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1、On the Chinese and Western Superstition Differences in Superstition-related Numbers and Festivals between Chinese and English从英汉数字和迷信节日看中西方的迷信思想差异内容摘要迷信是人类文化的一部分，它起源于人类出现的第一天。尽管科学和技术在发展，迷信思想仍然存在。迷信思想存在于人类生活的方方面面中，并在很大程度上影响着人们的行为。迷信作为一种文化现象，因国家和民族的不同而不同。随着世界各国交流日趋频繁，了解世界各国的迷信思想文化的差异显得尤为重要。最早期的迷信概念源于对
2、自然的无知和未发展的生产性力量.根据作家Raymond Lamont： “迷信是信仰或者信仰系统，宗教崇拜几乎凭它依附于绝大多数世俗的事; 迷信是在隐密或不可思议的联系里宗教信仰的模仿。”社会学家认为迷信是在某种操作力量的存在中的不理性的信念，有正面或负面的作用。中西方国家在数字和节日方面存在一些迷信思想差异，文化，宗教，心理等因素的不同是其差异的主要原因。因此，探究中西方数字与节日的迷信思想差异及其成因成为本文的主旨。关键字：迷信；差异；迷信数字；迷信节日 AbstractSuperstition, as one part of human culture, dates from the f
3、irst day when human beings appeared. Superstitious thoughts are always in peoples minds in spite of the scientific and technological advancement. Superstition can be found in every aspect of human life; it has a great influence on peoples behavior. As a cultural phenomenon, superstition varies from
4、one nation to another. With frequent communications between nations all over the world, it is necessary to have acknowledgement of the differences in superstition between different countries. The earliest superstition concept derives from the ignorance of the nature and the undeveloped productive fo
5、rce .According to the writer Raymond Lamont Brown: “Superstition is a belief, or system of beliefs, by which almost religious veneration is attached to things mostly secular; a parody of religious faith in which there is belief in an occult or magic connection.” Sociologists put it that superstition
6、 is an irrational or nonscientific belief in the existence of certain powers operant in the world, with positive or ill (usually ill) effects. There are some differences between China and western countries in the numbers and superstition festivals. The major factors are cultural gap, homophonous phe
7、nomena, religious reason, psychological factor, and so on. So the papers theme is analyzing the disparity of superstition between China and western countries by studying the numbers and festivals, and studying the disparity.Key words: superstition; differences; superstition-related numbers; supersti
8、tious festivals ContentsIntroduction11 The Origin and the Definition of Superstition31.1 The Origin of Superstition41.2 The Definition of Superstition42 The Superstition about Numbers and Festivals in China and Western Countries52.1 The Superstition about Numbers62.1.1 A Brief Introduction to Number
9、s62.1.2 Superstition-related Numbers in China82.1.3 Superstition-related Numbers in Western Countries112.2 The Superstition about Festivals132.2.1 An Brief Introduction to Festivals132.2.2 The Hungry Ghost Festival in China142.2.3 Halloween in Western Countries153 The Reasons for the Superstition Di
10、sparity173.1 The Cultural Gap173.2 The Homophonous Phenomenon213.3 The Religious Reason223.4 The Psychological Factor26Conclusion28Notes30References31Introduction Superstition is a belief, or system of beliefs, by which almost religious veneration is attached to things mostly secular; a parody of re
11、ligious faith in which there is belief in an occult or a magic connection. Therefore, superstition can be said to be the result of ignorance. Superstition dates from the first day when human beings appeared. Modern society is characterized by the highly developed science and technology; however, man
12、y superstitious ideas are still deeply rooted in peoples mind, and have great influence on their behavior. For example, the ancient art of “feng shui” has been practiced in China for thousands of years. The traditional buildings (like the Forbidden City in Beijing) were designed according to feng sh
13、ui principles. Another example is “ren qii ”. Very often, most people tend to overlook the physical feng shui of oneself because they believe that a person with good physical feng shui has strong ren qi. Besides, the well known superstitions above mentioned, there are also some not well known supers
14、titions in some areas of China. People would not like to hand out the pears(梨，li),whose pronunciation is “li” in Chinese, because it means breaking up.As a cultural phenomenon, superstition varies from society to society and from country to country. Take the number“13”as an example, Chinese people d
15、o not think it is an unlucky number, but for English people ,it is an unlucky number, even an evil number which will bring disasters.So we can come into a conclusion that different nations have different superstition concept. Now living in a global village, people from different countries, cultures,
16、 religions, and histories begin to communicate and exchange their various ideas. Meanwhile, cultural conflicts appear and are becoming a more and more serious problem. Superstition disparity is a point in case. It has attracted attention of scholars and experts in the field of cross-cultural communi
17、cation studies. So far, much research has been done both at home and broad.Xu Xueqing in 2001, Fan Qinhe in 2003 discussed the superstition activities from the perspective of sociology.Ma Ling in 1999 explored and analyzed the reasons why superstition still exist in modern society from the perspecti
18、ve of sociology.Wang Shujuan, Li Chaoxu in 2005 studied and analyzed the reasons of formation of superstition from the angle of psychology and education.Zhao Xinsheng in 2000 held that modern superstition is a kind of superstition activity under the clock of modernism. It is a momentary, explosive t
19、rend of thoughts which can easily spread in masses. The essence of superstition is anti-science.Scholars abroad made researches into the psychology of superstition earlier. Jahoda classified superstition into four types: the first type part outlook and world-view of the formation of superstition; th
20、e second is the traditional superstition; the third is the mysterious experience of body, such as the communication between living people and the dead; the fourth is personal superstition, such as the lucky numbers and ornaments. He also emphasized the four aspects were not separate but closely rela
21、ted. This thesis aims to concentrate on analyzing the disparity of superstition between China and western countries by studying the numbers and festivals. Reasons for the disparity are also explored. The paper is composed of six parts: the first part is the introduction of the thesis; the second par
22、t is designed to introduce the definition of superstition; the third part presents superstition in numbers of China and western countries; the fourth part studies their superstitious festivals; then the analysis of the reasons for the disparity of superstition in different countries forms the fifth
23、part. The thesis ends with a conclusion, in which the right attitude towards superstition will be suggested.1 The Origin and the Definition of SuperstitionThroughout the periods of history, from ancient to present, people have feared what they did not understand. They turned to and even depended on
24、many things to explain the phenomena happening around them. From religion to science, people have tried to satisfy their puzzled minds. Some, however, accepted these phenomena and simply took up practices to protect themselves from them. Known as superstitions, these curious rituals have continued t
25、o fascinate us, and some are still even practiced by some people. In the following two parts, we will specifically introduce the origin and definition of superstition. 1.1 The Origin of SuperstitionThe earliest superstition concept derives from the ignorance to the nature and the undeveloped product
26、ive force. When the primitive struggled with the harsh nature, facing the lighting storm, disease and death, nightmare and some natural phenomena that cause their fear or doubt, they always believed that there was a supernatural force around them to dominate everything and that they only eliminate t
27、he disaster and obtain the luck by prayer, witchcraft, symbol of incantation. The worship to the natural force can be divided into two levels: upper level, which was highly praised and promoted by the ruling class. This kind of worship developed into a mainstream culture. It includes primitive relig
28、ions, such as Buddhism and Taoism and so on; lower level, which was accepted by common people. It includes fortune-telling, physiognomies, believing the ghost and superhuman, etc.1.2 The Definition of SuperstitionOriginally the word superstition meant something like standing still in apprehension or
29、 awe, but later it has been rather watered down in its application and use. According to the writer Raymond Lamont-Brown:“Superstition is a belief, or system of beliefs, by which almost religious veneration is attached to things mostly secular; a parody of religious faith in which there is belief in
30、 an occult or magic connection.”1Sociologists put i that superstition is an irrational or nonscientific belief in the existence of certain powers operant in the world, with positive or ill (usually ill) effects, and therefore a concomitant belief in the counter-effects of amulets, tokens and such, a
31、nd the power of certain actions (or avoidance of some actions, such as not walking under a ladder) to diminish or deflect these ill effects and/or to promote the positive influence (i.e. crossing ones fingers, or rubbing a beneficent stone, for good luck) of these indeterminate and usually unnamed p
32、owers.We can also find the definition of superstition from the Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary: superstition (often disapproving) the belief that particular events happen in a way that cannot be explained by reasons or science; the belief that particular events bring good or bad
33、luck.2 The Superstition about Numbers and Festivals in China and Western CountriesWith knowing the origin and definition of superstition, we know superstition exists throughout the periods of history, from ancient to present. In the past, many people died of superstitions. They believed everything w
34、as controlled by ghosts or gods. Now, superstitious activities are active day by day. And the superstition also exists in different areas of society .It has had great influence on society and life. Then we shall analyze the superstition about numbers and festivals in China and Western Countries.2.1
35、The Superstition about Numbers Numbers are a kind of special sign of language and their initial meanings are basically identical in English and Chinese. However, because of the difference of races who use numbers, numbers are largely influenced in the historical development by many different element
36、s, such as religion, history, social customs and so on. Therefore, some numbers are endowed with imaginary meaning with different symbolic sense and these numbers compose a great number of numeral phrases and idioms, which form a sort of phenomenon of “numeral culture” and hide superstition meaning.
37、 We shall introduce numbers simply, and then specifically and deeply study some Superstitionrelated numbers in China and Western Countries. 2.1.1 A Brief Introduction to NumbersAs the Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary, “A number is a word or symbol, represent an amount or a quantit
38、y.”2 .The Arabic numbers and Roman numbers are widely used. Counting system is of great importance in social life. Without numbers, everything would have become confused and economy could not have been well developed. Numbers are grammatically divided into cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers, multiple
39、s, fractions and approximate numbers in Chinese and English languages. This thesis will focus on cardinal numbers and emphasis their cultural connotations in English and Chinese in terms of mythology, religions and psychology. Basic numbers are the common numerical numbers appearing in the language
40、which can serve for calculating. There are different basic numbers in English and in Chinese languages. The following fifteen basic numbers in Chinese are written in two versions: simplified and un-simplified:零壹贰叁肆伍陆柒捌玖拾佰仟万亿(un-simplified )O一二三四五六七八九十百千万亿( simplified) 3There are thirty-one basic num
41、bers in English language as follows:One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty，seventy, eighty, ninety, hundred ,thousand, million, billion .4Like the Chinese basi
42、c numbers, these English basic numbers can be combined to express any quantity. There are different basic numbers in both languages. The numerical number in English is much more than that in Chinese. In spite of the counting functions of all these basic numbers, numbers in both languages cause diffi
43、culties and misunderstanding in the process of cross-culture communication, which can be attributed to the differences of the cultural connotations of numbers in both languages.Influenced by the traditional culture and the thinking concept, Chinese and English have a great disparity of preference to
44、 numbers. This disparity possesses obvious nationalism, because it is the inevitable result of the two nations in a long historical development, for example, most Chinese people like the number“8”but hate“4”. According to the Christian culture in western countries, “13” is under taboo. And then, we
45、will show further demonstrations on this part.2.1.2 Superstition-related Numbers in ChinaFrom the old China period to now, “8”has been considered as the luckiest number by Chinese people for thousands of years and nowadays,“8”is welcome all around China. When people purchase telephones, buy houses o
46、r vehicle license plates, they hope to buy luckily a group of numbers in which at least one “8” is included. If there are two or more “8”, this number combination will be thought to be a lucky one. Not long before, in some places of southern China, a common car with a license including a set of “8”i
47、s worth about several hundred thousand yuan, which is even higher than the value of the car itself. As far as I know, a luxurious hotel paid 200,000 yuan for a so-called lucky telephone number which is composed completely of “8”. Besides, the worship of “8”can also be found in government of China. A
48、s it is known to all, the world famous 29th Olympic Games-Beijing Olympic Games of 2008 drew attention of all the people in the world. Its opening ceremony was decided to begin at eight past eight on August 8th, 2008. No matter the lucky “8”can bring fortune to China or not, Beijing Olympic Games wa
49、s held smoothly and successfully at last. Does the number “8” bring good fortune? Nobody dares to say that simply, because everyone knows that the great success of Beijing Olympic Games is the reward of all the efforts of Chinese people. But from another viewpoint, we must admit that superstition of number is influencing the way of pe
