Chinese Superstitions Trivia Quiz

Answer: Four

The Chinese words for "four" and "death" sound the same, so it is considered unlucky. Some hotels don't use four or any numbers containing four when numbering rooms and floors.

Answer: Eight

The number is so popular that in Guangzhou people pay about five thousand RMB extra for a number plate which ends with an eight.

Answer: Red

Some people say you should wear red underwear all year in your Chinese zodiac year. Red is usually both festive and lucky in Chinese culture, except in the case of wedding invitations, which are jokingly known as "red bombs" in Taiwan because you have to give a present of lucky money to the happy couple even if you don't go.

Answer: White

White is the colour of mourning. Chinese brides traditionally wear red dresses, although nowadays western style wedding dresses are increasingly popular.

Answer: A mirror

Some people use a "bagua", an octagon with a mirror in the centre which those of you who are interested in feng shui might recognise, but ordinary mirrors are common over the doors and sometimes windows of houses. The "double happiness" character is normally used at weddings. Finally, some people say you shouldn't plant bamboo right in front of your house or you will be poor.

Answer: Shoes

In case they run away from you in them. It's also not a good idea to give a comb to your friend, because the word for comb sounds like a word meaning "grow apart". Clocks are not good presents either; through more sound-alike words they suggest the idea of death. Finally, if a woman gives her husband a green hat, she is telling him in no uncertain terms that she has a lover.

Answer: Dragon

The birth rate always jumps in the Year of the Dragon. The Years of the Rat, Sheep and Tiger are not so favoured. Rats are hardly popular animals anywhere, sheep may be seen as vulnerable (think wolves, lamb kebabs etc.), and while it's okay for boys to be born in the Year of the Tiger, Tiger women are supposed to be a bit too fierce.

Answer: The seventh

The seventh lunar month is also known as "ghost month" and is not a good time to get married. There are also lots of ghosts about around the time of the Qingming tomb-sweeping day in April.

Answer: Get a haircut

Get a haircut or bathe before gambling and you'll lose money, or so they say. It's also unlucky to see a monk or a nun before gambling, or to gamble when you're ill.

Answer: Stand them upright in your food

Chopsticks stood upright look like the incense sticks burnt as offerings to the dead. Although some guide books recommend that you use the wrong end of your chopsticks to take food from a communal dish, in practice this is rare.