The Chinese culture has cultivated various methods for keeping ghosts and other night 'things' at bay. So for times when you need to travel to certain dark or bad "aura-ed "areas, here are some hot tips:
1) Wear red underwear
2) Wear red shoes
3) Wear a strand of forty-nine garlic bundles on your head
4) Wear jade
5) Carry 36 pieces of glutinous rice.
6) Wear a safety charm (you can get these at Buddhist temples)
7) Carry seven pieces of leaves from a banyan tree.
Hotel rooms also tend to be a place where the 'yang' is weaker than the 'ying'. People go in and out, but they don't stay, thus causing ghosts to gather. Here are some things to observe when you enter a new room to make sure your rest isn't disturbed:
1) Knock on the door and say "excuse me" befor entering your hotel room (to let the ghost know you are going to occupy their room for a while so they won't disturb you)
2) Flush the toilet. This means to flush out any bad influences.
3) Don't place socks or shoes neatly by the bed, or it will be easier for ghost to find the bed and bother your slumber.
4) Opening an umbrella indoor will bring the ghosts. The ghost will then stay (or live) in the umbrella and bring bad luck (or sometime good luck) to the people who have the umbrella.
Heading out at night? Some things to observe so the spirits will not bother you:
1) Don't turn around if someone taps you on your shoulder.
2) Don't wear clothing with your name on it, or the spirits could call you out.
3) Don't shine flashlights into trees, ghosts like to hang out there.
4) Don't pat your friends on the head or on the shoulder. A person has three fires to keep spirits away, two on the shoulder, one on the head. Putting it out means it's easier for spirits to enter them.
5) Left eye twitch, good luck
6) Right eye twitch, bad luck
That reminds me of a story I was told the other day:-
There were two graves side by side. There came a Chinese man with offerings of food, wine, incense, paper gifts and he spread the goodies and got down on his knees and prayed to his ancestors to come enjoy. Along came a Foreigner in long coat and hat, carrying a bunch of flowers. He put down the flowers on the next grave and took off his hat, placed it over his heart, and bowed his head in a moment of silent respect. When he looked up the Chinese was still so busy pouring wine, burning paper gifts, and yelling and yaping to his ancestors to come drink, eat, and receive his gifts. The Foreigner look kind of annoyed and snapped “You really think your ancestor is going to sit up on his grave and eat your duck and drink your wine?” The Chinese replied, “No, no more than yours is going to sit up on his grave and sniff your flowers.
