Gong Xi Fa Cai?
First of all, this does not mean 'happy new year' in Chinese (not in Mandarin or Cantonese or any dialect). Gong Xi Fa Cai means - hope you will get a lot of fortune! Cantonese people say this at instead of Happy New Year. (Just would like to clarify here because the expats living in Chinese speaking countries might get confused.) Strange enough. God bless those in despair of money. =)
The LC here organized a lovely Chinese New Year dinner on 16th evening (which is 'little Chinese New Year eve' because 17th is the real Chinese New Year Eve). The music they played really made me feel like celebrating Chinese New Year in China. Sadly, there was not much Chinese culture presentation to give people a taste of China, apart from the westernized Chinese food.
So I can make up for that by talking a bit about what does new year mean in China. Year (in mandarin 'nian') is a ghost. He comes to each household once a year (according to our lunar calendar). Nian is afraid of: 1) Red color; 2) cracker sound. That is why we dress up everything in red and fire a lot of crackers during Chinese New Year. Then older generations give out money wrapped in red envelopes (called 'red package' or 'hong bao' in mandarin) to younger generations. This recently became a new bribery tool unforunately.
Chinese New Year is a whole 15 days of celebration. Day 1 is obviously Chinese New Year which we call 'Spring Festival'. Then Day 5 is the day to welcome the God of Fortune - the real moment for 'Gong Xi Fa Cai'. God of Fortune is supposed to visit whoever fires the loudest and largest amount of crakers. (When billion people fire crackers altogether, you might think North Korea has lit their nuclea weapons.) And then we have lanten festival on the 15th when you are supposed to eat a special type of dumpling (with sweet filling) and go out to watch different lamps people bring to the street.
I love Chinese New Year celebrations. Because it is a lot of shopping, especially for yummy food. Then it is a lot of cooking and eating. It is always a huge gathering with families of mum and dad sides. (I used to avoid meeting relatives cuz I could not explain what is AIESEC.) The entire country is in a festival spirit. I have not been able to spend a full 15 days New Year at home for quite some years. I would also with to take Aron to experience some intense Chinese culture over a new year celebration.
The LC here organized a lovely Chinese New Year dinner on 16th evening (which is 'little Chinese New Year eve' because 17th is the real Chinese New Year Eve). The music they played really made me feel like celebrating Chinese New Year in China. Sadly, there was not much Chinese culture presentation to give people a taste of China, apart from the westernized Chinese food.
So I can make up for that by talking a bit about what does new year mean in China. Year (in mandarin 'nian') is a ghost. He comes to each household once a year (according to our lunar calendar). Nian is afraid of: 1) Red color; 2) cracker sound. That is why we dress up everything in red and fire a lot of crackers during Chinese New Year. Then older generations give out money wrapped in red envelopes (called 'red package' or 'hong bao' in mandarin) to younger generations. This recently became a new bribery tool unforunately.
Chinese New Year is a whole 15 days of celebration. Day 1 is obviously Chinese New Year which we call 'Spring Festival'. Then Day 5 is the day to welcome the God of Fortune - the real moment for 'Gong Xi Fa Cai'. God of Fortune is supposed to visit whoever fires the loudest and largest amount of crakers. (When billion people fire crackers altogether, you might think North Korea has lit their nuclea weapons.) And then we have lanten festival on the 15th when you are supposed to eat a special type of dumpling (with sweet filling) and go out to watch different lamps people bring to the street.
I love Chinese New Year celebrations. Because it is a lot of shopping, especially for yummy food. Then it is a lot of cooking and eating. It is always a huge gathering with families of mum and dad sides. (I used to avoid meeting relatives cuz I could not explain what is AIESEC.) The entire country is in a festival spirit. I have not been able to spend a full 15 days New Year at home for quite some years. I would also with to take Aron to experience some intense Chinese culture over a new year celebration.
posted by Jingwei @ 12:58 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Hello Jingwei, this is Luli, i used to be on the Egyptian MC and i am a good friend on tom's.
I am going to be in Stockholm from the 8th of march till the 11th morning, and it would be cool to meet you - tom is always telling us how great you are!
I am still looking for a good central hotel instead of my usual one in Kista where i work.
get in touch with my on superluli(at)hotmail(dot)com
Cheers!
Post a Comment
<< Home