Addendum 1/23/23: In the wake of the Monterey Disaster, just read this excellent article on the meaning of Lunar New Year for an Asian American Chinese.
And so we said goodbye to the Tiger and welcomed the Rabbit. This being the first Chinese New Year without the Zero Covid policy, Shenzhen is as empty as I've ever seen it. Almost everybody emptied out and went back to their laojia (where they were from). In case you don't know, SZ had few indigenous people and was a sleepy town before China's Opening and almost all its current inhabitants hailed from elsewhere (for the economic opportunities). - an immigrant city. CNY in China is a weeklong affair, and the only time most people get to go home (kinda like Thanksgiving and Christmas)
The pic on the left shows the character Fu, meaning Blessing. The right hand portion though had been deliberately and subtly altered to make the character look like both Fu and Tu, Rabbit 兔 .
The Rabbit family in Chinese uses the same basic word Tu (with qualifiers in front). Hence a Hare is a wild Tu. Today a Chinese article used a hare drawing of Albrecht Durer. As he's a personal favorite, I am sharing it with you.
Aside from China (and Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan), Chinese New Year is a holiday in many Asian countries with large Chinese populations (like Singapore and Malaysia, the latter a miracle given how racist their government acts towards citizens of Chinese descent). Korea too, because they also celebrate the Lunar Calendar.
This is an interesting one. Recife, the fifth largest city in Brazil, starting from this year has Chinese New Year as Holiday. Recife has been sister city of Chengdu and Guangzhou, and is grateful for China's help during the initial phase of the pandemic.
Finally, a video of last night (Eve) outside my windows
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Appreciate your sharing. Like it very much especially that special CNY Fu & Tu! ; )
ReplyDeleteAppreciate your appreciation! :-)
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