[1] NUMBERS
Number 8 is the magic number over here. Everyone tries to get number 8 on their car regs, on their telephone or as the number of their apartment. They will pay substantial increases in money to do so. Each year the Hong Kong government draws in millions of dollars for charity by auctioning licence plates that feature the lucky number. August is also by far the most important month for marriages.
[2] FOODS
Some foods are considered to bring luck. Noodles equals a long life. Sea moss, and oysters bring wealth. Peach juice is seen as an elixir. Other foods are bad luck. If a woman eats eggplant she may have sterility problems. If a man eats pig's brains he may become impotent.
[3] ZODIAC
Like the Western system of astrology there are 12 signs, but in China they are all animals. Your sign is based on the year of your birth. It is said that the chart comes from when Budda summoned all the creatures of the world to come and visit him. Only 12 turned up. Budda decided to call each month after one of them. The first was the rat, then the ox, tiger, rabbit and so on. Being born in the year of the tiger is seen to ve very lucky, the year of the pig, the opposite. In a weeks time it is New Years over here. It will be the year of the rouster.
[4] FENG SHUI
They take this deadly serious over here. A geomancer, or expert in this code is a highly sought after individual. If you are trying to buy a new apartment or a grave. Or if the governent is laying down new lights on the road or a railway track these gurus are brought in to say exactly which way things should be pointing or placed or if the project should go ahead in the first place. Some trees are said to house spirits. As a result, for this reason, some villages and temples in the New Territories still have feng shui woods for the good spirits to live in. Businesses will often call in a geomancer if they are not being profitable or struggling with hitting their targets. Often moving a door or window to a new place or introducing a fish tank can establish the lost energy flows in the air and change the corporations fortunes.
[5] TECHNOLOGY
I went by ferry to a district yesterday called Mongkong to see if i could buy some gadgets. The place was three times as packed as Grafton street on Christmas eve and they had technology hanging out of the shops. I have never seen anything like it. The smallest mpeg players imaginable that hang from your ear of neck. Mobile phones that could make your dinner and cameras that took pictures almost of themselves. It's frightening to see the insatiable demand for new technology by the people here. They simply have to have the lastest version of everything as soon as possible. And they will commonly quee overnight to have.
Will report some more in the coming days.
