Dear cecil,
You have explained why it is bad to give clocks in one of the posting but never mentioned the reason behind the pair of shoes? So would like to know why it is bad to give pair of shoes? Thanks.

Dear Anon,
The Chinese, particularly, the Cantonese dialect group, find the phonetic sound of shoe ( " Hai or Sia "), inauspicious.
It is like the Cantonese, avoiding the phonetic sound of Four as `Say' or die.
Thus, if the pronounciation is inauspcious, it would mean, giving or receiving `bad luck'.
Warmest Regards,
Cecil
-- The above is on Chinese beliefs --
P.S. One interesting thing to note on dialect groups is:-
Hong Kong and Cantonese dialect group
In Hong Kong, majority of the Chinese are of the Cantonese dialect group (majority came from Canton).
As mentioned earlier, because of British influence, some of the Feng Shui practitioners from Hong Kong (British citizens) migrate to Canada (British sector).
And thus, they bring along their culture of `recognising' 4 = "say" or Die, 8 = "fatt" or prospher.
Taiwan and Hokkien dialect group
In Taiwan, the majority dialect group is Hokkien or the Fujian Province of China.
Thus, the Hokkien, or if the practitioner is from Taiwan and is a hokkien, they are less to find no. 4 inauspicious.
Singapore & Malaysia
In Singapore and Malaysia, we do not have a `prominent' Chinese dialect that influence the country.
There are as many as 10 different dialect groups such as the Hakka, the Teochews, Hokkien, Cantonese etc...
Thus, in my country, again, if you seek the services of a Cantonese Feng Shui practitioner, most likely, they will view no. 4 ( die ) as inauspicious due to the phonetic sound of the `word'.
Hope the above helps you better understand a little about the `different' culture shock.
As for myself, both my parents are `Hokkien'.

Quote

On 4/21/00 1:04:00 PM, Anonymous wrote:
Dear cecil,
You have explained why it is
bad to give clocks in one of
the posting but never
mentioned the reason behind
the pair of shoes? So would
like to know why it is bad to
give pair of shoes? Thanks.

Hi
Cecil,

div>

I understand
that giving shoes also
symbolise sending the
person away (i heard it
from some old folks).
Is there any way
toremediest
his? Like taking it
back from the person or
something like
that.

br>

Do get
back to us soon. Super
edgy about this.... It
seems quite true that
the people who receive
shoes from the other
party will leave.
=(

Thanks a
million!

v>

Cheers
,

Michele&nbs
p;

Check out this caricature...

http://forum.geomancy.net/phpforum/article.php?bid=2&fid=29&mid=6020&new=

As mentioned in one of the past forum messages.. the phonetic sound of shoes is considered inauspicious for the Chinese.

Much like it is considered inauspicious to give another Chinese a clock or bell.

This is purely based on Customs and beliefs...