Chinese New Year

Since Chinese New Year is nearly upon us, here are some quick links to  few CNY-related Batgung articles. You can learn how to handle giving out red pockets, here and here; and see what kinds of activities and special events are on tap here. MrB ruminates upon a particular CNY favorite here.

Happy CNY!

Another Chinese New Year has come around in Hong Kong, and it’s left me yet again with some mixed feelings. In that spirit, I’ve assembled a ‘thumbs-up/thumbs-down’ list of Hong Kong Chinese New Year stuff.

The flower markets. Perhaps the single most famous attraction in HK at CNY are its massive ‘Lunar New Year Fairs’, which everyone calls ‘flower markets’.

As I wrote in my previous article on giving red pockets, the Chinese New Year (hereafter 'CNY') lai see custom is great in some ways, but a bit of a socio-cultural minefield in others. Even after getting through 16 CNY's in Hong Kong, 11 of them in which I've been married and therefore responsible for giving out red pockets, there are still dilemmas to be confronted, and lessons to be learned. So here are three more . . .

It's New Year's Eve, and all the preparations and tidying are in full swing. The street markets are busy selling flowers, and the red decorations to bring good fortune.

The veggie stalls are also busy, and you may have seen longer than normal Chinese cabbages for sale. MrsB tells me that if you follow the traditional approach, you shouldn't buy food in the first two weeks of the New Year. Hence the big cabbages, which last well. (And you thought you got sick of turkey after Christmas!)

Chinese New Year is generally a time for rejoicing -- in three days of holiday from work, in the killer squid-and-pork, home-village-style dish my mother-in-law always makes, in seeing some of my favorite in-laws and in not seeing some not-so-favorite ones, and so on.

But there is a CNY problem that threatens to overshadow all of its joys: the dread red pockets, the scourge of the married man in a Chinese city.