New Year Wishes from Joseph Yam

KUNG HEI FAT CHOY

An early but very heartfelt Kung Hei Fat Choy to all the readers of this Viewpoint column throughout the world. May the Year of the Dragon bring prosperity and happiness to you and your family.

It would not be proper for me to bore you this week with issues of finance. So I shall refrain from doing so and instead share with you my view of Lunar New Year. Lunar New Year is a special occasion, particularly for Chinese people. That is no doubt one reason why it is more widely referred to in English as Chinese New Year. It is the occasion for family get-togethers and for you to express, albeit somewhat mechanically, wishes of good fortune to whomever you meet, whether or not you know them well enough.

You hear the words "Kung Hei Fat Choy" everywhere, in the crowded restaurants, in the streets and in the MTR. You hear it, of course, at home, where friends and relatives, close and distant, come in batches, often unannounced, interrupting for a while the clattering of mahjong tiles. In my experience, even the lone hikers who meet each other on the tough, third section of the MacLehose Trail will say "Kung Hei Fat Choy" to each other, instead of the usual quiet exchange of nods, encouraging each other to press on.

You see an unusual abundance of red at Lunar New Year, a colour of happiness for Chinese people. You see it on the cheeks of young children, reflecting the colour of the many Lai Sees that they have been given by the not-too-fortunate grown-ups who, by virtue of the fact that they already have a family, are required by tradition to give rather than to receive. You see the crimson red of the "Fai Chuns" and Chinese couplets hanging all over the place and of the posters of the God of Fortune generously handed out by banks. There is also the pinkish red of the peach blossoms that adorn the homes of the rich as well as the poor, and the bright red of the ribbons tying around the delicate stems of the narcissus bulbs to keep them upright. Even grandma will indulge in a little indiscretion on the occasion and wear a little red scarf or use a handkerchief with red embroidery. Outside, the streets would have been covered by showers of shredded red paper from the explosion of firecrackers, had it not been for the ban imposed since the disturbances in 1967. But you can still occasionally see and hear them, with greater intensity as you travel up north from Hong Kong Island towards the Mainland. In Shenzhen, the explosions are almost a continuous rumble as the red carpet on the busy streets thickens and pedestrians dodge their way through to the next destination to say "Kung Hei Fat Choy".

You feel, in all walks of life, the joy and hope of the occasion diminishing, if only temporarily, the everyday worries of children not being serious enough in their studies, of spouses not being adequately caring, of parents being too demanding, of bosses being insufficiently considerate. For the time being, it is Lunar New Year, a time to be jolly, a time to make a small fortune from mahjong, from "Choh Dai Di", or from the races on the third day of Lunar New Year, a day traditionally for avoiding friends in case meeting them leads to altercations.

Have a very relaxing holiday, everyone, and Kung Hei Fat Choy again.

Joseph Yam
3 February 2000

Note:

The New Year couplet at the head of this column may be loosely translated as:

Click here for previous articles in this column

Document in Word Format