Tag Archives: Superstition

legends about the ghost building in Shenyang

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Nationality: China
Age: 21
Occupation: student

Context:

My informant learnt about the ghost story from his father, who is a native of the Shenyang city.

text:

“There is a ghost building in Shenyang, which the old generation knows where it is, but they tacitly agreed that they would not tell the younger generation its location. They hid it because they were afraid that if young people knew about it, kids would form explore teams and seek advanture in the ghost building. So that’s why I don’t know where it is but my father know where it is.

I don’t know what happened before abou this building, but it’s hounted, and very severe. One after another, people moved out of that building. They would connect, or call the police and say ‘哎！有鬼有鬼有鬼，’or ‘Oh there is ghost!’ And because everyone moved out of the building, it become quite a big deal to the real estate developer of this building. And it also had bad influence to the local security, people were scared. The government thinks this is not the way things should be, so they sent out a team of police officer to the ghost building one night, to see what’s the real deal there.

And because it was a very famous hounted house, the police also knew about it, and they were scared as well. The police, as they should, brought guns with them.And they also brought wine, to strengthen their courage. So their plan was to drink in the ghost building and see what will hanppens. After they drunk, they slept. But the next morning when they woke up, every single one of the police officer was dragged outside of the building. They were slept in bed, but they woke up outside. So there is something wrong with the building.”

Analysis:

This is a classic example of a haunted house legend. The legend is passed down through oral tradition and is a part of the local culture. The fact that the older generation knows about the ghost building but does not disclose its location to the younger generation adds an element of mystery and intrigue to the story. This legend of the hounted house is a legend that contextual the influence of space angd time into our belief. The time of this legend appeared just after the open up of China, when there were lots of superstitious belife as well as ideas that call for science and anti-superstitious.

The emphasis on the severity of the haunting and the repeated instances of people moving out of the building due to ghostly encounters build the suspense and contribute to the eerie atmosphere of the legend. And because legends might be true, the use of the phrase “哎！有鬼有鬼有鬼”(Oh there is a ghost!) adds authenticity to the legend, as this phrase is commonly used in Chinese ghost stories and adds an element of cultural familiarity to the tale.

This legend offers insight into the beliefs and superstitions of the people of Shenyang city, as well as their attitudes towards the supernatural. The fact that people were so afraid of the haunted building that they moved out and reported ghostly encounters to the police suggests that belief in ghosts and spirits was widespread in the community. It also highlights the impact that supernatural beliefs could have on everyday life, such as the impact on the real estate market and local security. It also implied that the supersitous belief of ghost does not limit to the ordinary people, but as well as the people in the government, who supposedly based on communist doctrine, reject any superstious belief and firmly believe in science. The contridiction between dogmatic belief of the state and the actual practice of the people is particularly interesting in this context.

Ghost story in Chinese village in Sheng yang

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Nationality: China
Age: 21
Occupation: student

Text:

“The entrance of the village had a big millstone that the entire community shared. Every night, there would be a small, white thingy that people thought was a small white ghost, running around the millstone over and over again. And you can’t get close to it. I mean, if you get close to it, it would jump on you and start to tickle you. It would tickle you until you laughed to an extent that you couldn’t breathe anymore and died. My grandma said she saw it once, but she was not tickled by it. And after the Cultural Revolution, this little thing was gone forever.”

Context:

This legend was passed down from the informant’s grandma. The legend took place long before the Cultural Revolution in China. Our informant thinks it was the “Elimination of the Old Four” movement by the Chinese government at the time that had eliminated the ghost. The “Old Four” include old ideology, old culture, old tradition, and old customs. It was a time when many historical treasures were destroyed. The informant thinks that the villagers believed that the ghost belonged to the Old Four, so it was gone after the movement.

interpretation:

This is a great example of explaining personal experience or rationalizing it with existing legends. It’s a kind of belief enhanced by the informant’s grandma’s own sightings. Similar experiences around the village might have occurred, and added up to the formation of the ghost legend. Obviously, it’s an unwanted ghost. My interpretation of the tickling is that the ghost is small, probably a childlike figure. It’s not rational for a child to kill grown people, and laughing is often associated with children.

The “elimination of the old four” movement, or “除四旧” (pinyin: chú sì jiù), was a movement in China during the cultural revolution that caused a lot of historical antiques and culture to be destroyed. The “old four” refers to old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits. The movement firmly grasped the idea that old and superstitious ideas, or anything counter-scientific, went against the principle of communism. This movement’s dogma provided the villagers of Shenyang with a spiritual tool to wash away what they feared in their collective past. The small ghost by the millstone might have been a troublesome existence in the lives of the villagers. In the context of the elimination of the old four, it was eliminated and washed away like all the other things deemed bad and counter to the Communist Party.


					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Chen as Taboo in Qing dynasty’s Navy
			

								

			

			
Nationality: China
Age: 20
Occupation: Student/rapper
Performance Date: 2.22
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English
	
		

				

			

Text:






“It is said that navies in the Qing dynasty in China don’t recruit personnel whose names include Chen. The entire Qing dynasty’s navy doesn’t have a single person whose name includes Chen.”






Context:






FG is a USC student and a good friend of mine who is currently studying in a transfer program in Ireland. He learned about this tabooistic vocabulary when he was eating fish with a friend. Free is very into history. He is always the one with the most jokes and strange stories on any occasion. And he is always eager to share them with his friends.






Analysis:






The very popular Chinese name Chen（陈） is a homophone for the Chinese character Chen （沉）， which means sink in Chinese. Qing （清） dynasty is very superstitious. Homophones can actually decide the faith of people. The beginning of all these tradition is the “literary prison,” or 文字狱, in Qing Dynasty. The dynasty before Qing Dynasty is called Ming（明） Dynasty. And because Qing Dynasty overthrew the Ming dynasty, many people at the time thought Ming was the legitimate dynasty and Qing is the rebels. Of course, Qing emperor thinks it’s the other way around. It had become so sensitive that the emperor of Qing had killed thousands of people who had published content that creates a positive connotation of the word Ming（明）. This signifies how superstitious Chinese people were at the time of the Qing Dynasty. There are many more examples like Chen in the navy. One is that when a fisherman in China eats fish, and they want to turn the fish to the other side, they can’t say fan （翻）， which means turn the fish, but hua（滑）， which means slide. Because fan also means capsize in Chinese

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Drop the Roach
			

								

			

				
		

				

			

Interviewee: ES; Interviewer’s Housemate





“So this is really common in stoner culture. The superstition is that if you drop the roach someone’s sleeping with your partner.” 





interviewer asks: “Can you explain what a ‘roach is’?” 





“Yeah so like-” *interviewee shuffles around on the bed for a second and pulls out an old mint tin from under their pillow* 





“a roach is like the, um, the end of the joint? Kinda. It’s the part closest to the filter.” *interviewee pulls out a soot covered filter from their tin* 





Interviewer asks: “so can you explain where the superstition come from?” 





“Not entirely sure! When I first started smoking, I accidentally dropped the joint on the floor and my friend at the time was like, ‘yoooo someone’s fucking your bitch’. I genuinely-” *interviewee begins to laugh* “I really don’t know where that came from but apparently it’s a thing. Almost like a sign of bad luck?” 










My interpretation: I think this is the funniest thing to come out of stoner culture. It feels synonymous to the Mexican saying “que te robaste?” when you get the hiccups. I think it’s just a way to point out someone’s anxiety or clumsiness when doing the activity. It’s treated more like an omen of bad luck. (I’ve never dropped the roach, is all I’m saying) 

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Superstition: Knock on Wood
			

								

			

			
Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Francisco
Performance Date: 04/29/23
	
		

				

			

Text 





“Oh yeah, I always knock on wood whenever someone says they’ve never had something bad happen to them. It’s just a little precaution, you know? Like, I don’t want to jinx anything by tempting fate. Plus, it’s a habit that I’ve had for so long that it’s just become second nature at this point.”





Context 





My informant, who is white and from San Francisco, picked this superstition up from his parents as a child, and is a reluctant believer in it today. He interprets it as a method of negating the potential bad luck that could come with a jinx. 





Analysis 





My informant’s superstition is an example of conversion superstition, as he takes action to negate a curse. Essentially, the jinx, for example something like “I have never broken a bone” curses an individual to break a bone, but knocking on wood can negate that outcome. The curse aspect of this superstition shares some similarities with the Evil Eye, where direct compliments actually function as curses, similar to how my informant’s statements of positive wellbeing can doom one to negative outcomes. This belief could be a derivative of historical pagan beliefs in the sacredness of trees and forests, where knocking on wood provided a method through which people could communicate with deities. 





My informant’s reluctance in believing this superstition suggests his desire to depart from his commitment to the belief, perhaps a symptom of his maturing process. This in turn suggests that he views this superstition as a child’s belief. However, one might add that this superstition provides a method by which one can keep his or her self-positive thoughts in check and avoid resting on laurels or boasting.