Red underwear, originally uploaded by Jean-François Chénier.

One of the weirdest traditions in Taiwan (I think it’s a fairly new one!) is the wearing of red underwear at Chinese New Year. In past years, red is a popular color at Chinese New Year anyway, and people (esp. children) are encouraged to wear red.

However, in the past ten years, wearing red underwear has been more popular with panties and bras both included, for women. This year, I even saw boxer shorts for men in red. It’s getting crazier!

Typically, the red cloth is mingled with gold thread for added good fortune! Fortunately (!), the underwear is worn under… so we’re not exactly forced to see the item worn except by extremely beautiful models!