a long period. If the hair saloons are…

There is this saying from ancient Chinese. Here goes:- That man is ruled by the numerology Eight: 1. At 8 months, we get our milk teeth. 2. At 8 years, we lose our milk teeth. 3. At double Eights (2 x 8 = 16) we become a man. 4. At 8 x 8 we age...and ... most of us wait for our turn... Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Usually, the traditional Goldsmith shops have the four types of gold. Actually, it has to do with the mixture of gold and their pureness that gives the gold different colours. Thus the `four types of gold'. This is a common practise of the Teochew dialect group. Warmest Regards, Cecil

1. When we see "KUM" (minature mandarin orange)trees.. it simply meansChinese New Year is around the corner! 2. It is strongly not recommended to eat the fruits as these trees were "artifically" fertilised to yield a bumper harvest of minature "KUMs". 3. These minature mandarin oranges should only be admired but thus not eaten. Treat them as ornamental plant with fruits.

Dear Anon, 1. Yes, the circular incense is quite huge. 2. There are several sizes available. The `smaller' ones burn for an hour or so. For the larger ones as seen in the picture, they burn around several hours. The time taken to burn depends also on the atmosphere. If it is hung outside and quite windy, it would burn much faster. 3. Usually, the temple guardians burn these candles. As they can be quite smoky, for this temple, it is burned outside the temple. Furthermore, this temple has quite a small and congested interior and not possible to burn so many incense inside the temple. It can become quite `smoky'. Actually, when I wrote the earlier message, I mentioned `lon…

Dear Anon, One can still generally apply the concept: "If one cannot see it, it no longer becomes a threat." The earlier `issue' was torns on the stalk of rose or the saying goes, "a rose amongst the thorns or a thorn amongst the rose?" Usually, if it is just roses etc.. this would be acceptable. More so if the rose is red. Red is considered an auspicious colour to the Chinese. Thus, there should not be an issue here. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Brenda, 1. In Feng Shui, one should not look to `dominate'. 2. A much nicer sounding word would be a binding element i.e. an element that can bind the two persons together. 3. For information, there is a Free report: Comparison Report (to be used inconjunction with version 7.0 of Pillars of destiny report). 4. Here, you simply select the Person A and Person B's particulars for comparison. 5. Advise is given on which is the best binding element for the two persons. 6. I have always used this module to generate reports and advise the clients especially on what colors to `bind' them in locations both spent time at especially their bedroom. The report is at http://www.g…

Dear Anon, Check out this link to view the pictures of the God of Wealth (commonly also known as God of Fortune). http://www.geomancy.net/pics/teacups/index.htm For those who are new here, if you have the time, feel free to browse thru the pictures under: http://www.geomancy.net/slideshow/index.htm Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, 1. Dyed eggs are eggs, placed in hot water and red edible dye. 2. Red is an auspicious colour. 3. Birthday 6, 8 or 12 eggs are boiled with the red edible dye. No. of eggs boiled depending on the number of family members. 4. Baby's One Month Celebration 2, 4 or 6 eggs are given out plus other gifts such as `treats' are given out. Nowadays, eggs and a full rounded each cake are given out to relative and friends. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, 1. The most famous legend of the peach is its association with immortality. Here, the story is that the immortality peach ripens only every 1,000 years. Here, this tree stood in the famous Kun Lun mountains. On this day that the fruit ripened, the Goddess of Heavn invited immortals to her palace for a feast. On this day, the Monkey called Sun, wondered into the garden and ate the peach. He later became an immortal because of this. Thus, the peach is associated with longeivity. 2. The colour of the skin of the peach also brings to mind `peach blossom spring'. Here, it is compared to the skin of a young girl. Some people associate it with a flirting or easy to b…

Dear Anon, So far, as I recalled, since the history of Modern Olympic games which started in Athens, Greece in 1896, China has not hosted the games. While I believe, Moscow, USSR had hosted one in 1980. In my opinion, I feel the most `memorable' one is the games in Berlin, Germany where, documentary of Jesse James (US and `Black') who won a medal.. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, 1. Most companies in China depending on their origin either has a 5 1/2 or 5 day work week. 2. Usually, the Multi national companies, offer 5 day work week. But some have gone into alternate Saturday offs. 3. It would be interesting to note, prior to China opening up their economies, some Chinese firms or companies have long lunch breaks as long as 2 hours. 4. Where, like the Mexicans, the employees get to sleep during the lunch hours! Usually, this is not often the case in the cities. But in rural China, it is still much the practise. Thus, this would be a culture shock for busy executives who intend to shift their operations to China at one time. 5. A few st…