Chinese tradition: Shoes as gifts

Factual Questions
1

Are there any Chinese traditions regarding the giving of shoes as gifts?

Specifically, this would be likely to be a Cantonese (Hong Kong) belief/old wives tale/superstition. The theory being (apparently), that in giving the shoe you are saying that you (or someone else?) will walk all over the recipient.

Unfortunately, I simply cannot believe the person who told me this. I’m not saying that this particular point is not true, but she’s a habitual liar (and that fact is relevant in this case).

So, anyone heard anything similar?

2

Never heard of such a superstition. I’m only aware of one example of giving a pair of shoes as a gift per some Chinese traditon. It is customary for the bride’s family to give as a gift a pair of shoes, wallet, and belt to the bridegroom before the wedding. I’

3

Oops, pressed ‘submit’ accidentally. Was going to say that I’ve observed this tradition being followed many times.

4

See post #32 in this thread.

5

Thanks guys. That link to Mahaloth’s post sounds promising. I suspect that that is the basis of this lady’s particular belief, although I doubt that she’s aware of it.

6

Dammit. Another shoe related superstition. You’d have thought that they could settle for just one :slight_smile: :

source

I haven’t been able to confirm that though. The only other mention I found was a straight copy word-for-word.

7

Bromley, it is indeed the similarlty of the word for shoes to the act of sighing that leads superstitious people in Hong Kong (and other Cantonese speakers wordlwide, I guess) not to buy shoes in the first month of the lunar year.

A quick office survey reveals that most young people don’t follow the superstition, but that, predictably perhaps, old people (especially women, who do most of the shoe buying) do.

Shoe shops in Hong Kong get round the problem by putting shoes on promotion in the period leading up to the lunar new year.

8

My Chinese girlfriend says that the OP is correct.

9

yeah but don’t ever, ever buy clocks as gifts.

10

Is she a Mandarin or Cantonese speaker? Or some other Chinese dialect?

11

For those waiting for the other shoe to fall…

This is because “send a clock” sounds very much like “attend a funeral” in Chinese.

12

Sorry I didn’t answer this earlier. She speaks Cantonese.