Hong Kong's Fund-Raising in the Street

This is the lable I got, during this past trip back to Hong Kong, after approached by a student and the money donation.

During the weekends in Hong Kong, you may be approached by a or a few students in school uniform with a small stack of labels and a bag for collecting money. They are doing the fund-raising.

This kind of activity started since when my parents were in high schools. The charitable organizations would submit their request of fund-raising to the government. Once it is approved, these organizations would request the volunteers from the high schools. Each volunteer would receive a small stack of labels which is about a couple hundreds of them and a bag for collecting money.

Each student or volunteer will approach each passer-by and ask him/her if he/she would be interested in buying a label. You can donate whatever you want to get a sticker. Once the money is put into that bag, there is no way for that volunteer to take it out. So, it is very secured. This weekends fund-raising activity always ends by noon.

Sometimes, you may see the elderly as volunteers.

If you travel in Hong Kong one day and approached by a person as described above, please extend your helping hands.

Refund and/or Exchange Merchandize

I just came back from the trip of visiting my hometown, Hong Kong. When I lived there, I didn't pay attention to some of the places and people around me. I thought that it was just a normal life. Living here in the States for a few years, I realized that how big the difference of the culture and people from where I came from. So, I want to share with you some of my experience from this trip. Hope you enjoy it.

In the western countries, we take refund or exchange any purchased merchandize for granted. But it's not in China and Hong Kong.

In essence, anything purchased cannot be refunded, returned or exchanged. Once you checked out at the cashier, you, being the customer, have 100% responsibility. If you find out that the cloth you bought was torn right after stepping out of the store, you are not allowed to take it back. It's too late.

Once in a while, a mom-and-pop store may offer for the exchange of sizes. But this is very, very rare. It also depends on at what time you bring in for the exchange. If the store just opened for the day without any sales yet, the owner will tell you either to buy something more or come back later during the day. Otherwise, it will bring her/him a bad luck.

Also, the merchandize you are going to exchange must worth the same or more than what you purchased before because they will not give you back the refund of the amount difference.

So, we live in the place that allow us to do the exchange, return and/or refund should be grateful.

Chinese Bridal/Baby Showers?

My friend's, Valerie, son is going to marry an Asian girl soon. Her future daughter-in-law, Maggie, is partly Japanese and partly Chinese. And Valerie wants to host an Asian-themed bridal shower to give Maggie a surprise.

So, Val called me and asked for the opinions and advice. One thing she mentioned to me that, being an American, she had never been to any Asian shower so she really doesn't know where to start.

My mission is not only give the advice to Val, but also give her some cultural and historical background to understand the Asian cultures.

First of all, I told her that there is NO shower in most Asian countries, especially in China. All the expenses are paid by the newly wed or parents-to-be. Unlike here in America, everybody gets together and buy everything for the newly wed and/or the baby. But that is not the way in China. Some friends or relatives may buy some gifts. But no one is obligated to buy something or give money in the showers like here.

I even told Val that when I first heard my husband, my boyfriend back at the time, tell me about the baby shower, my first response was thinking people getting together to see the first shower the baby has. It sounds funny...hehehe....But for an American, you may know from this example about the Asian reaction.

Another advice I told Valerie that she has to make sure that where her future daughter-in-law exactly came from. 'Cos we sometimes mix up China, Japan or other Asian countries easily. But their cultures are very different even though a lot of them originated from China. You don't want to mix in something and do it wrong to cause any bad feeling. If she can't find out or be sure, she may want to skip the Asian theme part to avoid the mistakes.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun talking with Val and help out my friend to understand more about her future daughter-in-law. :-)

The Busiest Stores in Hong Kong and China before Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year (the year of ox) comes very early this year. It is going to be Jan 26. Almost everybody in Hong Kong and China is very busy in buying different things for this BIG festival, such as gifts, new clothes and new shoes. You will see people everywhere.

But among all the stores, comparatively, shoes stores and hair salons are the busiest places. During the month of the Chinese New Year, their business is almost dead. Why? This is because the Chinese superstitions about shoes and hair.

Shoes in Cantonese are called “hai” which is very similar to the exclamation or complaint. If anyone buys shoes during the Chinese New Year, he/she will pick up some bad luck.

Hair symbolizes prosperity and wealth. Nobody wants to cut his/her wealth. Therefore, no one would go to have hair cut during the first month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

There is one thing that I have to share with you which was “invented” by my mom. If anyone wants to buy shoes during the Chinese New Year, buy a pen first. Yes….buy a pen first because it is called “bat” which pronounces the same as the word “no” or “not”. Then, shoes are no longer bad luck. It’s funny. I usually wait after the first month of the Chinese New Year.

But if you happen to travel Hong Kong 2 weeks before the Chinese New Year, you will find some awesome deals. Good Luck!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR.

How do Chinese call their relatives?

In the western world, grandchildren call their grandparents from both their parents' sides as "grandma" and "grandpa" and call their parents siblings as "uncle" and "aunt".



In the Chinese world, little ones call everybody differently. Even if a stranger walks by your kid and hears how he/she calls his/her grandma, this person can figure out right away from which side of the family his/her grandma from. The same rule applies to when the kid calls their uncles and aunts.



Let me give you some examples how we call our grandparents:

Grandfather from my father's side - "Ye ye"

Grandmother from my father's side - "Ma ma" (It sounds like calling your mother. But the tune is very low. It's very different.)


Grandfather from my mother's side - "Gung gung"

Grandmother from my mother's side - "Pau pau"

In the western world, when your kid calls his/her uncle, he/she may call him as "Uncle Joe" in which that person's first name is included. In the Chinese culture, nobody is allowed to do so. This is seen as disrespect, even among siblings. But in this new generation, certain families are not as strict as it used to be.

How is a name translated into Chinese?

Throughout the centuries, names have been translated by the number of syllables. It is out of respect of other countries cultures.

Unlike English, there is no alphabet in Chinese language. For instance, there are 3 syllables in this name, Roberta. There will be 3 Chinese characters to represent it.

For names ending with a letter, such as b, d, k, l, m, p, s and t, are considered an additional syllable often. For example, there are 3 characters to represent a name, "Bridget" because of a "t" at the end of the name.

Certain characters can only be used in a male or female name. Therefore, we also base on the gender to use different characters when we translate your name.

Mums

During this time of the year, you always see a lot of mums in front of people’s houses. There are so many different colors. And they bring out the lives of the fall.

Mums are a kind of chrysanthemum. Chinese call mums the baby chrysanthemum. There were a lot of poems appreciating chrysanthemum since 200B.C. Chinese describe it as a strong gentleman among flowers because it can stand in the cold weather so long and still bring out the colors. The original Chinese chrysanthemum was yellow. It was then developed to different colors and varieties in the 1100s.

Chrysanthemums have been used in Chinese medications for 3,000 years. The most common usage is in tea which helps the body to release the extra heat. Another function of it is for longevity.

Interesting, huh?

Halloween

My husband's family always ask me, "Do Chinese celebrate Halloween?" "Do you have X'mas?" which I believe you wonder the same things, too.

Yes, we celebrate pretty much most of the western festivals. Some people put on the costumes on Halloween. But there are not of them. There is no trick-or-treat. Halloween is pretty much only for adults or grown-up.

The attitude of Chinese treating Halloween is totally different from the Chinese Ghost Festival which falls on the 14th day of the 7th month on the Lunar Calendar. People always have a lot of fun on Halloween. But during the 7th month, people are scared of meeting any evil spirit or ghost. And at the same time, they are very respectful of the ancestors and those passed away.

For more interesting story of the Chinese Ghost Festival, stay tuned. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Jade

Many women love diamonds. But in the old China, there was no diamond, but jade.

A lot of emperors and rich people had their belongings, ornaments and jewelry made of jade. It didn’t only represent their superiority and privilege, but also protect them from the evil spirits.

This stone is very human-oriented. Why? If you wear a jade pendent, you will realize it. The more you wear it, the greener it is.

But how does it protect one from evil spirit? I heard this story from my schoolmate several years ago. She wore her jade pendent all the time. She never took it off. One day after getting out of shower, she saw from the mirror that the jade had half of it left. It looked very strange to her. So, she looked down at her pendent. It was in a whole and good shape. She looked back to the mirror again. It was just half of it.

Then, she knew that some evil sprits tried to approach her. It was this jade protecting her from their harm. At the end, she threw the jade away. It was because it had already carried out its mission. It was not able to protect its owner again.

Was that true? I really don’t know and don’t mean to scare you. But I just want to show you the importance of this precious stone to the Chinese society.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of fake products out there. Some professional can even tell. If you really want to buy one, go to the well-known stores.

Myth of Peeling Apple

Apple-picking season just started in upstate NY. So, I thought that it would be a great time to share with you an interesting Chinese myth.

In Hong Kong, a lot of people, especially women, can peel apples by a pairing knife as quick and good as the apple peelers. This myth has been spreading around since I was in my early teen.

Someone said that if you face a mirror and peel the apple without breaking the peel into 2 pieces at midnight sharp, you will see your future husband on the mirror. Very scary, huh?

When I was at school, one of my classmates tried it. But she didn’t succeed.

And it was said that if the peel breaks, your future husband will be hurt.

It’s just something to share with you for fun. :-)

Chinese Typing

The chart showing what each alphabet represents in Chinese (refer to the black squares). In each cell, it shows other Chinese symbols which look similar to the Chinese in the black squares.

Have you ever seen the Chinese computer keyboard before? If you had, you most probably saw some simple Chinese characters next to each alphabet on each key.


There are many different kinds of Chinese typing/input method based on the pronounciation of a character either in Mandarin or Cantonese and also by the structure of the character. But there is one very original input method still used by most of the people now due to its efficiency, i.e. Changjie method. This method was named after the person centuries ago who created most of the Chinese characters of nowdays.

How does it work? First of all, you must be fluent in written and spoken Chinese. The inputting method totally relies on one's knowledge of the structure of each Chinese character. It splits one character up to 5 parts which will be 5 keystrokes on the keyboard. Each alphabet represents each part of the character. It takes some time to learn even you are good at Chinese. Once you grab the theory behind it, it is just a piece of cake.

National Day

Oct 1 is the National Day in China and Hong Kong. Oct 10 is the National Day in Taiwan. Although there are a few days of difference, the purpose is pretty much the same. It is for the memory of the "Father of the Modern China", Sun Yat Sen, who ended the imperial rule of China.

Being a Chinese and major in Chinese History, I never agreed that he should be named as the "Father of the Modern China". Unlike George Washington, Sun had never been into any revolution. While his colleagues were fighting with their lives, he was somewhere else. Some may say that Sun was doing the negotiation, raising the fund and so forth.

To me, people like Wong Hing, one of the revolutionists at his time should be named.

Anyway, it is just Chinese history shared with you all.

Education

There is a new colleague at work who came from China. I am very impressed that he was graduated from Tsinghua University, the no. 1 university in China, and a very down-to-earth person.

It reminds me a girl that I worked with more than 10 years ago. She also came from China and a university graduate. She told me that every Chinese carries a booklet in which it records where this individual graduated, where they worked, where they live and so forth. This record is pretty much open to the public and specially important to the educated class. Any bad record in this booklet will affect them in the rest of their lives seriously.

When it came to university graduates in China, they are the best of the best. Unlike any college students or university graduates in other countries, these elites 100% know what they are doing. I personally had this experience.

One of our piano teachers, Mrs Cheng Mei Ling, came from China. She stopped teaching because she had serious back problem. I remembered the time not long before she stopped teaching us that she couldn't sit down even a minute because her back hurt so much. I still love her and miss her after all these years. In those 3 years that she taught us, she memorized every piano piece and played the song in front of us just by closing her eyes. None of our other piano teachers could do this. I don't mean to be disrespectful. But she was exceptional and extraordinary.

Think about this. If every person in any country can take the education as seriously as these people, this world would be a better place to live.

Sneeze

Weather is changing. A lot of you may sneeze quite a bit.

However, in the Chinese culture, sneezing is not a good sign. Most of the time, the Chinese says, "Maybe somebody is talking behind my back."

When somebody sneezes, American always say, "God Bless You." In Chinese, we always say, "Dai Gui Lai Si." It means that bad luck is gone and good stuffs should be coming.

If you think the things that I told you in the above are so superstitutious. Wait till you hear this. That may give you a laugh for the day.

My father's cousin's family has this rule in their house. If any one of them sneezes before their heading out of the house, they will turn around and get back into the house. No matter, it's a family gathering, funeral, wedding receiption and so forth, they will not attend just because of a sneeze.

Isn't that crazy or what? Believe it or not, hope this gives you a big smile.

Women's Health

One of the prescriptions my accupunture doctor gave me containing fructus amomi, zingiber, cortex cinnamomi, rotundus, radix glycyrrhizae and other herbs. (This is just for your reference. Always consult your doctor before taking any prescriptions.)

Although my aunt living in Rochester and my uncle living in Hong Kong have been practised Chinese medication for so many years, I had never tried it until about 2 years ago.

I diagnosed the carpel tunnel syndrome that my family doctor, whom is an American, referred me to an accupunture doctor for the treatment. Since my family doctor is the only doctor that I can trust after moving over here, I listened to her advice and went.

Forunately, my accupunture doctor talks to me in our mother language. I always feel very comfortable to ask her any medical problem. I used to visit lady's room and have menstrual cramps quite often. So, she prescribed me some Chinese herbal medicine which only last about 1 week to a month. Believe it or not, all these symptoms were gone. That made me having more confidence in the Chinese medication.

I remembered that there was about a month in which I had problems to walk after getting up every morning. I was referred to the peodiatrist. And the appointment had to be scheduled a month ahead of time. Before going there, I happened to talk to my accupunture doctor. The first thing she told me, "It is not your feet's problem. It's your back problem." About another month later, I diagnosed arthritis on my back.

I am not complaining about the health issues. What I want to bring the message to you is that if you think regular medication does not work, give it a try to some alternative medication. China has a lot of hospitals practising both western and Chinese medication. They want to take the advantages of both to help the patients to recover completely and healthily.

Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

This is the mini Chinese moon cake. The regular size is about 3 times of the size of this one, which will be about the size of your palm. It always comes with 4 of them in one box. I know that I can't finish the whole box. And I am so glad that I saw my Chinese store having the mini size and sold one at a time instead of a box.

Different bakery has different design of the moon cake.

The stuffing of traditional moon cake is the mashed lotus seed which has the similar flavor and texture of the stuffing of Shoofly pie.

The common package of a moon cake. Mostly, they are packed in a tin box. In the last decades, there were a lot of twists on the stuffing and looks of moon cakes. It could be mashed sweet red bean, green beans, ice-cream and so forth.

This is a mold for making moon cake. Chinese pastry chef always prepares the stuffing ahead of time and let it cool down. Then, they will wrap a piece of pastry, which is very similar to certain pie crust texture, around the stuffing. Put it into the mold and flaten it out. Then, it becomes the moon cake. All they need to do is to bake it.

Today is the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival which is my all-time favorite festival next to Christmas. I bought the Chinese moon cakes last week so that I can celebrate it later tonight.

Like the Chinese New Year, this festival is all about family gathering. When we were kids, my parents always took us to somewhere with the lanterns to celebrate. One year, we went to a beach. That was the most memorable one. I still remembered the sea of candles that lighted up the whole beach. It was gorgeous. I hope next year or so, I can go back home to celebrate it with my family.

There were a lot of legends about the origin of this festival. One of them was about a lady, called "Chang'e" taking a kind of medicine which made her to raise to the moon.

But in the Yuan dynasty, people wanted to overthrow the Mongols. By stuffing a message into the moon cake and pass around.

Nowadays, Mid-Autumn festival becomes one of the most money-spending festivals. People buy moon cakes for their family and friends. Moon cake is a very big market for businesses. For children, they always make sure that parents get them plenty of candles and lanterns.

Face Reading

Last time, I shared with you a little bit of fortune telling that I learned when I was a teenager.

This is another interesting one.

Have you ever seen any person when they smile, there is a depression of the skin on the upper cheek bone area? Some people just have it on one side of their face. Some have it on both sides. To a lot of Chinese, it means that this person is not easy to get along.

Is that true? I really don't know because I don't have any friend or family having that.

Anyway, it's another funny Chinese "belief" to share with you.

Gap between Your 2 Front Teeth

Before I share this interesting Chinese "belief" with you. I want to make sure that I am not saying anything against anybody else.

My hubby was watching the NFL this past Sunday. There was a new host. The first thing I noticed of him was the gap between his 2 front teeth. That reminded me what my cousin told my sister several years ago.

My uncle is a Chinese fortune teller. He can tell the "future" of people by looking at their faces and the lines on their palms. So, his son learns quite a bit from him. When my sister first had her 2 new front teeth coming out, there was a big gap between them. So, my counsin teased her that she would be very mean to her spouse. I don't know why I still remembered this when it happened more than 20 years ago. She didn't take it seriously. However, she thought that it was pretty funny and told everybody else she knew.

Is that really true? I really don't know. But I think that you would love to learn about this crazy "belief" of the Chinese.

Unbeatable Luck of Pregnant Women

Did you see "Deal or No Deal" last night? They got the first million-dollar winner.

My hubby didn't watch this show for quite a while. When he changed to that channel last night and I first saw that contestant, I told him right away, "She may win this game." Now, I have never seen any preview or anything. It was just the 6th sense told me that.

During the first commercial, I told my husband, "The Chinese always say that not to gamble with the pregnant women. They will win all the money because of the luck the babies bring." He didn't believe it until the end of the show.

You may think that I am so superstitutious. But it happens all the time.

Sorry, "Deal or No Deal", I wish I told any one of your producers earlier, even though the show is called the "Million Dollar Mission".

Casino & Gambling

After the Beijing Olympic, are you still curious about the culture and customs of China? Maybe not. In this long weekend, some of my co-workers are going to the casino to gamble. It inspired me to share this with you.

Casino and gambling sound like only in the western world. But it has been in China for centuries. Differences are the games, casino setting and/or locations.

Games are "Mahjong", "Due Chong" (the numbers you will get by shaking 2 dices in a cup), "Fish, Shrimp and Crab" and "Pai Guo". They are all Chinese originated games.

Setting and locations have played a very important part throughout the history, especially to the casino owners. Most of them believe in "Fung Shui" which will affect them of how many people coming into their casinos and losing money.

Of course, gamblers have their own strategies to be anti-casino's "Fung Shui".

One of the best examples is the first casino in Macau. The setup of the main entrance makes it like a big mouth which will attract people's money. But gamblers believe that going into the casino from the back door and leave at the main entrance will take care of it.

I am not big in gambline. But I think that that would be something interesting to share with you. Have a wonderful long weekend.