Taipei Times also ran a version of this, but the original at Focus Taiwan has a more tongue-in-cheek attitude.
focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201408020009.aspx
In Chinese:
udn.com/NEWS/LIFE/LIF1/8832740.shtml
Thought this was going to be something useful like:
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Don’t get run over by one of the floats parading around Kaohsiung. That would really be a bad way to go during Ghost Month.
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Or be careful when a child’s mother tries to choke you when you suggest taking the kids for a swim at the beach.
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Or don’t breath in the harmful chemicals from the ghost money being burnt in little buckets along the sidewalks.
– Dying of boredom because no-one wants to do anything fun, for fear of possession.
I think the younger generation regards most of these similar to how we regard seeing a black cat, walking under a ladder or breaking a mirror. I talk to my students about these things and they just blow them off. Some like buying a house though I think are still adhered to.
I like the list though. One of my favorite parts in Nick Kembel’s book was Taiwanese superstitions.
As if ghosts give a shit what month it is before they do their ghoulish deeds.
Ghost 1: Hey guys, how about doing some haunting tonight?
Ghost 2: Sounds like fun.
Ghost 3: Oh wait, better check Ghoulgle calendar. Nope, can’t do it until next month.
Ghost 1: Oh
[quote=“Gryphon”]As if ghosts give a shit what month it is before they do their ghoulish deeds.
Ghost 1: Hey guys, how about doing some haunting tonight?
Ghost 2: Sounds like fun.
Ghost 3: Oh wait, better check Ghoulgle calendar. Nope, can’t do it until next month.
Ghost 1: Oh[/quote]
yea ghosts aren’t that stupid. Or are they?
[quote=“Gryphon”]As if ghosts give a shit what month it is before they do their ghoulish deeds.
Ghost 1: Hey guys, how about doing some haunting tonight?
Ghost 2: Sounds like fun.
Ghost 3: Oh wait, better check Ghoulgle calendar. Nope, can’t do it until next month.
Ghost 1: Oh[/quote]
They’re stuck in the underworld 11 months of the year and can only come out during lunar 7th, when the gates are opened. But I really enjoyed that exchange.
[quote=“Gryphon”]As if ghosts give a shit what month it is before they do their ghoulish deeds.
Ghost 1: Hey guys, how about doing some haunting tonight?
Ghost 2: Sounds like fun.
Ghost 3: Oh wait, better check Ghoulgle calendar. Nope, can’t do it until next month.
Ghost 1: Oh[/quote]
“Ghoulgle” calendar hahaha just caught dat. My best laugh all day
Sometimes it’s hard to not to offend the locals, huh?
My gf just told me that a guy from Holland was drown dead yesterday in Kaoshiung.
To be honest, talk of ghosts when someone drowns pisses me off. It’s a sad event and it shouldn’t be trivialized or written off by “Oh looks like the ghosts got him.”
What it looks like is more should be done to make sure people don’t drown.
To be honest, talk of ghosts when someone drowns pisses me off. It’s a sad event and it shouldn’t be trivialized or written off by “Oh looks like the ghosts got him.”
What it looks like is more should be done to make sure people don’t drown.[/quote]
That doesn’t piss me off, I rather find it retarded. Last weekend I had to make an effort and be politically correct…
I went to Wushi Port beach yesterday and lifeguards were 250% more annoying and paranoid than usual. They wouldn’t allow me to swim into water deeper than knee height. This psychotic rage inducing behavior was counterbalanced by the fun I had seeing them on the beach, whistling endlessly (isn’t that bad during ghost month, anyways) while I did not give a flying f**k and kept swimming (in waist-high water, before someone claims I was endangering myself). 
What if… they weren’t life guards at all… 
What if… they weren’t life guards at all… [/quote]
If only Hollywood knew that Taiwanese guys with shorts and whistles were effective protection against the undead.
Plenty of evidence of ghosts now huh.
Plenty of evidence of ghosts now huh.[/quote]
I’m so scared that I need to take a poop but I’m afraid of being swallowed by the W.C. or the ghosts inside… 
I love how every time we quote the number of "Gaoxiong"s keeps increasing.
I love how every time we quote the number of "Gaoxiong"s keeps increasing.[/quote]
It makes me think of a teacher making you to write many times something so that you finally learn the correct spelling of a word for good
I love how every time we quote the number of "Gaoxiong"s keeps increasing.[/quote]
It’s the obligatory eerie echo for the ghost month.