Jan. 28, 2006
(My conscience has been guilt-ridden these past few days! How could I write about Christmas and not about our own Chinese New Year? Even if you could forgive me, I could not forgive myself! So here goes…)
Start time is 10pm Chinese New Year’s Eve! Don’t know when stop-time will be but the important thing is to get started, isn’t it?
Unlike The Western Calendar where New Year’s Day is always January 1 and New Year’s Eve is always December 31, the Lunar Calendar does not have a fixed date for the Chinese New Year. Not only that, there is not always a Chinese New Year’s Eve either! For instance, there’s not always a 30th day in the lunar calendar. This month has only 29 days, so in all essence we consider tonight as Chinese New Year’s Eve instead! Complicated, is it? Well, don’t worry about it too much. The important thing is that all the Festivities start tonight!
For the Movie Industry in Hong Kong, the Chinese New Year Holidays are the only time of the Year where all work stops. For all other occasions such as Easter, Thanksgiving, the Chinese National Day or even the English New Year, shooting goes on although we may have to pay double (sometimes triple) rate on such occasions. “Project BB” (tentative title of the HK movie Jackie is working on right now) will stop work, not for long, just only 3 short days (or 4 if we include Sunday as well) as tradition demands! Good for me though because if I cannot finish this piece tonight, I will have 3 more days to work on this article! But poor Jackie already started complaining at dinner last night! Poor guy will not know what to do with himself when everyone is on Holiday. However, it’ll be Sayonara (Goodbye) to the Rooster! Let’s welcome the Dog, which hopefully will BARK loud and clear to herald in the Year of the Dog tomorrow!
The Chinese are very traditional and superstitious people and there are many rites to follow for the Chinese New Year. The younger generation may not care too much nowadays (as they become more and more Americanized) but as long as you have an old folk at home, some of these rituals will be adhered to.
The Days Before
One of the first things a Chinese Family must do is to clean up the house, get rid of the old and unwanted things so as to make room for the new things to come in the New Year. This may sound like an easy chore but in reality, it is more difficult than you can imagine in HK. The usual home in HK is small (so it’ll take no time to clean you may think) but when the ‘cleaning’ also means repainting the walls and renewing the floor or a change of the bathroom tiles if necessary, it becomes a very tough job! Move the sofa to the already congested bedroom while you clean the sitting room, then manipulate the bed somehow when it’s time to do the lounge! Meanwhile, you’ve got to find a corner to ‘park’ the residents too! My own assistant’s mother insists on doing a thorough sweep of their small apartment, which means my poor assistant has to move furniture every morning before work and then do the same thing again before sleep every night!
Then comes the decorating of the house. Red and gold are of course the colors for such a festive occasion. No, I don’t mean painting the entire house/apartment red (thank goodness!) but you must have all the lucky slogans or the essential words like health, peace, safety, etc. etc. and of course MONEY (the most important word for the Chinese) written in black or gold calligraphy on red paper to be plastered all over the walls, doorways, kitchens - in fact in all prominent places where your eyes can see!
An ornamental hanging with words pronounced yu yi meaning "as you wish." (Notice the double fish.)
Character fook hung upside down which means good fortune arrives at your door.
An ornamental hanging.
Another ornament.
Next comes the food, little goodies such as sugared pumpkin sticks, ‘red’ melon seeds (much like sunflower seeds which you need to crack before eating), coin-size round chocolates wrapped in gold foil (of course), lots of candies, all to be displayed in an octagon shaped tray (8 sided because the pronunciation of the word “eight” in Chinese is the same as the character for Wealth and Prosperity) ready to serve Family and friends when they visit during the New Year!
Octagonal candy tray bought from Korea.
Oops, there’s a lot of shopping to do too! Way back when, when I was a child, I remember that everything (and I mean everything) you wore on New Year’s Day must be brand new, from the shirt to the pants to the underwear right down to the socks and shoes! Even the bed linens must all be brand new although thankfully, these new items need not be red or gold in color! This ‘rule’ has been somewhat relaxed for the adults now but you’ll still find the average child adorned in brand new clothes of different shades of red and gold and/or various combinations of the two colors during this season! The proud parents still stick to this custom, rich or poor!
Last but not least, one must have blossoming flowers all over the house! The potted tangerine tree at the doorway is a MUST! The Chinese pronunciation for ‘tangerine’ is exactly the same as that for ‘well-being’ (or ‘kimochi’ as our Japanese friends will say) so what’s more appropriate than being greeted by ‘well-being’ whenever one opens the door, either going out or returning home? Other flowering plants are just as important. The rich will go for the seasonal peony (very expensive), the water hyacinth is a must, but for the average home, any other plant will work just as fine as long as they blossom fully during the New Year period! Of course, nobody can guarantee how ‘obedient’ the plant may be, hence nowadays, even tropical orchids will do! For some, even artificial silk flowers are acceptable, not only are they cheaper but it’s sure guaranteed that all the flowers will be in full bloom!
The tangerine tree in the front of my entrance.
There is one very important plant to the HK Chinese though and that’s the peach blossom. Farmers spend months growing them in the New Territories, nurturing them carefully and cutting them just a few days before so that they will blossom during the New Year period. The trick is to have these flowers blossom right on New Year’s Day itself, neither a day early nor a day late! If this happens, these little pink flowers will assure the businessman great wealth and prosperity in the year to come, or if you are a young gentleman or beautiful lady, romance will definitely come your way! On the other hand, if it fails to blossom on Chinese New Year Day or even after, it will not be an auspicious sign! In this connection, let me tell you two rather interesting stories.
Years ago, a friend of mine did not have too much luck with his peach tree one year; it was just a few days to the New Year and the buds showed no signs of blossoming at all! So we sort of helped the tree along a little bit. I remember brandy was still the favorite drink in HK at that time, so as we were drinking away in my friend’s house, we took cotton swabs, soaked them in our brandy and we each took turns to wrap these swabs at the forks of the tree. Just to make doubly sure, we even shone the mahjong lights on the tree to give it the extra heat! Voila, the flowers really blossomed right on New Year’s Day! Frankly, I can’t remember whether this friend had a good year or not that year but sharing the brandy with a peach tree was certainly something I remembered well!
Another funny incident happened in Kuala Lumpur one New Year when I took my old mother home to Malaysia for the Holidays. The peach tree is a seasonal tree that needs a little cold weather; hence it is non-existent in tropical Malaysia. However, the Hotel put up an artificial one in the lobby and it looked pretty nice although the little pink flowers were scant. Funnily, every time I walked by the tree in the subsequent nights, the flowers became more and more abundant! I thought at first it must be the few drinks I had had during dinner but I later found out that the management had especially instructed the housekeeping department to add additional flowers each day, a few at a time so as to give it the illusion of a real tree! Well, I was fooled, but pleasantly so! Both this and the brandy induced blossoms just go on to show that in life, sometimes giving a little push along the way can help to accomplish a task and there’s no harm in it as long as it’s not at the expense of any third party!
Jan. 29, 2006
One (1) a.m. in the morning.
It’s actually Chinese New Year now!
Let me wish you all a very Happy New Year!
Dogs are amongst one of the nicest pets one can have. Loyal, obedient, caring, and always so loving!
Let’s hope the Year of the Dog will be a much better Year than the Rooster just past!
Will continue writing tomorrow.
Goodnight for now!
Jan. 29, 2006
3:15 p. m. Here I am, back at the desk, writing to you…
The story of the flowers is not over yet! Just heard over the radio that the flower markets (the HK Government allots two plots of land, one on the HK side and one on Kowloon to be used as a flower and flea market) did roaring business last night! By 6:30 this morning, almost all the flowers were sold out! So were the stuffed toys, especially the doggies, and anything that’s symbolic of good fortunes to come. As you might have gathered from my long-winded (sorry!) descrīption of the flower traditions above, these flowers, especially the peach blossoms, can be rather expensive. Hence, it is customary for the local people to visit these markets late at night, with the hope of finding some good bargains. As a matter of fact, the later the better as the price of the flowers decreases as the night deepens and the sun begins to rise! Besides, it is kind of romantic to stroll through the markets shopping for flowers with your loved one in the wee hours of the morning. But no such thing for me! Business wise, it had been a good year for Jackie. As for romance, well I guess I’m a wee bit too old to hope for that now!
New Year’s Day
After all the preparation, the actual day finally arrives! The most notable characteristic of this day is to pay respects by visiting your Family and close relatives and friends. This can involve a kowtow (kneeling down and knocking your head on the floor) to your Parents with a cup of Chinese tea in the old days to just a simple greeting of “Kung Hei Fat Choy” (meaning Wishing you Wealth & Prosperity) now in the modern times! In return, your Parents will give you a lai-see (a red colored envelope containing money inside) to signify a wish for good luck and health in the coming year. The amount of money in the red-packet is not important; it’s just the symbol that counts. There are some special rules to the lai-see custom as well. Usually, the elders will give them to the sons and daughters and their younger ones, the superiors will give them to their juniors and so it goes down the line according to position in the office hierarchy. However, amongst those of the same age, only the married ones are ‘qualified’ to give lai-sees to their unmarried colleagues! Am I being clear? Let me give you an example to illustrate. I will give a lai-see to Jackie because I’m the ‘older brother’ but he will also give me one because he is the Head of the Company and is therefore my superior! Of course Jackie and I don’t do this! In fact, it’s quite a headache, as you’ll need to have different amounts for different people and carrying these red packets around and identifying them can be quite a task! Still, it is a nice custom, the children benefit, and it’s a good way to instill the sense of money saving to the young right from the very start.
Fortunately, (or unfortunately) for me, we don’t have too many relatives in HK and even if we do, at my age, I belong to the senior rank and therefore, I don’t need to go visiting. All I have to do is to sit home and wait for them to come to my house! (But ‘waiting’ can be a painful experience too!)
Tonight will be the first Family Dinner of the Year! Here again, the food is chosen not because of its tastes but more for its name or its nature. For example, the meal will have shrimps (because when alive, they’re so ‘jumpy’ and ‘alive’), dried oysters (called ho see in Chinese which sounds the same as ‘good market’), and fat choy - sorry, I tried to find its English name in the dictionary but even the Oxford Concise doesn’t have it (found out later it's called "hair seaweed"). Anyway fat choy looks very much like black hair but its name sounds the same as ‘to prosper’ and nobody can forgo that in spite of its ugly look. Fish is also very important because it sounds like “extra” and every Family must have an abundance of everything, not lacking in any. For that reason, no matter how hungry you are, you will never finish the entire New Year meal! There must be leftovers, i.e. enough to eat with always something remaining in the entire year to come! I could go on and on but it’s hard since you don’t know Chinese! Anyway, the Chinese like to have year-end dinners with the entire family around. Similarly, we must have spring dinners for the entire family or Company for the beginning of the Year as well!
The Days After
Well, the whole festivities will go on for fifteen days culminating on the 15th day, which is lover’s day (equivalent to Valentine’s Day in the Western Calendar). However, one should refrain from visiting friends on the third day of the New Year. Superstition says it’s a day when quarrels start easily! Another day of importance is the seventh day of the New Year. This day is known as ‘people’s day’ and it’s considered as everyone’s birthday! Really, it’s just another reason to gather to celebrate and to eat and drink together!
Well, we’ve just got news that Jackie has found something to do too! He is organizing a BBQ Party for all staff on the Company’s rooftop day after tomorrow! (Yes, it’s the day for quarrels!) Not that Jackie knows or cares but it might perhaps be good for all the staff to ventilate all their ill feelings accumulated last year! We can then all start afresh when we return to the office on Wednesday Feb. 1, 2006.
In conclusion, Jackie gave a very big surprise to all the staff just a few days before the close of last year. Before the epidemic SARS invaded HK, it was normal practice for all HK Companies to pay 13 months salaries plus bonuses given on an arbitrary basis. However, after SARS, the HK Economy went so bad that bonuses became extinct and even the normal 13th month pay was cut back! At that time, it was lucky just to be able to keep your job even at reduced pay. The economy has bounced back now and HK is buzzing with activities again! Still, as you must have read, the HK Movie Industry is undergoing its worst times (only 55 productions last year compared to more than 300 at our peak!). In spite of all this, Jackie suddenly decided last week that the dwindling market was not the fault of the staff, which worked just as hard and were ever loyal to him! Without asking (although I was very tempted to, I sort of felt that the Staff expected me to take the lead since I’m head of the JC Group), he volunteered to give the 13th month pay to all staff members! It was certainly a very happy day at the office; probably the most smiles I’ve seen in a long long time! Good for you Jackie – you’ve often said that the Fans’ warmth and enthusiasm encouraged you to strive to make better movies! Rest assured that all the Staff and I will all be behind you with all our support!
May the Year of the Dog bring all good fortunes to Jackie and all who read this letter!
Love,
Willie Chan
5 pm, still Chinese New Year Day!
PS: The above is merely a descrīption of celebrating Chinese New Year in HK through the eyes of a Malaysian Chinese! I’m sure there are lots of different ways! After all, China is big country and I’m sure they would have a different set of customs in the cold Northern parts! If you know, why not share it with us!
Read "More on the Hairy Seaweed" from Willie here.
Photos ©2006 Willie Chan
"Year of the Dog" index photo courtesy The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library