The Chinese are known to be traditional and superstitious. While such practices are slowly fading off in the society and among the community, there are still many who follow the “old wife’s tales” that has been passed down through generations.
The most common superstition would be on numbers. Most Malaysian Chinese are usually concerned when it comes to car number plates where the number 8 is mostly preferred while the number 4 are the least favourites. This is because the pronunciation of the numbers sound like ‘prosperous’ and ‘death’ respectively.
Fortune is considered to be one of the most important elements in Chinese superstition, hence everything that are used for decorations, apart from their decorative elements would be influential where red and yellow are commonly used for good fortune while black represents mourning and bad fortune.
Where this is concerned, one would notice that on occasions like the Chinese New Year are times when superstitions are exercised to its fullest. This is where ill feelings are forgotten or subdued while kind and generous wishes are spread among all in the community. The most significant element in Chinese superstition is that one must respect the elders in every sense whether they are still alive or not and to be good mannered so that they do not offend anyone.