The year of the Horse is well over a week old already and I've forgotten to mention Happy Chinese New Year, or Gong Xi Fa Cai as its better known in this part of the world. Reading throgh some old blog posts recenlty I found this one dating back to being in Hong Kong in 2006, and while the HongKongese know how to make a proper holiday out of the occasion (three days off no less, compared to a measly one in Singapore this time around), I don't remember them being as enthusiastic about the whole thing as the Singaporeans are.
Case in point number one, its the Saturday a week on from Chinese New Year day, and still there are loads of local bands driving around on the backs of trucks banging their drums. At least they drown out the bloody bagpipe practice wafting out of the school across the road every Saturday morning, but surely after day six they must have had enough?
Case in point number two, the lion dance in the office. I don't recall ever seeing this in Hong Kong, and while I'm not one to doubt whether or not it does bring prosperity to the companies that pay for the performances, I can say with some certainty it makes it rather difficult to get any work done while they're banging their drums around our floor at work, and as long as its happening you can forget about doing any business via the electric telephone. The lion dance was also encountered at one of the Orchard Road shopping malls yesterday, where the tourists thought it was a real eye-opener.
Here's an example of the Lion Dance taking place at Far East Plaza yesterday.
Case in point number three, the banking system. Maybe I just had my eyes closed, but in Hong Kong I don't remember the local financial institutions ever being as busy over the CNY break (or maybe that's why they schedule public holidays pretty much the whole week leading up to CNY). In Singapore during the lead-up to CNY, the queues were enormous with people lining up to withdraw fresh notes for their ang bao's (red packet) distribution. I can't help thinking it would all be much simpler if the government just printed a note worth $8.88. Then walking past the bank the week after CNY, there were enormous queues yet again with people linking up to put money in to the bank. Word on the street is Wednesday was a very auspicious day for making bank deposits (try telling that to a bank robber in any other part of the world). You have to feel for the poor bank tellers, who must need a good lie down after the whole occasion.
Coming from a Christian background, I'm not one to complain about the commercialisation of CNY, however I will say what strikes me with the local version is the overall theme of 'prosperity'. Taking prosperity in a broad context, they're really saying we all have $100 today, but are hoping we all have $110 tomorrow. The trouble with that of course is that nobody would be any better off compared to anyone else, so my take is what they're actually thinking is "I have $100 today, and hope tomorrow everybody else still has $100, but I have $110". Or is that too much of a generalisation in this day and age?
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