That's pretty interesting =3
I thought it was neat that Guan Yu is celebrated.

This site has a good chart that gives more details on compatibility between animals. Just ignore the descriptions below because they add the cat (which technically isn't part of the zodiac) and ignore the poor rabbit.

There are statues of Guan Yu in pretty much every temple in China. Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism all claim him as their own. There are also lots of statues of him elsewhere, including restaurants and private homes. You could definitely say that he is widely worshiped.

I'm back! I'm going to tak a look at your two links when I get a chance, Zen. I've always liked that type thing.

As to last night's discussion, briefly, yes, I think you'd enjoy Hawaii much more. Hope you get it!

Welcome back! I'm up early again because I can't sleep well with my sinuses blocked.

*wishes news from Hawai'i would come sooner*

Something I like about the compatibility chart is that it shows relative compatibility. I can see that I have a score of a 9 with a Horse (my sister is a Horse and we are extremely close - any connection?), but only a (ouch) 2 with a Monkey. Based on the relationships I have with certain individuals in my life, I don't always agree with the compatibility score given on the chart, but it is still interesting to know.

I think it is also very interesting that only the rat, the dragon, and the monkey can achieve perfect compatibility with each other. Also interesting (like in real life) roosters don't get along very well with other roosters (only a score of 4).

It's late but; Happy Lunar New Year! ^__^

I WANT TO KNOW HOW THE CHINESE CELEBRATE IT! 8D

Did you go see the Lion Dance? I didn't have time to go. </3

Hello, Mew!

Zen, Oddly, I looked at the chart, and I'm a snake, not a rat. But somewhere in my past I distinctly remember being a rat. Anyway.....The description of the rat fits fairly well, but the description of the snake does NOT. However in other astrology, my description fits with me fairly well. Capricorn.

Hello Echo! : D
How's your day so far/Do anything out of the ordinary today?

sushi_mew - Hello and Happy Chinese New Year to you too! In China, the Chinese New Year (the beginning of the two-week Spring Festival) is the largest holiday of the year. Nearly everyone in China travels back to their hometown (often defined in China as where your family is from, even if you weren't actually born there) to spend it with their family. The fireworks start a few days before New Years, and pretty much last the whole duration of the Spring Festival, going off at any time day or night. Dumplings are one of the most traditional things to eat during the Chinese New Year. Special long noodles are also commonly eaten to represent longevity (you can't cut or bite off the noodles or you are reducing your longevity). A common gift (particularly from parents to children) is a little red envelope with brand-new paper money inside (usually small bills). Common decorations include red lanterns, the character 福 (fu - good fortune) hanging upside down, and images of the animal of the new year (in this case, tigers). Lion dances are also common, and yes, I have seen multiple lion dances in the past few weeks. That should give you a few ideas on what goes on - if you have more questions, ask =D

Infinitys Echo - Huh, interesting - unusual for someone to be more than a year off on what animal you are told you are! Well, if it makes you feel any better, most descriptions of my Western sign, Cancer, don't fit me in the least bit. It took a friend of mine who has a much deeper understanding of what the signs really mean than just a little two-liner to show me how it fit better than I thought.

XD That's a lot of smoke from all those Fireworks~ I wish I saw some fireworks for the New Year. ><

Is the long noodles "mein" or something? Partially clear but a tint of grey? Thin, long and sort of a slimy feeling in your mouth? xD

Do they eat "banh chung"? The Vietnamese do! : D Sort of like a sticky rice thing filled with mung beans and meat, shaped in a swuare and wrapped with Banana leaves?

Li xi!! Most people find that the highlight of new years~ xDD

Do the Chinese have any traditional clothes they wear for the celebration? Sort of like Vietnamese with their Ao Dai and the Chinese with their Kimonos?

Zen, Chinese New Year sounds awesome! Why do they hang that particular character upside down?

As for the sign, yes, that does seem odd. I seemed to remember a snake somewhere back in time, but rat is standing out to me. No matter, though in terms of personality and such, there seems to be a big difference. My other sign, Capricorn, fits me pretty well, except for a few things, but I'm sure that's how it is with everyone and everything. I tried reading up more on that as well, and in one area, you may be a certain sign, but another sign (which can be told by being more exact with time of birth)may be what shows through, so to speak, to the world, or be hidden. Again, with mine, it's Aquarius, and it seems to fit me as well. Yours may be Cancer, but another sign may be the hidden one, or one that you outwardly show more often. I used to get into all that, though not completely believing it, it's interesting stuff.

Noodles = mian, you are right! (In Chinese restaurants in the West it is sometimes romanized as "mein.")

I have not seen Chinese eating "banh chung" for New Years, but it is possible that they do in the southeast near Vietnam.

I haven't really seen special clothes that the Chinese wear for New Years, but it is very common to buy lucky red underwear to wear, especially if it is your year.

I find astrology, Western, Chinese, and others, to be an interesting conversation piece, but I don't tend to buy it too deeply. I know that in Western astrology, everyone's main sign is their Sun sign, but they also have other signs based on where the moon and all the planets were when they were born. Each represents different areas of your life, and you need to know all of them to do a completely accurate profile on someone. I also know that in Chinese astrology there are various kinds of minor signs as well depending on exactly when you were born, but I don't know enough about it to really explain it.

EDIT:
forgot to say that that character is hung upside down because if it is hung right-side-up during the New Year, it may attract bad fortune instead of good

Sushi_mew the chinese don't wear kimonos thats what the japanese wear. the chinese wear Qipao.
I have a kimono but it more like a yukata which is a cotton kimono worn in the summer and has one layer instead of many like formal kimonos.
also i was born in the year of the dog

Exactly, Zen! I couldn't remember the wording. My sun sign is Capricorn. I think it's called moon, for my lessor, which is Aquarius. And you sound like me, you find it very interesting even though you don't truly believe in all that it says.

Hmmm, that sounds a little odd. Maybe because the "spirits" "see" it differently than we do?

Hello, Yukichi!

hey

Infinitys Echo - My moon sign is Scorpio, which I think fits me pretty well. I don't remember all of my others, but my friend said that they had a tendency to explain some things about me, like my travel addiction >.>

The Chinese do a lot of things in a seemingly backwards way in order to trick the spirits into doing what they want, or not doing what they don't want. They are especially wary of potential effects of malevolent spirits, so their "good luck things" can often be more accurately described as "things that dispel bad luck."

Yukichi2 - Hello! You are right about the kimonos - I think that she made a typo, based on the context. Kimonos and yukatas are both very pretty, but yukatas are definitely easier to wear! I've never worn a really formal kimono, but I've worn less formal ones that were only around 2-3 layers.

Originally Posted by Yukichi2

Sushi_mew the chinese don't wear kimonos thats what the japanese wear. the chinese wear Qipao.
I have a kimono but it more like a yukata which is a cotton kimono worn in the summer and has one layer instead of many like formal kimonos.
also i was born in the year of the dog

Yes; I was asking that~ XD

I want to try on a kimono~ they seem elegant and so pretty! x3

I was born in the year of the dog as well~ XD

Originally Posted by Shimawa_zen

Noodles = mian, you are right! (In Chinese restaurants in the West it is sometimes romanized as "mein.")

I have not seen Chinese eating "banh chung" for New Years, but it is possible that they do in the southeast near Vietnam.

I haven't really seen special clothes that the Chinese wear for New Years, but it is very common to buy lucky red underwear to wear, especially if it is your year.

I find astrology, Western, Chinese, and others, to be an interesting conversation piece, but I don't tend to buy it too deeply. I know that in Western astrology, everyone's main sign is their Sun sign, but they also have other signs based on where the moon and all the planets were when they were born. Each represents different areas of your life, and you need to know all of them to do a completely accurate profile on someone. I also know that in Chinese astrology there are various kinds of minor signs as well depending on exactly when you were born, but I don't know enough about it to really explain it.

EDIT:
forgot to say that that character is hung upside down because if it is hung right-side-up during the New Year, it may attract bad fortune instead of good

Lucky red underwear~ It sounds silly but if it`s tradition :lol:

With the whole sign upside-down logic, I would think that the Chinese have a unique way of seeing things. xD

Zen: Scorpio is an exciting sign. And I agree that my moon sign explains a lot about me as well.

Ok, so the Chinese like using reverse psychology :)! Smart!

Yep - I don't know if the Chinese invented reverse-psychology, but they certainly use it with spirits! A lot of their beliefs about what things are auspicious/inauspicious have to do with similarities between the sound of a word and another word. For example, the number 4 (四 si) is pronounced similar to the world for death (死 si), which makes 4 the rough equivalent to the number 13 in the West. (Same is true in Japanese, only both is pronounced "shi"). Buildings like hotels often don't have a floor 4, but if they do, they often stick foreigners on the forth floor x.x

Oh, they don't care for foreigners much, huh? Well, at least as far as Americans are concerned, I can't say I blame them. Americans can be some pretty rough characters.

LMFAO Oh, how welcoming of them. xDD What do they do with room numbers wiht the number 4 in it?
I personally would just skip the number 4. xD

I think that part of it is that the average tourist that comes to China is ignorant about the connotations of 4 in Chinese culture. As for those of us foreigners that do know, we tend to just laugh at it instead of making a scene about it. So when the Chinese go to fill up rooms on the 4th floor, who are they going to pick - some foreigners that probably won't complain, or some locals who probably will complain? But still - I like the idea of no fourth floor at all best because it solves the problem. I've never seen room numbers effected be the presence of the number 4 - it tends to be used as normal.

But yes - a lot of foreigners, particularly Americans, have a pretty bad reputation abroad. I hate the stereotypes (although I understand where they come from), and try to show through my actions that not all Americans are like that, but it feels like an uphill battle at times.

It actually doesn't bother me much when other countries don't like "us" much. Often times I can understand many of their feelings. Like when they say we are too loud or boisterous or proud. Other times, I put it down to jealousy. And then there are still other reasons. If I were to travel to another country, I would also try to respect their culture and customs and do my best to show them a good example of our people. Of course there are times when that would be a very, very hard thing to do in certain areas.

Makes sense as to why they would put those who don't know on the "unlucky" floor. But it still shows that they would rather "we" have the bad luck than "them", so it still shows a feeling of ill will towards us. As for not having a 4th floor altogether, good idea, we do the same with the 13th floor sometimes. However, if you're superstitious, it doesn't make a difference if it's called something else, it doesn't change what it really is. It's good enough for most people, but it wouldn't be for me :)!

hmm.. I would think that the room numbers would be affected as well.. x:
but then they would have to stop at room 3 :lol:

Stereo types are hard to battle when the person you're trying to convince strongly believes in it. x:

That's very true, Mew. What can make it even harder is when those stereotypes are based in some part on truth. Sadly, they are there for a reason, and I personally feel that there's always some truth in them. Much like old wives tales and cures.

Ahh~ yes. It`s hard to break free of them but there`s always that one person who doesn`t believe in them and they make it better, if not a little. (: