Gong Hei Fatt Choy - Happy Chinese New Year!

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Gong Hei Fatt Choy! Xin Nien Quai Le! Here's wishing you a happy and prosperous year of the Ox!

The Chinese culture is one of the oldest in the world, having been in existence for thousands of years. Although many native Chinese have long since left China, the roots of the Chinese are deeply ingrained and no matter what nationality your Chinese friend may be, whether Mainland Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, British, Canadian, Australian or American, the culture and tradition they practice are likely to be the same.

It is therefore unfortunate that the younger generation Chinese in many westernised Asian countries are simply uninterested in learning and embracing the Chinese culture. As these Asian countries look to the West, the young, MTV generation look up to and admire western pop and celebrity culture. These tweens consider it highly “uncool” to embrace Chinese traditions.

If this continues, it would hardly be surprising if the next generations of Chinese abroad (outside of China) only recognise Chinese New Year as nothing more than a long public holiday.

Having lived in Europe for more than 11 years, and being so far removed from the Chinese community, it is very easy to forget about the Chinese festivals and traditions. This is the second Chinese New Year (CNY) I am celebrating in Switzerland. Unlike other major cities in the UK, US, Australia and Canada, the Chinese population in Switzerland is so minute that CNY is a non-event here.

It was very different in London, as the large Chinese community organised events such as dragon and lion dances; the restaurants offered CNY special menus and the streets of Chinatown were decorated with red lanterns and other CNY paraphernalia. The fact that it was CNY was also mentioned first thing in the morning on the British news.

Determined not to let go of my Chinese roots, I decided to throw a CNY eve reunion dinner party for my Chinese friends.

CNY eve is actually the most important day of the CNY celebrations. Back in those days, when the world was larger and travelling was less convenient, families were only reunited once a year for CNY. Therefore, traditionally, everyone would return home from all corners of the world to have a reunion dinner with their family. This was the one time in the year when the whole family would eat together.

Given that my Chinese friends do not have family here either, it only seemed apt that we embrace each other as family to have a reunion dinner together.