While I was doing some investigating for the characters to wish a friend Happy Birthday in Chinese, this is the first word that popped up in the dictionary.
Ming Xiang 命相 means:
(noun) A person's birthday in eight Chinese characters including the year, month, day and hour of his or her birth and the animal symbol of the year he was born in; the superstitious people believe that on the basis of the eight characters and the animal symbols of the birth years, a fortuneteller can foretell what would happen in a person's life and whether a man and a woman in love are suitable to be a happy couple.1
I noticed on Corbin's birth certificate each of these was listed but didn't know the superstition behind the date. I guess I should have known that since the date of weddings is so important there would also be a superstition related to one's birthday.
The more I learn about the culture, the more starting points I find for deep conversations. Wish me luck. No, just continuing lifting up the relationships on our campus.
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1 nciku Dictionary
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Remember the CG's in all comments. Thanks for checking in on the work in China!