In Part 1, we explored some of the most familiar superstitions and folk beliefs found in Western culture. In Part 2, we’ll continue our journey through curious customs, traditions, and rituals passed down through the generations.

Digging deep through childhood imagination to reach the other side

Here is a Western folk belief that may leave Chinese readers laughing and crying at the same time: when American children dig a deep hole in the backyard, their parents might jokingly tell them: “You’ll dig all the way to China!” The phrase is so familiar in the English-speaking world that generations of American children have grown up hearing it.

How many have squatted in their backyards, gripped a little shovel, and dug away with all their might, half-seriously imagining that if they just dug deep enough, they could tunnel straight through the Earth and pop out in China on the other side? Of course, the Earth does not work that way. If you could somehow dig straight through the planet, you would almost certainly not emerge in China. Depending on where you started, you might find yourself somewhere in the vastness of the Indian Ocean. So why China? The answer has less to do with geography than with imagination.

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#Myths#Superstitions#Traditions
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