Chinese For Dummies (36 page)

Don't crowd the living room with too many pieces of furniture, or the
qì
in the room and in your family's life will be blocked.

The basement

Some people find the
dìxiàshì
地下室
(dee-shyah-shir) (
basement
) pretty scary. In addition to ghosts and
spiders, though, it can actually have some really cool things in it.
Table 6-3
lists what you may find in a basement.

Table 6-3 Things You Find in a Basement

Here are some
fēng shuǐ
tips for the basement:

Improve the air quality in normally stuffy basements with plants that purify the air, such as bamboo palm, English ivy, or rubber plants.

Make sure the basement has enough light and that you augment this light with brightly colored wall hangings.

The attic

The
gé lóu
阁楼
(
閣樓
) (guh-low) (
attic
) is another part of the house some people try to avoid. Sure, there are bound to be some
zhīzhū
wǎng
蜘蛛网
(
蜘蛛網
) (jir-joo wahng) (
spider webs
) up there, but you may also find your grandmother's
jiǔ yīfú
旧衣服
(
舊衣服
) (jyo ee-foo) (
old clothes
) and, if you're lucky, maybe even some
chuǎnjiā bǎo
传家宝
(
傳家寶
) (chwan-jyah baow) (
heirlooms
). Okay, you may also see an occasional
bīngfǔ
蝙蝠
(beeng-foo) (
bat
), but in China, those are auspicious creatures.

Here are some
fēng shuǐ
tips for the attic:

Attics represent the future in
fēng shuǐ,
so definitely keep this area free of clutter and open to all sorts of possibilities.

Consider making the attic into a quiet meditation room instead of a willy-nilly storage space.

Use the energy of the attic for reflective pursuits. You may want to make it into a research area or library.

 Fun & Games

For the following household items, match the English word to the corresponding Chinese word. Check
Appendix D
for the answers.