Some things are considered lucky and will be well received by others as gifts while other things are considered faux pas and should never be given as gifts. In traditional Chinese culture, you'll never see people give their friends a clock as gift and some people will always refused to share a pear with their friends. All of these are social norms are due to China's homophonic culture.
In Chinese, many characters have the same or similar pronunciation and as a result, certain objects share similar or same pronunciation as auspicious and inauspicious words.
Some Inauspicious Words and Actions
- The Chinese never give a clock or an umbrella as a gift.
Clock, (钟 zhōnɡ) in Chinese, has the same pronunciation as the word "end" or "die" (终 zhōnɡ); combined with "sònɡ" (送 give), "送钟"(sònɡ zhōnɡ) sound like sending off someone to die.
Umbrella (伞 sǎn ) sounds similar to "散"（sàn separate) which can be thought of as inauspicious because you are figuratively sending "separation" to a friend.
- Sharing a Pear with Close Friends or Lovers
Some people don't like to share pear with their friends because the act of sharing a pear has the same pronunciation as (分梨 fēn lí) or to separate. As a result, many lovers or intimate friends don't like to share pears because they don't want to jinx it. Interestingly, Shakespeare also used pear as the homophony to express the same meaning by saying "separate the pear, separate the pair."
3 People in Shanghai avoid buying apples for patients
Different dialects in China also have their distinct homophonic culture. When visiting a patient in Shanghai, people will not bring apples because the pronunciation of apple (ping guo) is similar to (bìng gù) or to die of sickness. If you visit a patient in Shanghai or in the Zhejiang region, remember to not bring apple. However, interestingly enough, if you bring apple and pear together, then it is considered good because ping (apple) and li (pear) sounds like "bìng lí" which means sickness cured.
Other Things That Have Auspicious Pronunciation
1 Lotus Seeds at a Wedding Party
The Chinese people have the habit of putting lotus seeds under the new bed sheets of new couples because lotus seed is pronounced as "lián zǐ"; "lián" means continuous and "zǐ" means son (one of the meanings). Therefore, placing lotus seeds under the couple’s bed sheets is blessing the couple to have many sons.
2 Seeing Fish Everywhere
Images of fish are everywhere in China; they are on windows, doors, post cards, calendars, and many other places. When the Spring Festival comes round each year, images of fish are so prevalent you would think it is the year of the fish; from eating fish to decorating homes and furniture with fish paper-cuttings. Fish is so popular because fish is pronounced as "yú", the same as "余" which means abundant in Chinese. So eating fish and decorating with fish diagrams signifies the wish to have abundant luck, love, happiness, and of course money.
Even when eating fish, the Chinese would leave a little left over to signify more to come later or as the Chinese would put it "年年有魚/余" (nián nián yǒu yú) or "be blessed every year."
Other auspicious things or actions include:
- Eating chicken "鸡" (jī) which is pronounced similar to the word "吉" (jí) meaning lucky.
- People in Southern China eat "年糕" (nián gāo), New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour. "年糕" sounds like "year high" which means better and better, year after year.
- During the Spring Festival, you'll often see the Chinese character "福" (fu), meaning blessing or happiness, hang upside down. The reversed "福" is homophonic with blessings or happiness has come.
