Soon after our Company Annual Lunch on 12 February, I was driving back to the office with one of my staff and we chatted about Chinese new year. I was surprised to discover that many of the practices that we did before the 1970's are still being followed by the family of this staff of mine.
This staff of mine being a Sino (Chinese father and Kadazan mother) still follows some of the CNY rituals: take bath with water boiled with pomelo leaves at new year eve; no foul language during CNY and no sweeping during the first day of CNY. It still amazes me that there are people still holding on to the idea that bathing in water boiled with pomelo leaves would wash off bad luck and cast away evil spirits and that sweeping on the first day of CNY is taboo because it might accidentally sweep away incoming good fortune and wealth.
When there is a feeling that you are slowly losing your Chineseness or Chinese identity, the urge to keep maintaining the Chinese values and tradition would be heightened. This is probably why Chinese culture could never be erased or replaced no matter how intense the pressure be there through legislation and authoritarian rule.
But Chineseness and Chinese characteristics of a Chinese is not something that stays unchanged and remains stagnant, it is still evolving and ever changing.
This year, we spent our CNY in Batu Pahat. We stayed in a homestay in a housing estate not far from Sri Gading. Lighting of firecrackers started at 12 midnight sharp after the CNY Eve at the house next door and throughout the neighborhood. We were kept awake for the next hour.
Firecrackers are banned in Malaysia. Still, there was not a single year throughout Malaysian history that lighting of firecrackers has stopped. By hook or by crook, some Chinese families still manage to obtain firecrackers to usher in the new year. For some Chinese, it is unthinkable that CNY could be ushered in without firecrackers.
In the end, I was drawn back to one question. How do you define a Chinese? You are a Chinese as long as you have Chinese gene. Many would disagree to this. A more correct answer would be: A Chinese is someone who continues keeping and maintaining the Chinese culture, practices and tradition though some may seem irrelevant and silly in this ever advancing technological age. Then again, can a non-Chinese be considered a Chinese if he keep all the practices and traditions considered Chinese?
But Chineseness and Chinese characteristics of a Chinese is not something that stays unchanged and remains stagnant, it is still evolving and ever changing.
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Decorating trees with angpow is a fairly new phenomenon,
probably borrowed from the idea of decorating a Christmas tree. |
3 comments:
Definitely it's an intentional aim to preserve one's heritage and culture! It's interesting that you mention that the more you feel that somehow you are 'losing your Chinese-ness', the urge to preserve those traditions would increase. I was very surprise over Chinese New Year when I asked one of my new clients who is originally from mainland China what her plans are to celebrate the lunar new year, and her response was very nonchalant, that she doesn't usually bother to celebrate. She was very surprise when she learnt that I was making plans for celebrating (putting up decorations and organising dinner with family and going to the watch lion dance performance). "But you are not from China" she remarked. I said to her that I am Chinese by heritage and Chinese New Year is a major event in Malaysia and Singapore". "But you don't speak Chinese" she continued. I tried to explain to her that we are still Chinese heritage and many Indonesian Chinese also don't speak Chinese still celebrate CNY. She was still puzzled and said it's not really a big deal here in Australia. I mention that it's quite common for Chinese families to still have a dinner and give ang pow to their kids. It was so strange having this conversation with her. I thought I would learn something interesting from her on her practices and traditions for CNY, but it was me instead (a Chinese banana) who was sharing my practices with her!
I think this video on public speaking by a Malaysian in China aptly summarizes the struggle Chinese face in Malaysia in preserving part of the Chineseness which is the Chinese language. To the Chinese in China, speaking Chinese is no big deal, it is so natural as if like breathing the air. Unfortunately, the speech is in Chinese. May be MH can understand and translate for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te8O-wDzlkY
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