Application In Society

Chinese beliefs and superstitions have been applied and used in the everyday lives of the Chinese. In this section, we will highlight to you the daily sights and facets of life which Chinese beliefs and superstitions are still used.

One festive occasion which businesses constantly try to take advantage of is the Lunar New Year. In countries where the Chinese make a significant bulk of the population (e.g. Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore), the festive seasons have brought in huge profits for entrepreneurs, especially in the food and beverage sectors. Widely known commercials and packaging in Singapore includes:

• Pizza Hut's prosperity pizza. The name suggests to consumers that this pizza will bring them good fortune in the coming year.
  
  
• GB Nougats are packaged to a Chinese New Year theme during the occasion, banking on the fact the Chinese use sweets to entertain their guests during visits. The package comprises a 'Lion dance' picture, a signal of wealth and good luck. The box is also dressed in the auspicious colour red.
  
  
• Kleenex tissues repackaged their facial handkerchiefs during the celebratory season, coloured the boxes in red, and included good luck messages on the boxes.
  
  
• Bengawan Solo chain of pastry shops enjoys a rise in sales figures during the Chinese New Year period. Their confections sell like hot cakes during this time of the year, mainly because of the fact that their consumers like to use the pastries to entertain their guest during the New Year. The goodies, such as pineapple tarts, also signify good luck. Pineapple in Teochew dialect sounds like 'Wang Lie', which means imminent luck. The Chinese, being staunch luck-chasers love products like this.
  
  
• Some garment retailers (e.g. Hang Ten) stock up more red or bright-coloured clothes during Chinese New Year. Their marketing strategy is to attract parents to buy new clothes for their kids. The high purchasing power of this generally affluent group of parents enables them to purchase new clothes for their little ones during the Lunar New Year.
  
  
• Many brands of soft drinks sell more during Chinese New Year, as people generally serve such beverages during house visits. Because of this, many companies are vying for more market share. The soft drink market, usually dominated by Coca-Cola and Pepsi, sees an emergence of Marinda and F & N Orange drink during this period. This could be because the exchange of mandarin oranges is the symbol of Chinese New Year. Many T.V audiences are familiar with Pepsi and Coco-cola commercials, which are frequently screened on television, and are themed to the Lunar New Year.
  
  
• In recent years, more beer advertisements have emerged on television, particularly Tiger Beer and Heineken Beer. These beer commercials also introduce the audience to Chinese New year customs, such as on how to hang spring couplets, who to conduct spring cleaning, etc. The advertisements refer their beer to “Huang Jin Man Tang” (Full of gold, gold being a Chinese symbol of wealth and also the colour of beer), which is considered to be very auspicious. 
     
  
• Movies related to Chinese customs are also gaining popularity with fim-makers and audiences alike. Recently, Singaporean productions like I Do I Do and Zodiac, which are loosely based on Chinese New Year themes, have entered the local film market here.