Jen Sookfong Lee - Chinese New Year: A Celebration for Everyone

To Ruth Linka and Sarah Harvey, for asking me to write this book and guiding me through a celebratory journey.

To Amanda Growe, Janie Chang, Elaine Chau, Emma Berg and Stephen Hui, who generously contributed stories and photographs.

To Sebastien Merle dAubign, Maya Merle dAubign, Samuel Wesley Donner and Lea Mira Donner, for telling me so enthusiastically what they love about Chinese New Year.

To my mother, for keeping all of the traditions alive for her children and grandchildren.

To my sisters Linda Lee, Pamela Chin, Tina Lee and Emma Berg, for helping me piece together the Chinese New Year celebrations of our childhoods.

To Sarah Ling for being my expert reader.

And, finally, to the Chinese emigrants who traveled fearlessly around the world and brought Chinese New Year with them as a symbol of inclusiveness and joy.

Text copyright 2017 Jen Sookfong Lee

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Lee, Jen Sookfong, author
Chinese New Year: a celebration for everyone / Jen Sookfong Lee.
(Orca origins)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4598-1126-3 (hardcover). ISBN 978-1-4598-1127-0 (pdf). ISBN 978-1-4598-1128-7 (epub)

1. Chinese New YearJuvenile literature. I. Title.
gt4905.l44 2017 j394.261 c2017-900831-5
c2017-900832-3.

First published in the United States, 2017
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017933029

Summary: Part of the nonfiction Orca Origins series, Chinese New Year is illustrated with color photographs throughout. Readers will learn how a simple gathering of family and friends grew into a weeklong, worldwide festival.

Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

The authors and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at the time of publication. The authors and publisher do not assume any liability for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologizes for any errors or omissions in the above list and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.

Edited by Sarah N. Harvey
Designed by Rachel Page
Front cover photos by iStock.com
Back cover photo by iStock.com
Ebook by Bright Wing Books (brightwing.ca)

ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS
www.orcabook.com

Lion dances are often performed during Chinese New Year but also during other celebrations, such as weddings or new business openings.

aluxum/iStock.com

A Chinese New Year parade in Victoria, BC, where many Chinese immigrants to Canada first disembarked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Robert Amos

Jens Story
(Part One)

Jens grandparents in the 1960s.

Jen Sookfong Lee

Although it was my grandfather who first established our family in Canada, my mother and her mother-in-law, my grandmother, always planned our Chinese New Year celebrations.

In 1956, my grandmother joined my grandfather and my father, who had come to Vancouver in 1951 by himself, as a 13-year-old boy. In those days, Chinatown was still small, and the people who lived there were mostly men who had come to Canada to work before World War II. My grandfather had bought a house and prepared for my grandmothers arrival with winter clothes and as much furniture as he could afford. But it was my grandmother who took on the task of bringing Chinese traditions into their home. And for her, that meant cooking an elaborate meal on New Years Eve.

It was difficult to find ready-made Chinese food then, so my grandmother made everything from scratch. She started with different kinds of tay: sweet round dumplings filled with creamy red bean paste, crescent-shaped savory dumplings with pork and vegetables, steamed sticky date cake, and cupcakes that looked like open tulips when they cooked.

The eight-course dinner was the star of the show. There were always long cellophane noodles, braised shiitake mushrooms, whole fish, and soup made with bean curd and fat choy. As my grandmother grew older, she taught my mother, her daughter-in-law, to cook these same dishes, which my mother has been doing since my grandmother died in 1980.

My grandmother always insisted that we clean the house before the New Year and wear bright colors like red or pink or purple. She also taught us the traditional sayings that Chinese people use to wish luck on their loved ones.

For my grandmother, and later my mother, keeping these traditions alive meant that they felt closer to the culture they had left. Because they were busy mothers with children and homes to look after, they were not as connected to Chinatown as my grandfather and father were. So, in order to feel like they were still part of a community, and to help their children learn about Chinese culture, they made the New Year a big part of our family life.

For these wives and mothers, coming to a new country and learning about a different culture could be overwhelming, and very few of them had jobs outside the home, so they found a lot of joy in carefully preparing New Years food and teaching their children the importance of all the different aspects of Chinese New Year.

CNY Facts

While Chinese people today are traveling more than ever, exploration has long been a part of Chinese history. The first ships that could sail across oceans were built in China in the 1200s, and extensive trading with other countries such as India and Kenya began in the 1400s during the Ming dynasty. The man in charge of the imperial fleet of ships was named Zheng He, and he led voyages to Vietnam, Bangladesh and East Africa. His most famous voyage, to Kenya, resulted in a trade: Zheng He offered silk and porcelain in exchange for live giraffes, lions, zebras and ostriches, which he brought back to the imperial court, where the animals were considered to be godly beasts. As you can see, travel and business have always been a part of Chinese history and culture.

Stephens Story