Speaking of kung-fu masters, when I went to my favorite cafeteria (cafeterias are too often mocked – this one is great) last night I met a young Australian-Chinese guy who told me he is training in kung-fu cooking with the owner. He told me reverentially that she is his master. Does anyone know what that means?
Oops, kung-fu masters was on Tuesday. But I’m still curious about kung-fu cooking.
It must be a superstition. Why else would people do it? My grandfather used to and it grossed the whole family out. Yucky. But seriously, does anyone do it anymore?
As for local superstitions, what about HOT WATER? When I had a cold last summer and it was easily 36 degrees during the day, the doctor told me to drink hot water. Not a chance, buddy. It’s hard enough to stay cool as it is.
Hot water is a classic. Some people avoid anything with ice in as well, probably for the same reason.
Here’s another one for you. Whenever I get a cold I try to get a bit of extra vitamin C by gobbling down some oranges or tangerines. That is a no no in Taiwan as oranges are ‘cold’ in some oddly metaphysical way. My Chinese friends usually laugh at me for my ignorance about these basic health matters.
BTW, I have read that taking vitamin C has not been proven to be effective in reducing the frequency or severity of colds and may be an urban myth in itself. Can’t harm eating a few yummy oranges though can it?
There was a famous biochemist called Linus Pauling. I think he won the nobel prize twice or something. Well before he died he became obsessed about the idea of taking vitamin C for colds and it’s been an urban myth ever since. There’s absolutely no proof it helps fight colds but it could improve your general health.
Hot water is more effective at cooling you down than cold water as it does not need to be warmed up by your body and therefore you don’t need to metabolise and generate more internal heat (I think that’s the theory). This is supposed to be a fact but I still opt for cold water everytime. After a while you can get used to drinking hot water, it tastes ok to me now.
As for acupressure blah blah, what the hell is qi anyway.
I saw a laser machine last week which is used on your ‘qi energy junctions’ to release blocked areas. I suppose it’s fun to believe in these things but it’s all a load of superstition. My colleagues told me yesterday some reporter who was paralysed in an English train crash is recovering due to acupuncture in China. I asked them how did they know this and they said they saw it on TV. Then they told me about a quadriplegic dog which was cured by acupuncture. Also in China. Also seen on TV. When I started laughing they kinda looked stony faced at me. It’s ok to be proud of your fellow ‘Chinese’ accomplishments but if they believe stuff on TV so easily they are not going to go too far.
I would have thought that foreigners living here would have been a lot more openminded about these sorts of things but it seems i’m wrong.
The Canadian Olympic team doctors and physiotherapists use accupuncture on their injured athletes. I suppose no more of an endorsement is needed. While accupuncture theory may be (is) bunk, the reputed effects of those little needles are probably to soem degree real.
Yeah, well, I don’t think we need worry too much about what armchair Segue medical experts think. The fact that the benefits of acupunture and acupressure is recognized by the medical fraternity – both Chinese and Western – convinces me that its more than just “superstition.”
In fact, the only acupuncture I’ve ever had was all administered in a Western country, by Western doctors. As a former competitive downhill ski racer who has blown out both knees on several occasions, I’ll attest to the benefits of acupuncture for pain management and the promotion of healing.
From the comfort of the medical armchair in which I am presently ensconced, it appears that acupuncture is a mixed bag. Clearly it works in some cases in some people, but not in all of the people all of the time. (Hey, isn’t that from a speech? Maybe it was that old Chinese guy with the beard, Confuscion).
There seem to be different versions of acupuncture too, which kind of muddies the water. There is one variant in which just the ear is used. I know this cuz I watch Discovery. Different parts of the ear represent different parts of the body; heart, lungs, liver, you name it. So, a needle here and a little prick there - you’re cured. It must be true because so many experts have said so and they can’t possibly be wrong ever.
Also, I imagine that most western doctors who know anything about acupuncture would take the view that acupuncture should not be seen as an alternative therapy but as a complementary therapy. It would not surprise me if practitioners of Chinese medicine claimed that acupuncture alone can cure anyone of anything.
I know a doctor with degrees in both western and Chinese medicine. He says there is no therapeutic value in hand clapping itself. He believes that this has simply developed out of the habit of walking around and shaking various body parts to stimulate circulation, the swinging of the arms back and forth etc. He also believes the hand clapping bit is just the arm swinger’s laziness to stop the swing by use of the muscles, and instead simply allowing the hands to collide and end the forward swing. There is nothing in any of the texts to explain the clapping.
You know how it is here, once more than 20% of the populace believes in something, it becomes an incontrovertible truth. Like the thing with riding around on a scooter with a jacket on backwards because it’s warmer… or that it’s somehow cool to drive around with your left arm hanging out the car window.
Well, when my bf tries to explain all these superstitions to me – don’t whistle at night, eat this food for this, drink that for that, etc… I usually just look at him and say, “Oh, I guess it’s one of those qi/ying-yang/feng-shui things.” And, he looks at me and says, “Yeah. 5,000 years of glorious Chinese culture can’t be wrong.”
However, as a friend of mine is found of saying, “That 5,000 years is just the same 100 years repeated 50 times.” 
But, the superstition that really gets me is the one that you aren’t allowed/supposed to cut the hairs growing out of your moles. I’ve seen so many people with lots of long ugly hairs growing out of their otherwise hairless faces. It’s quite disgusting to my western eyes.
However, most Taiwanese don’t seem to mind it. I saw a girl the other day with a really gorgeous guy (less the six 2-inch hairs growing out of his face). She was still looking at him with the same love… ah… lust… in her eyes as she probably would have if he didn’t have the hairs. Or, maybe she just has a mole-hair fetish. Who knows!!! :?
Actually, some superstitions can be based on a measure of fact that has been stretched to the limit. I can understand the whole drinking hot water thing when you have a cold. As for accupuncture, I’ve had it done for my back and it does seem to work.
Jonathan aka liljohn
Apologies for the off topic comments here. They are related to the last post which says that if you state something often enough and for long enough it becomes Truth (in Taiwan anyway).
Have u noticed how it’s always 5000 years of chinese history when you’re speaking to chinese people, but when u look at other sources (notably western ones, its ‘only’ 3000)? interesting. I guess there must be some debate as to whether the first 2000 years could really be called China. But I don’t know about these things. So, is it 3000 or 5000, or does it depend who u ask? Can anyone enlighten the benighted among us?
Also OT: At the moon festival barbecue up the street last weekend, the subject of the economy came up and a Chinese guy asked me, “Chinese people are the best businessmen in the world, aren’t they?” to which I replied, “Well, they must be. People here are always telling me that!” He nodded and seemed satisfied with the answer.
Here’s a superstition for ya: when eating a pig’s foot last night my girlfriend gave me the toes because her mother and grandmother told her that unmarried girls shouldn’t eat pig toes. I suspect that they just said that because they wanted them for themselves.
One of my favorites is what happens when a cat jumps over a dead body…
On the topic of stiffs:
I have heard a superstition that if a guy sees a red envelope on the street he should not pick it up or he will be obliged/forced to marry a woman’s corpse (who was unmarried at the time she snuffed it) so that she can be happy in the after-life.
Does this really happen or am I having my leg pulled?
[quote=“Spack”]
I have heard a superstition that if a guy sees a red envelope on the street he should not pick it up or he will be obliged/forced to marry a woman’s corpse[/quote]
This one also applies to articles of clothing, hats etc. The families will leave the articles around for the dead daughter’s spirit to occupy and then snag any unsuspecting man who picks it up so she won’t be lonely in the afterlife. I guess the fear of being single goes beyond all natural boundaries 
Another of my favorites is not pointing at the moon lest it slice one’s ear off.
Oh, and men growing the nail on the little finger long to ward off folk with bad intentions.
Since when have pigs had toes ??? Doh!
Anyway believe it or not Chinese culture does not have the monopoly of qi / chi. In Western Europe 2000 years ago, the Druids referred to something called “wyrd” which was regarded as some form of lifeforce … obviously along came Christianity and mutated the word into what we know nowadays as … wait for it … weird i.e. something strange and abnormal.
I, for one, very much believe in Qi (having studied both Gong Fu and Qi Gong for 5 years now - yes I know that’s not exactly a lifetime but it is a start) and have regularly frequented my Western Acupunturist … I think there is something far more natural in the idea that the body’s own energy can heal your ailments.
Slim Jim wrote: “Since when have pigs had toes ??? Doh!”
Excerpt from The Complete Guide for the Care and Training of Pet Potbellied Pigs
The pig’s foot consists of two primary toes and two dewclaws. Each of these toes is surrounded with a hard nail. There are nerves and blood vessels in each hoof, similar to the quick of our own nails. Be sure to keep this in mind as you start to cut back your pig
I bet that book comes in useful! A little bit of bedtime reading!
Interesting, but I thought wyrd came from the Norse and represented the concept of fate or destiny.
The three witches in Macbeth are referred to as the wierd (wyrd) sisters, for example. (And I have some kind of mental block that always causes me to misspell that word. I think that’s just downright … strange)
But your Druid life-force could just as easily be the correct etymology, I suppose.