Ghost month

This is the ghost month and the Taiwanese take it very seriously. You are not supposed to embark on new business ventures, buy new cars or move into new apartments during this month. If you ask people if they really believe in such superstition they naturally say no. Still, it’s striking how many who decide to stay away from the proscribed activities. Cars are, for example, cheaper in the ghost month to reflect lower demand. Whatever their professed beliefs, it seems people prefer to defer car buying until the ghosts have vanished.

There must be quite a bit of money to be made by buying things cheaply during the ghost month and selling them more expensively a month later. I wonder if anyone has thought of this?  Well, here it is — a great business idea for you!  Buy me a bowl of noodles when you’ve made your first million.

As for us, we don’t worry about these things. It’s not really that we aren’t superstitious. Rather, all our ghosts are in Europe and hence too far away to do any damage.

Ghost month

This is the ghost month and the Taiwanese take it very seriously. You are not supposed to embark on new business ventures, buy new cars or move into new apartments during this month. If you ask people if they really believe in such superstition they naturally say no. Still, it’s striking how many who decide to stay away from the proscribed activities. Cars are, for example, cheaper in the ghost month to reflect lower demand. Whatever their professed beliefs, it seems people prefer to defer car buying until the ghosts have vanished.

There must be quite a bit of money to be made by buying things cheaply during the ghost month and selling them more expensively a month later. I wonder if anyone has thought of this?  Well, here it is — a great business idea for you!  Buy me a bowl of noodles when you’ve made your first million.

As for us, we don’t worry about these things. It’s not really that we aren’t superstitious. Rather, all our ghosts are in Europe and hence too far away to do any damage.