Chinese spiritual world concepts are cultural practices or methods found in

Chinese culture Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...

. Some fit in the realms of a particular religion, others do not. In general these concepts were uniquely evolved from the Chinese values of filial piety, tacit acknowledgment of the co-existence of the living and the deceased, and the belief in causality and reincarnation, with or without religious overtones.

Practices and beliefs

* Ancestral worship () – A practice to honor the deeds and memories of the deceased. This is an extension to the

filial piety In Confucianism, Chinese Buddhism, and Daoist ethics, filial piety (, ''xiào'') (Latin: pietas) is a virtue of respect for one's parents, elders, and ancestors. The Confucian '' Classic of Filial Piety'', thought to be written around the lat ...

from the teachings of

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

and

Laozi Laozi (), also known by numerous other names, was a semilegendary ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher. Laozi ( zh, ) is a Chinese honorific, generally translated as "the Old Master". Traditional accounts say he was born as in the state of ...

. Elders, seniors, extended families and particularly parents are to be respected, heeded and looked after. Respects continue after their deaths. In addition to the

Qingming The Qingming festival or Ching Ming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day or Ancestors' Day), is a traditional Chinese festival observed by the Han Chinese of mainland China, Hong Ko ...

and Chongyang festivals, descendants should pay tribute to ancestors during the ''Zhongyuanjie'', more commonly known as the

Ghost Festival The Ghost Festival, also known as the Zhongyuan Festival (traditional Chinese: 中元節; simplified Chinese: ) in Taoism and Yulanpen Festival () in Buddhism, is a traditional Taoist and Buddhist festival held in certain East Asian countri ...

( but ghost festival is on Dongzhi "”) In addition to providing a tombstone or urn cover, descendants are traditionally expected to install an altar () in their home to pay homage regularly each day with joss sticks and tea. The ancestors, including parents and grandparents, are worshipped or venerated as if they are still living. * Three Realms () – the belief that Heaven, the living and the deceased exist side by side;

heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the bel ...

a place for saints or rested

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

s, hell for the criminous deceased. Three wun seven pak () explains a person's existence. The three realms is where a person exists, and the seven states are what makes a person exist. The Pumi people, for example, are a supporter of this concept. * Jian () – The living world where people exist in reality is referred to as Yang Jian (). The

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld ...

where spirits exist after death is regarded as Yin Jian (), though this is not necessarily a negative place such as hell. * Fan Tai Sui () – is when an individual faces major obstacles in health, job and studies.HKstandard.
HKstandard
." ''Rats to lucky number eight.'' Retrieved on 2008-05-19. The obstacles last for a single Chinese calendar year. An example is when Hong Kong Feng shui master Raymond Lo tried to explain the occurrences in 2008 in relation to

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...

leaders

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, an ...

and

Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the Premier of the State Council from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic polic ...

. Within the animal astrology the

Horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million ...

clashes with the

Rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' ( pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...

, causing a turbulent year.IHT.
International Herald Tribune
" ''Feng Shui master explains bad to start to 2008 Olympic year.'' Retrieved on 2008-05-19. Both Hu and Wen are born in 1942, the year of the Horse, which clashes with 2008 the year of the Rat. Hence

2008 in China Events in the year 2008 in China. Incumbents * Party General Secretary: Hu Jintao * President: Hu Jintao * Premier: Wen Jiabao * Vice President: Zeng Qinghong to March 16, Xi Jinping * Vice Premier: Wu Yi to March 16, Li Keqiang * Congress C ...

was one of the most turbulent year with Tibetan unrest, Sichuan earthquake and many more events. Another example is Henry Tang suffering from Fan Tai shui in 2012 where he experienced the illegal basement controversy as well as many other events during the

2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

. Tang would end up losing the election. * Zung saang gei () – is when a piece of hair is placed in a particular fung shui location in an attempt to extend a person's life. A publicised example is Hong Kong actress Tina Leung who performed this practice in 1998 at a place near the Xingdao Lake () in

Beihai Beihai (; Postal romanization: Pakhoi) is a prefecture-level city in the south of Guangxi, People's Republic of China. Its status as a seaport on the north shore of the Gulf of Tonkin has granted it historical importance as a port of internation ...

, Guangxi, China. The maximum that she could extend was 12 years. She died exactly 12 years later in 2010.

Modes of communication

* Fuji () – planchette writing is practiced using either a rattan sieve (see

coscinomancy Coscinomancy is a form of divination utilising a sieve and shears, used in ancient Greece, medieval and early modern Europe and 17th century New England, to determine the guilty party in a criminal offense, find answers to questions, etc. The ter ...

) or a wooden stylus to write

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as '' kan ...

in sand or incense ashes. This Chinese tradition of

automatic writing Automatic writing, also called psychography, is a claimed psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing. Practitioners engage in automatic writing by holding a writing instrument and allowing alleged spir ...

continues to be practiced in

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

temples in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. * Mun mai ( 問米) – is communication directly with spirits who have died. The most common usage is for finding and contacting deceased relatives or loved ones. The general cultural term is that people are raised from the underground or down from heaven to communicate. A western comparison is likely seance or

necromancy Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events ...

. * Yum si lou () – is the idea of flooding the spiritual road with spiritual money to ensure the person who died will reach their destination safely. In Chinese culture, the road to

, diyu or

reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is ...

may not be clear. By overloading the path with spiritual money, hopefully all troubled souls on the way will be too occupied with the money and leave the traveling-soul alone. This is an assurance for the living. * Villain hitting () – is a folk sorcery popular in the

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

area of China and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

used for exorcising. * Tong ling () – is to tunnel and channel through to communicate with spirits or Deities, Tangki in Minnan region will the best example.

Figures

* Gui ren () – Someone who can help you, or is destined to help you. * Xiao ren () ("Siu yen" in Cantonese) – Someone who can hurt you, or is destined to hurt you. Simple methods such as kau cim can usually inform you whether a guiren or xiaoren is visible in your near future.

Objects

* Peach wood sword () – the definitive weapon used for demon exorcism during

exorcism.Lee, James.

006 Alec Trevelyan (006) is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1995 James Bond film ''GoldenEye'', the first film to feature actor Pierce Brosnan as Bond. Trevelyan is portrayed by actor Sean Bean. The likeness of Bean as Alec T ...

(2006). James Lee Astrology guide 2006 English edition. World publishing co. . The ones from Long Mountain in

Jiangxi province Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into hi ...

are particularly valued as the premium quality peach wood swords. * Stone tablets () – the tablets are placed at main doors, junctions of small avenues, three-way junctions, river banks or ponds to gather positive energy and ward off evil spirit. Sometimes it is used to block natural mishaps such as

natural disasters A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some econo ...

. * Tai mountain stone tablets () – the most powerful of the stone tablets are made from stones coming from

Mount Tai Mount Tai () is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an. It is the highest point in Shandong province, China. The tallest peak is the '' Jade Emperor Peak'' (), which is commonly reported as being ...

. These stone tablets are shaped like the mountain forming the 5 fingers shape. The ones inscribed with () go with the legend of the fight between war deity Chi You and the

Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a deity ('' shen'') in Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and culture heroes included among the mytho-historical Three Sovereig ...

. Supposedly goddess

Nüwa Nüwa, also read Nügua, is the mother goddess of Chinese mythology. She is credited with creating humanity and repairing the Pillar of Heaven. As creator of mankind, she molded humans individually by hand with yellow clay. In the Huainanz ...

dropped the tablet with the inscription on Chi You and scared him off. Yellow Emperor have since put the same inscription everywhere to scare off Chi You. *

Spirit tablet A spirit tablet, memorial tablet, or ancestral tablet, is a placard used to designate the seat of a deity or past ancestor as well as to enclose it. The name of the deity or past ancestor is usually inscribed onto the tablet. With origins in t ...

– a spiritual home in your house for ancestor spirits.

Finance

* "Zhèng cái" ("Jing coi" in Cantonese) () – This is basic money earned from working or jobs. * "Hèng cái" ("Waang coi" in Cantonese) () – Is a type of destiny money that is earned usually in large sums. An old Chinese quote goes: "If it is yours, is yours. If it is not yours, is never going to be yours." An example of someone that is thought to have good Waang coi fortune is

Idy Chan Idy Chan Yuk Lin (born 25 March 1960) is a popular Hong Kong TV actress, especially during the 1980s and was named as one of the Five Beauties of TVB. Career She joined showbiz in 1977. She is most famous for her portrayal of three of the char ...

. * "Pò cái dǎng zāi" ("Po coi dong zoi" in Cantonese) () – Is the process of losing a lot of money to avoid a disaster. Some people are advised to prepare to lose money in certain astrological years.Fengshui association.
Fengshui window
." ''2005 sample.'' Retrieved on 2009-05-27.

Notes