Tag Archives: Taiwan

Keeping Ghosts out of Houses

Nationality: Taiwanese American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/12/2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin Chinese

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“So when I was younger, my mom told me stories about why Chinese people decorate their houses in a certain way. Chinese people believe in ghosts, so some people will put mirrors above the doorway of their house because the mirror will reflect ghosts from coming in. Also, they would have a step in front of the doorway because ghosts walk in a very flat-footed manner, so it would prevent them from stepping into the house. The last thing was that some houses were built with two walls that were not perfectly parallel with the front door because that would mean that the ghost would have to walk and then turn and then walk into the doorway, so I guess the ghosts were confused and couldn’t get in that way.”

The informant’s mother is Taiwanese. According to what I’ve heard from Professor Thompson and my Taiwanese parents, almost everyone in Taiwan believes in ghosts, so dealing with ghosts is very important. Knowing that the dead roam your house is eerie and uncomfortable. This discomfort apparently transcends cultures as “haunted houses” are not desirable in the United States and many other cultures.

It seems like the Taiwanese see ghosts as very similar to us. Perhaps even a little less capable than we are as ghosts are repelled by simple mirrors and misaligned walls. There is an element of trickery in these house design traditions, which illustrates the different attitude held by the Taiwanese and a lot of the western world. In lore from United States, ghosts are often tricksters, causing mischief in the houses they haunt. In contrast, it seems as though there is a role reversal with Taiwanese lore. Ghosts are easily fooled and the living are the tricksters, giving us power over the dead. Perhaps the Taiwanese that believe strongly in ghosts find comfort in the thought of being able to thwart the dead.

It seems like a core concept or an inspiration for these traditions is “feng shui”, which is practice of placing of objects to redirect chi, which many Taoist and traditional Chinese call the life-force of the universe. Feng shui for houses is very popular among Asian Americans. I’ve heard of a friend of a friend that spent a considerable sum getting his room redesigned to optimize his chances of getting into an Ivy League. I have not heard of the practice of putting a mirror above the doorway or adding a step, but I have heard of a variation of having non-parallel walls. The idea is that by skewing the walls a bit, good luck enters through the front door, but doesn’t have a direct path to leave and ends up being reflected around the household. It is more than likely that the tradition my informant told me was an oicotype of the tradition I heard about.

Weddings in Taiwan

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 10, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

“One thing I remember is when my sister got married in Taiwan, there were a lot of Taiwanese traditions that we went through that I think are traditional marriage customs. Like, first my brother-in-law came to our ‘house’ that our family was in, and had to be welcomed in by us to get my sister or else he couldn’t come in the door. Then, he had to formally ask my parents if he could marry my sister, and then he had to bow and give my parents money. Then when my sister left ‘our house’ my little sister had to pick up a fan that my older sister threw out the car window and neither of them could look back and my little sister had to take the fan and put it under her pillow, which was one way to ensure a happy marriage. After that we moved to my brother-in-laws house, but before my sister entered, she had to step over a pot of fire onto a tile and the number of pieces the tile broke into signified the number of children they would have.”

My informant was unfamiliar with the traditions herself as she is Chinese and lived in America for most of her life, and found them very different and interesting. She was not really sure of the meaning for these traditions other than entering a new stage in life.

As discussed in class, marriage is one of the most celebrated occasions in life, so marriage traditions are abundant in most cultures. Now that I know may of the seemingly innocent traditions that people partake of are actually Freudian, I viewed these traditions in a similar light. I found it interesting that my informant’s sister had to step over a pot of fire before finding out how many prospective children she will likely have. This seems to have a Freudian angle as fire can signify passion and sexuality. Also, I have heard that fans can signify union, so perhaps the tossing of the fan can mean the new union formed and a loss of the female’s innocence, which the little sister keeps as she should still have this innocence. This may not be the actual significance of this action, but I interpreted it in this way. Other actions seem to show the traditional way of the woman leaving her home and entering her husband’s. At least in Korea, I know that often newly wed couples will live for a couple years with the husband’s parents. This seems significant in this particular wedding as well, as the husband “bought” his wife from her family by offering money, and they moved from her house to his.

to obtain a good afterlife in Taiwan

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: Eugene, Oregon
Performance Date: April 26, 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

In Taiwan, it’s Taiwanese custom to burn paper food (symbolic of food) and money at people’s graves so that they have these things in their afterlife.

My informant learned of this from her grandma’s parents’ burial and it’s a custom passed down through their family. She likes the custom because it helps keep her connected to her Taiwanese heritage.

Chinese Religious Folk Belief on Life after Death and Spirits

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 54
Occupation: Retired Banker
Residence: DeXing E. Rd. Lane 331 #28 7FL, Taipei, Taiwan
Performance Date: 3/18/2011
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

This folk belief was collected from my Father. My father was born as a farmer’s son into a veteran’s family in Taipei, Taiwan. His father and mother ran away from China to Taipei during the Chinese Civil War. Many of his cultural practices and beliefs are taken from mainland Chinese culture. Because of his background, he is considered a “mainlander” in Taiwan (Chinese in Taiwan are divided into Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese or indigenous). My father graduated from Iowa University with an MBA. His B.A was obtained in Taiwan.

When we were having our regular telephone session, he told me the the following recollection on the phone (in Chinese):

(This is not a direct transcription or translation. It’s based off what I remember him saying)

“I was at your grandmother’s house the other day and during the course of our conversations she remarked how Grandpa’s spirit hadn’t visited the family at all after his death. Because of this, she began wondering if Grandpa was doing okay in the spirit world. I chatted with her a bit more and she then told this story:

‘Your great grandmother used lived in a province called Fujien in China. She was married into the Lian family at around 8 or 9 and stayed at the Lian household to be raised into an ideal wife. At the Lian’s household, your great grandmother was one your great great grandmother’s favorites (your great grandmother’s mother-in-law). They were so close, they even slept in the same bed together–like mother and daughter. So in your great great grandmother’s old age, when she felt death looming, she told your great grandmother that after her death, she would come back as a spirit and protect your great grandmother. Thus, she told your great grandmother not to be afraid if she heard or saw things at night when her spirit came to visit. Now, when the time came and your great great grandmother passed away, supernatural occurrences actually began to happen in the Lian household. Late at night the drawers would rattle, floorboards would creak and places your great great grandmother frequented would shake–your great great grandmother’s spirit had, as she promised, come back as a spirit to visit the house she was so used to and to say her final goodbyes before moving on. Naturally, all this supernatural activity scared the wits out of your great grandmother’s aunt. She would be so scared she wouldn’t go to the bathroom at night and resort to peeing on the bed! But, knowing that it was only your great great grandmother’s spirit coming to visit, your great grandmother continued her late night activities with indifference and she was happy to know that her great great grandmother was doing well in the afterlife.’

Later, I asked her why Grandpa’s spirit hasn’t visited, to which she replied that it was probably because a) in a modern cityscape, it’s not dark enough. There are too many lights, which scare the ghosts away. And b) they had moved too much and Grandpa couldn’t find their new homes.”

When I asked my father what the significance of this family legend was, my father said that he said the pre-dominant belief (even to this day) in Chinese culture was that the spirit or the soul of a person stays on earth for a week before it moves on to heaven. And during this week, the spirit often visits loved ones and goes to places he or she was used to going when they were living.

While my father said the significance of this legend was the folk belief that “a spirit stays on earth for a week after death”, I want to point out a few other folk beliefs and practices revealed in his story. First of all, we can see a sexist or patriarchal society structure in China about four generations ago. My great great grandmother was married around the age of 8 to be raised as an ideal wife. From this tidbit, it would seem that the only role a woman had in life was to be a wife. Second, we see a firm belief in the supernatural. My great grandmother and my grandmother never questioned the supernatural occurrences in this family legend–to them it was normal and commonly accepted that there were spirits living around them. Adding to that, the recollection implies that this belief in the supernatural is passed from generation to generation through word of mouth. Because of this, my father believes in the supernatural and even I, being an atheist, believe in these folk beliefs about the supernatural as well. Also, similar to other folk beliefs, this family legend reinforces the idea that ghosts only come out at night (in this case, the reason provided is that ghosts fear the light).

Most importantly, in this legend, a great significance is given to the family. Where in the folklore of other cultures, ghosts and spirits may come out to scare or devour humans, in this legend, the spirit returns to give condolences to its family–giving spirits a much more homely feeling than other folk legends and superstitions do. This emphasis on family reinforces the importance placed on the values of family and community that so many of our contemporary scholars have found in Chinese culture.