Chinese traditions persist, yet evolve

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

In the West, St. Nicholas' fabled lists of the naughty and the nice served as whip and carrot to keep generations of wide-eyed children in line during the holidays.

Evelyn Chang of Hawaii National Bank teaches kids about Chinese New Year traditions through a display that she has created in the Chinatown bank's window for the past 18 years. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"When I was growing up, if my mother was cleaning house for the new year, we knew better than to mess it up or we'd get a spanking but good," says 80-year-old Don Lim, a fourth-generation Chinese American who grew up in San Francisco. "We were goodie-goodie gumshoe because of that and because we were anticipating all the money we would get for the new year."

In the 1920s, Lim recalls, respectful children could collect $20 or $30 — then a large sum — on their visits to elder friends, family or neighbors. The gifts came in red envelopes, red being the color of good fortune. (According to one legend, red also was the color feared by the man-eating beast Nian, whose disappearance from this world is tied to the original celebration of the lunar New Year.)

"During the Depression, sometimes the money didn't go to the children," Lim says. "It was spare money to maintain the family. There were some people who relied on that very much."

To Lim, such intersections of tradition and everyday reality underscore the living values of the culture. That some rituals are less rigidly observed now doesn't bother him.

"My children consider my way old, just like I consider my mother and father's ways really old," Lim says. "I tell my children, as long as you observe something to continue the Chinese culture, I'll be very happy."

The traditional house-cleaning is one of the most significant of the New Year's rituals. Houses are cleaned on New Year's Eve, and all cleaning equipment is put away before midnight. To sweep or dust on New Year's Day is to symbolically sweep away the good fortune you receive.

There is a strong belief that what happens on New Year's Day will be reflected in the coming year. Therefore, all debts should be paid by then, and nothing should be loaned lest the lender be stuck lending the rest of the year. Likewise, children who misbehave are not punished, at least for the day, because their tears could be repeated throughout the year.

"Chinese are very superstitious people," he says. "For example, after your final sweeping, you don't touch the broom until after New Year. Nor do you use a hammer during New Year's festivities. To do so means ill fortune will come to your house."

In Hawai'i, New Year's celebrations are often spread over 30 days to accommodate plenty of parties, performances and other observances in the community. Still, it's customary for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day to be spent with close family in honor and remembrance of ancestors.

Keeper of culture

In the heart of Chinatown, near the corner of Smith and King streets, Evelyn Chang does her part to pass on Chinese cultural traditions, as she has for the past 18 years. Each year, she creates a display for the King Street window of the Hawaii National Bank, where she works, and serves as host to thousands of schoolchildren for presentations about Chinese traditions.

Chang, who gives her age simply as "senior citizen," orders budding quince, a good-luck plant for the new year and a symbol of longevity, from San Francisco, piles up pyramids of pomelos (Chinese grapefruits), signifying wealth, and nurtures her own narcissus bulbs — a symbol of purity — to display at the bank.

A man in the bank lobby on Thursday encouraged an observer to smell the blooming narcissus, and note its fragrance, so much superior to the "haole narcissus" that's ordered from a wholesaler.

She collects other symbolic items for display, too: children's kites from Beijing; candied sweets, to sweeten the New Year; watermelon seeds, to celebrate fertility; a reproduction of the Kansu flying horse, buried in the second century alongside its owner to provide a means of travel in the next world.

"It's a culture," she says matter-of-factly.

In her presentations, Chang focuses on practical items. She displays a live rice plant, bamboo, and items made from them, noting that the plants provide food, shelter and the raw material for art.

"I tell the kids, there's a message: When you get that scoop of rice on your plate, don't waste it," she says.

Food integral to tradition

To ensure long life, some Chinese refrain from eating meat on New Year's Day, feasting instead on jai, or monk's food. The preparation varies, but the basic ingredients are symbolic. Lotus seed, for example, signifies the promise of many male offspring.

"Different places make it differently," Lim says. "My wife's family is from the same province as my family, but from a different village. She makes (jai) with sugar in it, and I just hate it."

"Whole" foods are preferred throughout the season: whole fish for togetherness, chicken with head, tail and feet for completeness. Dumplings represent abundance and wholeness.

During visits to family or friends, tangerines and oranges are often presented as a gesture of good will. Tangerines with leaves and stem serve as an assurance that the relationship between households remains intact.

Where allowed, the new year is ushered in with firecrackers, meant to scare away Nian and other malevolent entities. The burnt leftovers are left on the ground; whatever smoke or debris blows into the house is taken as a sign of incoming money.

"My father always made sure he burned the firecracker right in front of the store," Lim said. "You'd be walking among all that red paper and rubble until after New Year's."

After New Year's, custom dictates that the rubbish be swept inward, away from the door, then carried out. Some traditionalists believe that rubbish from the floor must be held in the corners of the room for five days before being thrown away.

Many Chinese New Year's observances in the United States are based on Cantonese traditions. Yet practices still vary widely from group to group, place to place.

Lim, who first visited Hawai'i in 1974 and moved here in 1985, grew up thinking that Chinese people in Hawai'i were truer to ancient traditions than his community in San Francisco.

"All those years, I never thought of the people in Hawai'i as modernized," he said. "When I saw how they celebrated (Chinese New Year) I said, 'My goodness, they've changed the traditions ... vastly.' "

And yet, as Lim quickly notes, the spirit remains the same.

"As long as you keep some part of it, that's all that matters," Lim says. "The philosophy is to do what your heart tells you to do."