Wear red -be lucky

My friend Zhizi sporting a red dress on her wedding.

I’ve noticed (and especially during winter) that a lot of Chinese men and women like to dress in red clothes. Especially red jackets! But also small things, like red shoes, gloves, scarves, and jumpers. I like wearing red clothes too, but only during those few days before Christmas eve….

Anyways, out of the blue I was given an answer to my thoughts the other day when my spoken Chinese teacher told us that when you are 12, 24, 36 and 48 years old in China you are in your most ‘unlucky time’ and during these 4 years you must protect yourself by wearing a lot of lucky clothes. Lucky clothes = red clothes, so there goes!!! All those boys in red jackets?! Now I understand why!!! The must be unlucky 24-year-olds trying to turn their destiny!?

I asked my teacher if she took this sort of belief seriously.

-Of course, she said. When I was 24 I wore red underwear every day of the year.