介绍:
Lincoln: Spring Festival is coming, Wu You.
WY: Happy New Year!
Lincoln: Thank you very much, thank you very much. I hope you’ll be enjoying your hongbaos.
WY: That is a Chinese tradition from senior people or people of a higher rank. [They] will give out the hongbao – or red envelope with money in it – to the kids in the family. But if the young people have started working, that means they won’t receive hongbao any more.
Lincoln: That’s part of growing up.
WY: But it also means that you have to give your niece and nephew hongbao from now on.
Lincoln: Wait, what? Why?
WY: Receive and give!
Lincoln: Oh, OK.
Michael: Circle of life.
Lincoln: Circle of life. “Nasi kwenya”, innit! [But] it’s not just that. You’re also given other sorts of gifts, aren’t you?
WY: Another thing is “Benmingnian” red belt or underwear.
Lincoln: Hang on – red belt or red underwear? Are you…Are you supposed to give…?
WY: From your close ones!
Lincoln: OK, alright, because it could be strange if you’re giving a bunch of strangers some red underwear.
WY: So maybe your friends or your other family relatives, they can give you a red belt (Lincoln: OK.) Why is it so special? Because “benmingnian” in Chinese means the year of the animal in which you are born, so that means if this year is the year of the monkey, and you were born in the year of the monkey, this is your benmingnian.
Lincoln: Oh, OK.
Michael: So you only get red underwear once every 12 years?
WY: That’s true, and people who were born in the year of the monkey are expected to receive some gifts [such] as red belts from their family relatives. (Lincoln: OK) And do you know why it’s in the colour red?
Lincoln: Because that’s good luck in China, isn’t it?
Michael: Symbolises prosperity and luck and fruitfulness and things like that, doesn’t it?
WY: Yes it [does], but that is only part of the story. The other part is that the colour red is supposed to ward off evil spirits
Lincoln: Ah, ok. That’s good.
WY: Because people call it, in this year, it is “fan tai sui”, which means you have the conflict with this year’s animal, so that means you need to protect yourself, and then you wear those kinds of red stuff to protect yourself.
Lincoln: That’s good – it’s good that evil spirits are scared of the colour red.
WY: And also, you know, in ancient times, soldiers [were] in the war. If they won the war, they would carry a flag in the colour red to tell other people that “we won the war”.
Michael: So it’s like the opposite of waving a white flag in defeat?
WY: Yes, it is.
Lincoln: Alright, that’s fantastic.
WY: And also in China, the fruit basket is a ubiquitous symbol of good fortune, and also of Chinese New Year. Whenever you are visiting your friends, you can send the fruit basket.
Michael: But what fruits should we avoid?
WY: There is one taboo. You shouldn’t give a family, especially a couple, the fruit of pear.
Michael: Because in Chinese, “li” has the same pronunciation as “divorce”.
Lincoln: You don’t want to give people a box of divorce.
WY: And there are some taboos indeed. Avoid sending gifts of clocks in China.
Lincoln: Oh, that’s interesting.
WY: Because in Chinese, giving a clock has the same pronunciation as when you’re talking about to give proper burial after death, or funeral presents. Those have similar pronunciations. (Lincoln: Interesting)
