CSI (Chinese Superstition Investigation)

Chinese new year is a time of new beginning, new start and togetherness, families tend to meet up together and have huge celebrations with one another. when conducting business or when a guest to a Chinese family and friends event, do keep the following things in mind to avoid conducting unintentional faux pas:

Do's and Don'ts of Chinese New Year

Do:

• Wear red as it is the colour of good luck
• Say good and auspicious words and phrases during the week of Chinese new year to encourage good luck throughout the year
• Say Gung Hei Fat Choy to everyone to wish everyone prosperity in the new year. 
• Be generous
• use the number 8 as the number 8 sounds like prosperity in Chinese
• Clean the house the week before
• wear new clothes as newness= good luck

Avoid talking about or doing the following in the presence if someone who is traditionally chinese

• give a clock. It is a bad omen and often interpreted as "Your time is up"
• buy a chicken without a head
• Cut your hair on new years day. Cutting hair = cutting wealth away as wealth and hair sound a like in Chinese language
• say anything about death, poverty, injuries, illnesses. Chinese people believe that saying bad things will cause them to happen. 
• use the number 4, as the number 4 sounds like death in Chinese. 

Did you know:

• At company dinners in china, the boss would rotate the dish of a whole chicken, whoever the chicken head points to will be fired at the end of the meal. 
• Married couples give red pocket money to younger siblings, nephews and nieces.
• Some people would feel lucky and go to the casino for a go. 

Keeping the above tips in mind can prevent you from committing faux pas. With Chinese new year coming up, I wish you all a happy Chinese new year and Gung Hei Fat Choy!