Chong Yang Festival

Chong Yang Festival: the 9th day of the 9th month in the lunar calendar (Monday, October 26th this year).

The 9th day of the 9th month in the lunar calendar is the Chinese Chong Yang Festival and a happy occasion in autumn. According to the traditional theory of Yin (Shadowy side) and Yang (Sunny side), both the 9th month and the 9th day of the month belong to Yang, which means positive and masculine, and Chong means double, thus it is called Chong Yang.

On the double 9th, the Chinese people go to the hillsides to tend their ancestor's graves, make sacrifices of special paper money and paper winter clothing, after which a picnic is held. Children in many provinces fly kites on this day. Since the weather during this time of year is excellent for kite flying, many families go to the countryside to take advantage of it. In Hong Kong, you will see people hiking in the mountains. It is customary for the whole family to climb high in the mountains and spend the entire day hiking.

The double 9th this year is during our fall break. Enjoy some hiking in the mountains and kite flying on the beach if you are staying in Hong Kong.

[The information above is courtesy of Lisa Ahnert, HKIS faculty.]

In Hong Kong the holiday is known as Chung Yeung Festival. As you may know, there are many Chinese dialects and in Hong Kong, as well as southern China, the main dialect of the Canton province is Cantonese. "Chong Yang" is based on the Mandarin pronunciation.
To learn more, check out this site: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-01/09/content_297522.htm.

To see why I included a picture of chrysanthemum , review this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Ninth_Festival.

Blue socks?

[Charisse and I were laughing this morning about funny experiences we've had communicating with others. Sometimes what we say isn't always what others hear.  Charisse recalled a story I had forgotten about but one that Char had sent in an email. It is 'reprinted' below.]

Dear family and friends,

Ok, so today I called dad/doug but got his secretary. I asked her to put a note on his desk reminding him to get his flu shots as Chinese New Year is next week and the office will probably be closed. He only has until the end of the month to get it done (We have prepaid for the flu shots). Tonight dad has a business dinner so I thought he could go get the flu shot after work. That is where my thinking was.


Later today dad called me and asked me why he had to get "blue socks." I laughed so hard on the bus. His secretary obviously misunderstood me. (Blue socks, flu shots, get it?)

Have you been misunderstood lately? Please share.

Love,

Charisse/mom
 
[By coincidence, I received a note from HR today announcing the dates and times we could go get our flu shots.  The timing was incredible.]

A few weeks ago I asked one of my colleagues to develop some metrics for the programmes we are running. She wrote me an email a day later and asked me to explain the matrix again. It gave me another chuckle. I guess I need to work on my pronunciation!

Jardines Noonday Gun

[Charisse sent this email to family and friends describing one of her adventures with AWA.]

Hello everyone,

I took a tour last February with the ladies from AWA (American Women's Association). We went to the Jardines Noonday Gun shoot. It is a tradition that dates back to the early days of Hong Kong. It is located on the first plot of land to be sold by public auction in Hong Kong. Jardines purchased this in 1841 and subsequently moved its headquarters from Macau to this location in 1844.

In those days, Jardines maintained its own gun battery and detachment of guards at East Point. It was the custom to give a gun salute to the head of Jardines, known as the Taipan, whenever he arrived in or left Hong Kong.

The origin of the Jardines Noonday Gun salute is shrouded in the mists of time, but the story goes that on one occasion, the salute annoyed a senior Naval Officer, who was new to Hong Kong and had not heard of the practice. It is said that as a penalty Jardines was ordered to fire a Noonday Gun as a time signal for Hong Kong.

This practice continued until Hong Kong was occupied in December 1941. During the war the original cannon disappeared but following the end of hostilities, The Royal Navy presented Jardines with a suitable six-pound gun as a replacement and firing commenced again in August 1947.

In 1961, following increasing complaints about the noise of the gun, the Marine Police kindly exchanged the six-pound gun for the current day Hotchkiss Mark 1 three-pound quick-firing naval piece. (It was so loud I jumped!)

When the gun is fired eight bells are sounded signaling the end of the fore-noon watch. This practice dates from the time when Jardines had its main offices and warehouses at East Point.

Prior to watching the gun (or should I say cannon) go off, we took a tour on a Sampan boat. I have included pictures of the gun, a floating temple [second pic, red boat], and a boat that is their "home" [third picture].

[I've included a few other pics: the floating doctor's office and the fire department.]

Of course we ended the tour by eating lunch at the Royal Yacht Club on the Harbor. We ate outside. It was a beautiful day.

What was the last thing you did that included history of where you live? Please share.

Have a great week!

Charisse

Chinese New Year 2009: Victoria Park

[Still catching up on blog entries from earlier this year. I'm guessing I'll be in catch up mode for a while; oh well. This is an email from Charisse to our family. My additions will be in this color and point size. --Doug]

Dear family,

We decided to bite the bullet this year and go to Victoria Park for the Chinese New Year celebrations. We have been told that there are a lot of people who go. We were prepared for many, but overwhelmed as the people just swarmed in. We literally were shoulder to shoulder with people pushing from behind. It was a fair with booths of people selling everything in them. We went down half a row and came back down that last half row and WE WERE DONE. It was amazing how many people you could get in an aisle. I would not have believed it had I not experienced it. Dad bought some nutcrackers to add to his collection. I bought some scrapbooks, and Anne got a stuffed colorful Ox, as it is the Year of the Ox.

[To say it was packed is an understatement. I never believed I could see that much of humanity packed so tightly into one place. As Charisse mentioned, there were booths on each side of the isle, but it was virtually impossible to move to either side if by chance one did see something of interest. That we purchased anything was a function of luck, not design. For example, Anne, who was very easy to spot because she's a blonde, saw something that caught her eye to the left. To get there was like swimming against a strong current and included a large number of bumps and apologies. After we made it to the booth, Charisse happened to see the scrapbooks in a booth to the left, and a few booths later I saw the nutcrakers. So, it's safe to say that if Anne had not requested we check out a particular booth, we would not have seen the other products because of the many persons between us and the booths.

One other comment here: above the isles there were signs directing foot traffic as if we were cars on the interstate, and each was marked as one way. This seemed to work fairly well except for the inevitable few who don't either know how to read the signs or believe their cause is above following the signs. I've noticed it happens in every culture and location I've been in. It must be something common within all mankind.]

From here we went to Outback Steak House (yum) for dinner to celebrate Anne making the softball team. Any excuse to justify eating out, right? Then we hopped on a mini bus that took us home.

[We were very excited for Anne as she has never played before and made the team. She had a great season and improved a ton. Congrats, Anne!]

After Chinese New Year when you return back to work, you are expected to hand out "red packets" called Lycee packets. Usually these are given to non-married single people and children. It will have a "new" money bill inside. You have to go to the bank and stand in line to get these new bills. It is a tradition that goes way back. So, Doug, being the nice American, takes out hundreds of US dollars worth of monies to fill these red packets for his workers. Even the ones who are married. Now you know why they love Doug so much. [And this is the culture here, so not wanting to offend anyone or hide behind a foreigner's ignorance, I participate in the activity. Many are shocked that I do so but it doesn't seem right to be here and not engage in the cultural events and traditions. If they "love (me) so much" it's not because I give them money, but because I honor their traditions and customs, as much as I can and understand them.]

They will line outside his office at 9am the day he returns for their red packet. He marks some of the red packets for his team leads who will get more than the others, and marks the one for his secretary who will get the most. A dragon will come into the office and dance. You are expected to hang a red packet in your office doorway and the dragon will jump up and get that. [This is quite an experience that requires an entry unto itself.]

I get to hand out red packets to our doormen and garbage men at our complex. I also will give a red packet to Sandy's driver, Ming. I love handing out the red packets. You feel like Santa Clause really.

We love you all and miss you more. We loved having all of you here at Christmas except the Quinto's whom we are getting very excited about having here in May and Derrick whom some day we hope can make it here as well.

I am getting excited to fly home and be a grandma and sad/happy to marry off Kaylee. (Mixed feelings there - don't worry Derrick, totally thrilled she found such a wonder young man, just sad to see our little girl growing up and moving on.)

Lots of good things continue to happen in our family. The Lord is really blessing us.

Hung Hei Fat Choy,
That's what you say this next week. It is a happy new year full of happiness and prosperity, or something like that.

Hugs and kisses,

Mom

Chinese heritage: Why 60 is so important

[This article was in the South China Morning Post dated 1 October 2009. It sheds some insight into why the 60th anniversary is so important to Chinese.]

Ng Tze-wei
South Morning China Post

The number "60" holds a unique significance in Chinese society, which explains the military fanfare and civilian pomp to be displayed at today's celebration in Beijing.

In the ancient Chinese calendar of "heavenly stems" and "earthly branches", a span of 60 years is known as jiazi. There are 10 heavenly stems and 12 earthly branches, and a count of 60 completes one cycle of both elements, and marks the beginning of a new one.

Formulated in the ninth century BC, fung shui masters and fortune tellers still consult this system today, as do young couples looking to see if they are a match made in heaven. It is customary to throw a lavish banquet for a family elder's 60th birthday, more so than for the 50th, and the country must do likewise.

If one attentively follows the pattern of nature, as Taoists teach, there are some interesting 60-year cycles in recent Chinese history.

The Qing dynasty started losing steam after the death of Emperor Qianlong in 1799; the country was held at gunpoint in the second Opium war in 1859; the May 4th Movement in 1919 kick-started China's new culture movement that saw the seeding of Western ideas, including Marxism; and the country finally rejoined the international stage in 1979 with the opening up and reform.

Marking this important anniversary with a display of military might is a way of demonstrating the strength of China - and its leaders. "Amilitary parade is a reflection of the overall might of a country, its economy and its political strength," said Hong Kong-based China expert Johnny Lau Yui-siu.

"The grandeur and solemnity of the military parade will also be associated with the nation's leaders."

Every leader in modern Chinese history inspected at least one military parade from the Tiananmen watchtower - Mao Zedong for the first 11 parades from 1949-59, Deng Xiaoping in 1984, and Jiang Zemin in 1999. The fact that Hu Jintao , president of the nation and secretary general of the Communist Party, would be receiving the army instead of Premier Wen Jiabao , head of government, once again reaffirms the party-army bond and Hu's authority, Lau said.

It does not take a fung shui master to know that the next 30 years will be crucial in China's development.

International experience shows that countries with gross domestic product per capita income reaching US$3,000 will begin to see a growth in civil society and political demands.

"The next 30 years will be critical to China's continued success. It will be when the development emphasis must switch from quantity to quality," Lau said. "The government must let go of more power, and the people must learn to abide by the law."

On a lighter note, Lau was also amused that flipping the number "60" upside down produces "09".

[This is a partial URL for the aricle: scmp.com/…/vgnextoid=8ff97048fdb04210…]