11 April 2005

Indian Vs Chinese

Some things that I noted -- mostly superstitions

1. No: 8, 13 are lucky for Chinese while not for Indians.

2. When going for an important function (mostly auspicious ones) go in odd numbers --3 or 5 as per the Indians and its the vice versa with the Chinese.

3. Tortoise, owls, frogs and cats are lucky for Chinese. Its just the opposite for Indians. "Aammai puguntha veedu" , "poonai kuruka poochu" are some examples.

Think the higher officials should keep this in mind, now that there are talks for closer ties between India and China.

9 comments:

Narayanan Venkitu said...

LOL - Higher Officials.!!!

Oh those superstitions...!!

Twin-Gemini said...

I thought in India the belief is not to go in odd numbers. If you go as a group of three, I thought that was considered inauspicious.

But yeah, these things keep changing from one culture to the other.

saranyan r said...

haha nice one :)

Chakra said...

Good ones.. but I too think that in India it is considered inauspicious to go as a group of three.

Heathrow Airport in London has got lots of HSBC adverts explaining difference in culture to drive home the importance of "local knowledge"... perhaps the link here would explain that better.

http://www.doxdesk.com/img/updates/20040627-hsbc.gif

Kaps said...

Some similarities

1. Both believe in luck

2. Both races respect elders

3. Use of incense sticks

4. Feng Shui & Vaasthu

PVS said...

Twin-gemini/Chakra, I've heard people telling that they should go in odd numbers (otha padai) when going to see a girl for their son, or taking the seer, etc.

Kaps, thats nice. I wanted to put this up too, but just left with the dissimilarities. Thanks for updating. But, while Vasthu is still considered as superstitious by many, you can see that Chinese believe it. Take for example the Suntec buildings and the water fountain there. You can find the official note saying that this was built as per Feng Shui and hence promotes wealth in the region!!! Official Accreditation!!

Me said...

good analysis. everything will be lucky if a indian boy marries a chinese girl or viceversa :)

Twin-Gemini said...

Chakra, nice link!

hari said...

Hi PVS,

I am sure there must be some areas where the superstitions match. A high level committee can be formed between the two countries to identify those animals and numbers.

anyhow Indian Government is an expert in constituting such committees.