Feature
illustrations are often printed on the red enve- lopes in Gold – a colour which represents the prosperity and wealth which the giver is wishing upon the receiver. Lai See are bestowed from “big to small”, “old to young”, and “senior to junior.” For example, it is common for Lai See to be handed from parents to children and from managers to employees, even some married cou- ples give Lai See to their single friends. Tere is set etiquette for the exchanging of Lai
See. Tey should always be exchanged with both hands rather than just one, and the recipient of a red envelope should never open it in front of the donor. Moreover, certain amounts of money are to be avoided. Any number with a four is best avoided because the word for four sounds similar to the word for death. But in general even numbers, except four, are better than odd, and any amount with an eight in is particularly favourable as the word for eight sounds similar to the word for fortune. In addition to the rules on the amount that should be given, the money inside the red envelope should always be a new and crisp single note. But this fifteen day-long world-wide holiday
has not always been freely celebrated and encouraged. In 1912, the Nationalist Chinese government started to play down the celebrations of the Chinese New Year and instead urged the use of the Gregorian calendar of the Western world to recog- nise only one New Years day, on January 1st
. Furthermore, when the Chinese
Communist Party came to power in 1949, the holiday was banned completely. Te Communists were weary of the holiday’s ties to religion and superstition which did not fit with Communist rule. Eventually, however, in the late twentieth century when the Communist Party began to liberalise in China, celebrations began to revive. Today, the Spring Festival is the most important social and economic holiday in China and variations of Chinese New Year celebra- tions occur all around the world. Friday, 31st
January 2014 marks the
beginning of the celebrations of the Chi- nese zodiac Year of the Horse, which will end on 18th
February 2015. Te horse’s
energy is wild, spirited and independent so the year ahead is a time to act fast, buy that home, launch that business, travel the world, make a big purchase, get a pro- motion – take a leap and fly!
21
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68