Friday, December 10, 2010

Traditions of Taiwan

According to tradition, the landscape includes imaginary flows of cosmic energy (qi). The divination practice of fengshui taps into pools of qi that are concentrated at points (xue) in the landscape. The proper location and orientation of a house or grave can bring a family good fortune. Charms strategically placed in the house also achieve this end, as do the characters for longevity, happiness, and prosperity that are carved into wood screens and windows or painted on paper to adorn interior walls.

Good fortune also is tied to the moral order of the family, and the building plan of the traditional country house reflects and reinforces that order. The relative statuses of the different generations are evident in the floor plan and dimensions of a building and its rooms. At the center of a home is the all-purpose main hall where the family rests, eats, and receives guests, and that contains the family altars, ancestral tablets, and god. On both sides of the main hall are bedrooms. The parents occupy the room immediately to the left, and the oldest son and his wife the one to the right.

For more information, please refer to: http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Taiwan.html

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