AL is a first generation Taiwanese American who lives in Diamond Bar, California. He is currently majoring in Accounting in the Marshall School of Business at USC.

“In Taiwan you’re not supposed to whistle at night because it attracts ghosts.”

“Why?”

“Back then there were spirit callers and when they wanted to speak to the dead they would use flutes.”

“Also you don’t hang your clothes outside at night because they look like ghosts floating in the wind so ghosts are attracted to what looks like them”

This superstition clearly highlights the Taiwanese cultural belief in ghosts and the supernatural. It also shows that there is intentional communication between the living and the dead, but primarily through means of ritual (as can be seen by the flutes and spirit callers). We can also see that ghosts seem to carry a negative connotation in this culture (they don’t seem to be “friendly” ghosts), because people are warned against attracting ghosts.