Just curious? If they’re not putting patients there, for superstitious reasons? Is that where they store equipment, or have in-house training classes, or what?
Also, related to superstition: if the Chinese practice ancestor worship, then how do you explain why so many of the cemeteries are so neglected - filthy and overgrown with weeds and obviously uncared for? All the gravesites I saw when in Taiwan were massive eyesores. Aren’t Chinese supposed to see that the graves of their ancestors swept clean?
The 4th floor is just not there. Straight from 3rd to 5th.
The 4th floor is he morgue. That’s where the dead people live. Autopsies, necropsies, pathology, and embalming departments.
They stash the fourth floor in the basement.
Once a year they clean them. The regular maintenance happens at the family alter.
Once a year bro on tomb sweeping day. But only once a year. Some might do it twice a year but never much more. Partly because a lot of people are buried in their hometowns but most families have already moved to the cities. The western idea of visiting a grave with fresh roses every week is probably considered morbid here.
Those people on the 5th floor? :no-no: THEY know where they are.
Great, now there’ll be no fifth floor either.
How about starting with a ground-floor.
Then the fifth floor should be the fourth. So! No sixth floor either.
No wonder there are so many clinics.
“The Fourth Floor” would be a pretty good name for a bar.
“The 88,8888 Prosperous Lucky Rich Guys Who Lived Ten Thousand Years” would be a better name for a pub in Taiwan. :neutral:
Sincerely, Wang Fu-gwei
Yes, once a year, on Tomb Sweep Day. That’s the best time to go.
Of course there are plenty of forgotten graves out there.
TAiwanese are deathly afraid of ghosts. And tombsweeping day is the only day most will ever visit a graveyard.
I’ve also noticed a few buildings which don’t have a 13th floor. I believe the same is true in Japan, although I have never been there.
A few car manufacturers in Japan will actually scrap the 13th production car off the line.
[quote=“sulavaca”]I’ve also noticed a few buildings which don’t have a 13th floor. I believe the same is true in Japan, although I have never been there.
A few car manufacturers in Japan will actually scrap the 13th production car off the line.[/quote]
Wow, it took long enough to mention the tradition of the 13th floor. To the best of my knowledge this practice is done mostly in hotels in the west. I think there have been some radio plays, movies and short stories based on the idea of someone ending up on the 13th floor. (I searched recently but could not find any, I remember them as a kid, maybe CBS Radio Mystery Theater).
I thought this was a Christian taboo related to “Friday the Thirteenth” and other taboos. This Japanese taboo is news to me… Tell us more.
Here in Taiwan, the sound of 4 in Chinese is a homonym for death. Want cheap rent. Get an apartment on No. 4 Fourth Street, Appartment 444.
Note: You won’t find the 4th floor most hotels either…
The tombs last a long time but eventually, all the people who care die off and then neglect sets in.
im not a devil am i? cuz friday the 13th is when im unusually lucky ? And 13 is a lucky number for me too 
and i always seem to live on the 4th floor as well.
The tombs last a long time but eventually, all the people who care die off and then neglect sets in.[/quote]
Is it just me that finds the concept of eternity terrifying? Imagine that your ghost is well cared for for a hundred years or so (which would be pretty impressive!) - but that’s an infinitisemal amount of all the time you’re going to wander around as a spirit. Like the moment you blink your eyes open in the morning is good, but the rest of the day is hell - and even that doesn’t indicate the true ratio of “happy ghost / hungry ghost.”
Friday the 13th is somehow connected to when the church wiped out the Knights Templar, I think, but then again I think everything is connected to the Knights Templar. I won’t say more for fear of attracting their wrath.
Trust me, you don’t really want to know what is on the 4th floor. But since you asked…
