Katie Brandenburg

BEIJING — Friday the 13th came and went in America, and I barely registered the day – no black cats, no broken mirrors, no ladders left out for me to walk under. 

Maybe bad luck can’t travel over water.

Regardless, I have been much too interested in Chinese superstitions lately to focus on those in America.

In Mandarin, there are four different tones with which words can be pronounced to give them different meaning. This attribute is one of the things that makes it so difficult for non-native speakers to learn the language.

It also means that the Chinese make use of wordplay a lot when it comes to their superstitions.

There is no fourth floor in our hotel in Beijing. When you get on the elevator or walk down the stairs, you go from the fifth floor to the third. That’s because the number four in China is widely considered unlucky.

The word for the number – “si” – when said with a down tone is the same as the word for death. When it means death, it is said with a tone that goes down then up.

I’ve been told that, all because of the resemblance between the words, real estate in China is cheaper if the address of the property in question has a four in it, and phone numbers with fours are undesirable.

The word “fu” has a similar double meaning and superstition attached.

One of the places we’ve visited on this trip to Beijing is called Prince Gong’s Palace. It was once the home of a corrupt official who hoarded ill-gotten gains in special rooms of his home.

When touring the grounds, before you pass through a Western-style gate to enter the garden area, you pass by a small shrine with red pieces of wood. The Chinese character “fu” is written on one side, and individual prayers or wishes cover almost every available surface on the other side. 

“Fu,” meaning good fortune or happiness, is also a part of the word for the animal bat.

Because of that coincidence, the figure of a bat is considered a symbol of good luck in China.

Prince Gong’s Palace has a pond shaped like a bat, and the figure of a bat is carved into woodwork in many places throughout the complex.

It’s interesting to examine the reasons behind such superstitions. Many are unique to a country or a language group, and I feel they can give you some interesting insights into how certain cultures think and process information.

I suppose it should make things seem more strange and foreign, but I find it comforting.

Despite the differences in details, all countries have superstitions. 

Avoiding stepping on the cracks in the sidewalk and crossing your fingers are not very different than fours bringing bad luck and bats bringing good luck when you get right down to the meat of things.

Learning the traditions and superstitions of another culture is interesting, but I think the most important lesson I can learn from them is that, in however many ways we are different, there are so many more in which we are the same.

— Follow government beat writer Katie Brandenburg on Twitter at twitter.com/BGDNgovtbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.