One recent morning my husband said: "You know what I hate most now?" he asked. "It is the dog shit. I came across it on the street every day, and there is a lot of it."

"Well, you may have good luck if you stepped onto it (Goushiyun, which means unexpected luck)," I joked.

I couldn't agree with him more about the inconvenience caused by the now-and-then encounter with dog waste on paths and alleys.