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Urban legend alert! "May you live in interesting times" A friend of mine at the University of Ottawa spent several years working with a group of Chinese folklorists, whose job it was to document all the folk tales, songs, regional expressions and what-not-else in circulation in China, and when he asked them about this so-called "curse," lo and behold...they'd never even heard of it!
Somebody made this lovely little bit up ages ago, and it's been making the rounds ever since, and is widely accepted as "Gospel truth."
It's like the equally bogus, "They're killin' themselves to beat the band in Scandinavia," also widely accepted as "Gospel truth."
An examination of the relevant statistics instantly proves that Sweden, Norway and Denmark have considerably lower per capita suicide rates than the good ol' US of A, but you just can't tell some people that. They always have some "qualified source" like their friend's cousin's mother's brother or their cousin's mother's brother's friend (always a good indication that it's an urban legend) who "once lived there," and told them that "for a fact."
So remember...just 'cause some folks say somethin' don't necessarily make it true.
Just my .02's worth, sincerely,  "Mac"
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