HOW A FEAR OF GHOSTS LEAD TO CALLOUS ACTS

Homeowners are committing all manner of heartless acts to avoid their homes becoming haunted, and this is bearing a direct impact on the housing and insurance market

SOURCE - the Taipei Times - find the full article here.
PDF file of vocabulary and questions to be used with this article here.

LEVEL - advanced

VOCABULARY

• be cluttered with
• adamant
• plummet
• become stigmatized
• all-too-common
• demographic shift
• gruesome
• scandalous
• ethnographer
• folk religion
• familial
• malicious
• malevolent
• malevolence
• to room with
• asphyxiation
• have a history of __
• the burden of responsibility
• intentionally deceive
• do your due diligence
• hassle
• herein lies (the problem)
• prospective ___
• grim
• sensationalize
• inaugural
• extensively
• incessant
• discriminatory
• the degree of sth.
• peace of mind
• console
• a (n.) is a (n.) is a (n.)
• grisly
• overdose

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. Why did Mr. Lin refuse to allow paramedics into his house?
2. What factors have prompted behaviour like Mr. Lin’s to increase over recent years?
3. How would most Taiwanese people define a suitable death?
4. According to traditional beliefs, what happens if people are unable to die a good death?
5. Why do many Taiwanese people place a great importance on the task of buying a house?
6. What is likely to happen to a property if an unnatural death occurs in it? Why?
7. How do some people believe that a property can be ‘cured’ of its haunting?
8. Describe the new law which exists to protect home buyers? What deaths does and doesn’t it cover?
9. In the case of Mr. Shih’s suicide and Mr. Wang’s apartment what was the claim and eventual ruling?
10. What are the repercussions of sellers who don’t disclose that an unnatural death has occurred in the place they’re selling?
11. What is one possible problem that buyers might encounter when trying to discover the status of a property?
12. How does the law differ between house sales and rentals?
13. Describe the suicide statistics using your own words.
14. How does the current style of media reporting add to the fear of xiongzhai?
15. How can people learn of which buildings are xiongzhai?
16. Describe how the news coverage of suicide has led to men finding it harder to rent apartments.
17. Why are some landlords now reluctant to rent their places? What is the scale of this issue? And how is the government trying to tackle it?
18. What is the extent of the Taiwanese public’s aversion to living in a xiongzhai?
19. What is a xiongzhai insurance policy?
20. How much does an unnatural death in a property take off of it’s value?

EXTRA QUESTIONS

1. How would you describe this phenomenon to someone who is an outsider to Taiwanese culture?
2. To what extent are these beliefs held by your friends and family?
3. How do you think it would be possible to legally define a xiongzhai?
4. What do you think of the laws and insurance policies that cover this issue at the moment? Do you thing that further regulation would better protect the people involved? What do you think could be changed?
5. What do you think of how Mr. Lin and the man in Chiayi acted?
6. In the case of Mr. Lin, should there be any legal repercussions for refusing to allow potentially life-saving access?
7. How responsible do you think the media is for the current situation?
8. To what extent do you think that the media should bear more responsibility?
9. Do you think that any new laws guiding the media would be helpful? If yes, give examples.
10. In this instance, would some form of compensation in the event of the injured man dying inside Lin’s home have changed the situation?
11. Regardless of cultural belief, it seems wrong that people are suffering because of financial fears - in your opinion, is this something that can be addressed, or should it be left alone? Explain your opinion.
12. Can you talk about any other beliefs and practises which have stemmed from Taiwan’s folk religion?
13. What purposes did these beliefs serve in the past? And what purpose do they serve today?