Title: Western River and Sun

General Information about Item:

• Bad Luck Superstition
• Language: English/Chinese
• Country of Origin: China
• Informant: Miya Qiong Xie
• Date Collected: 10-31-2018

Informant Data:

• Miya Qiong Xie is currently a Chinese professor at Dartmouth College. She grew up in western China before attending a University and then finally achieving her dream of becoming a Chinese professor at a prestigious College.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Confucianism is an ancient Chinese ideology that emphasizes the power in family values, specifically the fact that the father should be the head of the family. According to Miya, the western sun is a representation of female energy and power. If there is a river on the western side of the house, that means the west side of the house is lower, being more exposed to the western sun, and therefore meaning the female will be the dominant figure in the household, not the male. This brings bad luck to the house.
• Social Context: According to Ms. Xieng, this superstition was most likely created by a male, as it would go against beliefs for a woman to be the dominant person in the household.

Item:

• It is considered bad luck for the household and its members if there is a river on the western side of the house.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

• “The west side is for western sun and also stands for the female side. If you have river on the western side that means your west side is significantly lower than the other side of the house. The west sun will be strong. And so, in your house, female will overpower male. Because this bad luck theory is probably produced by a man, conclusion is that it is going to be bad luck.”

Informant’s Comments:

• Miya said that she does agree with this superstition, and when she looks for a house, she will avoid those that have a river within close proximity on the western side.

Collector’s Comments:

• I thought this superstition was very interesting. To an American, it would not seem like the location of a river compared to a house would impact any aspect of life, however, it is clearly very important in Chinese culture. It was also very intriguing to see how the older Confucianism ideas are still impacting the culture today, even once people have moved to another country.

Collector’s Name: Casey Ross

Tags/Keywords:

• Bad Luck Superstition
• Western Sun
• Western River