Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
16
Tips
Etiquette: The Right Hand
While in Singapore, try to use only your right hand in social interaction. Why?
Because in Indian and Muslim society, the left hand is used only for bathroom
chores. Not only should you eat with your right hand and give and receive all
gifts with your right hand, but you should make all gestures, especially pointing
(and especially in temples and mosques), with your right hand. By the way, you
should also try to point with your knuckle rather than your finger, to be more
polite.
way to relieve suffering is to dispel desir e.
Early immigrants brought Buddhism from
China with them, of a sect called
Characteristically, the Chinese ar e very
superstitious, with numbers playing a crit-
ical r ole in ev eryday decisions, pr eferring
auspicious numbers for automobile license
plates and choosing dates that contain
lucky numbers for business openings.
Mahayana, or the G reater Vehicle, the
branch of B uddhism that also claims
Tibetan and Zen Buddhist traditions.
Despite r eligious affiliation, almost
Here's another superstition—don 't leav e
your chopsticks sticking up in y
every Chinese is Taoist to some degr ee.
Tao is a philosophy as opposed to religion.
Tao, meaning “the way,” follows the belief
in an energy sour ce, “chi,” that permeates
all living and nonliving cr eatures and
objects in the univ erse. This energy for ce
links ev erything, shifting fr om place to
place, sometimes flo wing fr eely to cr eate
positive energy and sometimes stagnating
to create bad vibes.
Tao is the philosophy behind feng shui,
or Chinese geomancy, laws of natur e that
dictate ho w buildings and spaces should
be situated and the furnishings placed
inside, as w ell as the r easoning behind
Chinese traditional medicine that uses
herbs and natural r emedies to keep good
chi flowing throughout the body.
Chinese tradition is also filled with rich
tales of heroes and heroines, gods and god-
desses, who watch over the physical world.
In S ingapore y ou find statues in temples
for Ma Cho P o, the M other of H eavenly
Sages, who protects sailors and other trav-
elers, and K uan Yin, the G oddess of
Mercy—these are only two of a number of
gods and goddesses of Chinese legend who
still play impor tant r oles in the ev eryday
lives of local Singaporeans.
our rice
bowl; it invites hungry ghosts.
The Malays
When Raffles arriv ed, Malays had already
inhabited the island, fishing the waters
and trading with other local seafaring
people, and many mor e w ere to migrate
from the mainland in the decades to fol-
low.
Although Singapore's Malay population
is very low in numbers today, the language
on the str eet is M alay, some of the best-
loved local dishes ar e Malay, and even the
national anthem is sung in M alay. The
shame is that while M alays are recognized
as the original inhabitants, they constantly
feel marginaliz ed b y the dominant Chi-
nese cultur e and policy . I n addition, this
group r epresents an unbalanced per cent-
age of the lo wer-income classes, with the
lowest levels of education and the highest
number of criminal offenders. The go v-
ernment prides itself on policies to pr
2
o-
mote racial harmony , but it is widely
accepted that M alays occupy jobs on the
low end of the pay scale. Even in the mili-
tary, while ther e ar e many M alays in the
enlisted tr oops, ther e ar e almost none in
the officer ranks.
