Manners and Superstition

Here are some general guidelines in terms of manners, customs, and superstitions that you should follow so you don't get weird looks or come off as rude in Taiwan. I personally don't believe in all of the superstition ones, but it is still good to keep in mind as I have been scolded for doing some of them.

DO NOTs:

• Don't ever stick your chopsticks straight up in your bowl of food. This action/image resembles incense sticks at a temple and if you do this with your food it will be seen as very disrespectful. Either place your chopsticks on the chopstick rest provided or across the top of your bowl. Also don't mix your food around with your chopsticks or use them to move bowls and plates. They are solely to move your food to your mouth
• Don't write people's names in red, it also as connotations with death
• Don't point at the moon, supposedly you'll get a cut on your ear
• Don't point at deities, it is considered rude. If you must gesture at one, use an open upward facing palm
• Don't whistle or ring a bell at night as it calls forth ghosts
• Don't point at cemeteries or graves, it is disrespectful to the dead
• When giving gifts do not give umbrellas, fans, shoes, clocks, or sharp objects such as knifes. 
• Umbrellas and fans in Mandarin Chinese are homonyms to the words "break up" or "to send away/wish away." If you have to give one, you "borrow" or "rent" them out for a small amount of money like $1 for example. 
• Clocks have a grammatical relation to "to perform last rites." To counter this, the recipient may give you a coin to rid of the curse.
• Shoes for the elderly signifies sending them to heaven
• Knives/sharp objects are seen as violent
• Do not get overly drunk
• When entering and leaving a temple, do not step on the extra step (a single raised step) that divides the outside and the inside of the temple. Step over not on!
  DO's 
• Do understand that the number 4 is unlucky as it is a homonym to the word "die" pronounced as "si." So avoid talking about death in general.
• Do remove your shoes before entering a house and use slippers if offered.
• Do give small gifts to your host family, such as food, a fruit basket, drinks, little things. 
• Do bow to any deities you pass while visiting a temple, chances are that there is more than one.
• Do understand that symbols that look like swastikas but are actually backwards upon closer inspect, are symbols of Buddhism and NOT Nazism. You will sometimes find them in homes, Buddhist temples, and on the Goddess of Mercy.