CHINESE BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS

Here are more Chinese beliefs and superstitions:

1. Despite a long history of beards and moustaches worn by Chinese heroes and Chinese deities being depicted with beards, wearing a moustache is considered bad luck by Chinese custom, and can bring misfortune on the family and relatives of the wearer. Being unshaven is associated with the working classes- who are thought not to have time to shave- and thus lowers the status of the wearer.
2. Finger & Toe NailsChinese custom forbids the clipping of one’s toe or finger nails at night as it is believed that this may cause a visit from the dead or a ghost. Nail clippings are to be carefully collected and disposed of in a place unknown to others as it is believed that nail clippings can be used to cast a spell or curse upon the person from whom the clippings have come.
3. Fluid from Dog's EyesDogs are believed to have the ability to see supernatural beings such as ghosts and phantoms, and howl when they see one. If a dog howls continuously, it is believed that this presages an imminent death. Following from this, it is believed that the fluid from a dog’s eye can enable humans to see the spirit world, for example ancestors’ souls. A medium will smear the fluid on his/her eyes in order to see the supernatural world for the purposes of exorcism etc. However it is believed that ordinary people who smear the fluid from a dog’s eye on their own eyes may die from the shock of seeing the afterlife.
4. Dreaming of snow or teeth presages the death of a parent.
5. Hearing a crow cawing between 3 and 7 am means the person who hears it will receive gifts, whereas hearing a crow caw between 7 and 11 am rain and wind will follow, and between 11am and 1pm quarrels will ensue.
6. If a man's ears burn it can mean special things: if they burn between 11pm and 1pm there will be harmony between him and his wife; if they burn between 1 and 3 in the afternoon, a guest will soon arrive.
7. Pointing at the moon will result in one’s ears to be cut off. (This belief appears to be most fictious, mainly because the result does not happen. However, parents continue to pass on this belief as they often use this story to scare their children, jokingly, of course.)
8. One should not have a turtle/terrapin as a pet as it will slow down one’s business growth.

SOURCE: http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01351/charms.htm