Taiwan’s Ten Urban Legends You Can’t Help but Believe

Everyday life in Taiwan comes with its own encyclopedia of “alternative science”. It’s a collection of quirky urban legends that people follow as if they were absolute truth. Some sound like ancient wisdom passed down by grandma, others like scare tactics invented by parents to keep kids in line. And yet, without even realizing it, many of us still follow these unwritten rules to this day. Below are ten of the most well-known ones I grew up hearing.

1. Peek at someone showering and you’ll get a stye
I still remember how every time I got a stye as a kid, my grandma would look at me suspiciously and ask, “Did you peek at someone taking a bath?” I would panic and start defending myself, insisting I had not even left the room. Now that I have grown up, I know she was probably joking and just trying to teach me about respecting people’s privacy. But back then, I completely believed it. In fact, there is a folk belief behind this saying: if you look at something you are not supposed to see, you will be punished, and a swollen eyelid is the price you pay.

2. Step on your new shoes three times for good luck
When I was a kid, every time I wore new shoes to school, my friends would rush over to stomp on them three times before I could stop them. I used to get so mad because they were brand new. This tradition comes from the old belief that stomping would drive out the ‘bad energy’ hiding inside the shoes, while also softening the new shoes to make them more comfortable to wear.

3. Write someone’s name in red and you’ll shorten their life
From the moment I learned how to write, I was told never to use red ink for names, either mine or anyone else’s. In the past, execution records were marked in red, and legends say the King of the Underworld writes the names of the dead in red ink. It’s no wonder red became the color of doom. What surprised me is how deeply this belief runs. Even though I never told my 8-year-old daughter about it, she once shouted in horror when I used a red pen to sign my name on her test paper. I guess this old superstition will continue to pass on to future generations, whether we intend it to or not.

4. Predicting a baby’s gender by the shape of the bump
When I was a kid, I often saw my grandparents and their friends gathered around pregnant aunties, confidently guessing the baby’s gender just by looking at the shape of their belly. A round bump, they would say, meant a girl, while a pointy one meant a boy. Their explanation was: boys are more active, so they “push” the belly outward, while girls are calmer, making it look rounder and softer. It felt almost like a family game, with everyone joining in to make their predictions. Of course, science tells us there is no connection between belly shape and gender, but that never stopped the older generation from believing they were right and never admitting when they were wrong.

5. Never cut your hair before an exam
This was the golden rule during exam season. Hair symbolizes wisdom and luck, so cutting it is like cutting away your chances of success. Maybe that is why, when I took the university entrance exam, I noticed so many boys with noticeably long hair, even though schools back then had incredibly strict rules about how male students were supposed to keep their hair.

6. Red underwear brings luck, but don’t pat someone’s shoulder
Planning to win big at mahjong? Put on red underwear first. Red is the color of prosperity and luck, basically a gambler’s battle armor. But never pat someone’s shoulder before a game. Folklore says there’s a flame on your head and shoulders representing your luck, and a pat could snuff it out.

7. Pointing at the moon will slice your ear
“Don’t point at the moon, or your ear will get cut!” Every Taiwanese kid hears this at some point. The real message: don’t point at sacred things. The moon is home to deities, and pointing is seen as disrespectful. No one’s ear has ever fallen off, but the fear was enough to keep little fingers down.

8. Opening an umbrella indoors invites bad luck
To this day, I still hesitate to open an umbrella indoors. Growing up, I constantly heard elders caution against it, partly because elders often mentioned that it let wandering spirits “hitch a ride” into your home, and partly because the word for "umbrella" in Chinese is a homophone for "separation," which carries negative connotations about relationships and family harmony. While I don't necessarily believe these things myself, old habits from childhood are hard to shake.

9. Stick a plum on your belly button to stop motion sickness
I was the kid who got carsick five minutes into any trip. My parents tried every possible remedy, but the strangest one was taping a dried plum to my belly button before we set off. I have no idea who came up with that. Apparently, the sourness was supposed to balance your stomach through an acupuncture point. From my personal experience, though, it does not work at all.

10. Leave rice in your bowl and you’ll marry someone with pockmarks
This one haunted me at every meal: “Finish your rice, or you will marry someone with a pockmarked face!” My parents never explained why, but I always made sure to scrape my bowl clean, terrified of my hypothetical future spouse. Later I learned it was just an old trick to teach kids not to waste food in a farming society where every grain was hard-earned. Linking leftover rice to an undesirable fate kept many bowls squeaky clean.

These stories may sound ridiculous today, but each one carries a piece of Taiwan’s collective wisdom. Some were born from genuine safety lessons, others from creative parenting tricks. Even without a shred of scientific proof, they continue to add humor, imagination, and warmth to everyday life and remind us that not every tradition needs a reason to survive.