When it comes to “sending a bell”, the plot of a TVB drama a few years ago comes to mind.
It was the opening of a new store in a big family in the 1920s and 1930s. At the joyous moment when the dragon, lion, phoenix dance and firecrackers were blaring, the male protagonist of the “playboy” character sent a mechanical clock unknowingly. The head of the family was suddenly furious, angrily scolding the disdainful son for daring to “send himself to the end”. I saw that the male protagonist was not in a hurry: Father, I wish the business of the new store as long and endless as this clock. A few words coaxed the old father to smile.
The sound of “bell” is the same as “end”, so “sending bell” is about equal to “sending end”. This was originally a homophonic burden in the cross talk industry in the early years, but it was gradually spread by the public to be a taboo for gift giving.
Do you know how mechanical clocks were introduced into China? In the late Ming Dynasty, Italian missionary Matteo Ricci gave a large and a small set of self-ringing bells to Emperor Wanli. Due to the rarity and preciousness of self-ringing bells, they were gifts from the royal family and nobles for a long time.
At that time, it could become a gift-giving trend. How has it become a taboo today?
