Chinese New Year

By Ricky Malhi

With the recent celebrations of Chinese New Year and the upcoming release of I Am Bruce Lee, I wanted to delve into the London Chinese community and see how these events affected them. As it is the year of the dragon once again and Bruce Lee was labelled the ‘little dragon’ I thought it was necessary to link these two events. I took to the streets of London after Chinese New Year and wanted to ask the public about the significance of the event. London fully embraces Chinese New Year and on January 29th the celebrations to welcome in the Year of the Dragon took place in Chinatown and Shaftesbury Avenue. Festivities began at 10.15am with a parade of colourful floats from Trafalgar Square to Rupert Street. At noon, Boris Johnson and Chinatown president Stanley Tse commence the Dotting of the Eye ceremony. This kick-started an afternoon of performances featuring music, dance, Chinese dragons, lions and acrobatics. The show culminated in a fireworks display at Chinatown which was filled with cultural and food stalls and displays all day. The day was a magical display of colours and excitement but what is the meaning behind the event?

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese culture. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. People pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, food, and clothing. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity". On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. Speaking to one person in china town, he stated, ‘The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone. Chinese New Year represents a new start for all people and a chance for a better life. The festival is family orientated and is always a happy occasion.’ From this, one can see that it means everything to them and it is still a major event within their culture despite being in another country.  

The influence of Bruce Lee has always been prominent within Chinese community. I Am Bruce Lee is a film developed by the legend’s daughter, Shannon and is based around the influence that Bruce Lee has on modern day society. Celebrities including Kobe Bryant and Manny Pacquiao comment on the influence that Bruce Lee has had on their lives. Individuals I spoke to on the streets of London talked about the positive influence that Bruce Lee has had on their own lives. Cheng Lee stated that ‘Bruce Lee represents a superhero to the Chinese people. American’s look up to Superman and Batman but we have BRUCE LEE!!!’ One can see from this that Bruce Lee represents a pivotal figure in Chinese community. With the events of Chinese New Year and the release of I Am Bruce Lee, the Chinese community has been focused on within our city recently. Positive influence has been generated with these events and it has uplifted the whole community.

Photo by Mark Faviell used under Creative Commons License