How to recognize a Chinese ghost

There is a Ghost Month in Chinese tradition, the time when the doors of the underworld are opened. The spirits who still have attentive families on earth are happy to stay where they are, but the orphan ghosts — those without descendants — are jealous of the living and come to haunt them. So during the Ghost Month, everyone puts offerings on the street outside their home or business (even international banks) — plates of pineapple, flowers, incense, etc. — to soothe the ghosts and persuade them to leave their families in peace.

My roommate had been warned not to swim in the mountain lakes because there were ghosts in them. I was told not to enter a temple during “that time of the month” because the ghosts could follow me inside.

Finally I asked one of my students, “What does a Chinese ghost look like?”

“Hmm. They have very long feet,” she said. “And they are everywhere.”