Twenty-Two Years Later - on the Fourth of June (1989.6.4)

It is hard to believe that twenty-two years have passed since that fateful fourth of June. It was a most disturbing day I've ever lived and but the memory of it was rather hazy now. Perhaps, I have tried to suppress the trauma?

I cannot help wondering now that since that day, how many people have passed away and how many have been born. How many still have memories of that day or any knowledge of it at all and how many have totally forgotten or are ignorant of it?

How many have become richer and how many poorer? How many have lost their humanity, courage, conscious and reason and how many have traded their innocence for advancement?

How many have been troubled by conscious and how many remained gleeful of the pain of the others? How many have been trying to remember and remind and how many have tried to erase any trace of it from their own minds and history? How many have been mute and how many have been speaking with almost no audience?

I do not know. Probably I will never know. In the end, i hardly matters. What matters is that someone will remember and remind.

It is raining in Berkeley, California - unseasonable and unreasonable - rationality seems to do not belong to this day. I have nothing to offer, except for my dimming memory and some images of flowers - pictures of flowers in May - to the suffering souls.

Chinese Lunar New Year (Spring Festival)

Today is the eve of traditional Lunar New Year observes in China and other regions culturally connected to that ancient civilization.

In the U.S., it is not without controversy regarding how to address that holiday.  Calling it Chinese New Year, then Koreans and Vietnamese might feel left out.  Calling it Lunar New Year, then other cultures observing their lunar new year in entirely different seasons might feel robbed too - for example, Thai lunar new year falls in April, and the Jewish lunar new year (Rosh Hashanah) is usually in September.

In mainland China, at least the time I lived there, new year is simple first day of the Gregorian calendar year and the traditional new year is usually called Spring Festival or amongst the seniors, Old Calendar New Year or Lunar New Year.  I prefer to call it Spring Festival.

It was in the U.S., that I was greeted first time during the Spring Festival time with 恭禧發財 (traditional Chinese) or 恭禧发财 (simplified Chinese), which pronounced as Gong Xi Fa Cai (Mandarin) or Gong Hey Fat Choy (Cantonese).

An internet search resulted in such explanation as what this phrase means: Gong Xi (恭禧) is congratulations or respectfully wishing one joy, Fa Cai (發財) is to become rich or to make money.  Thus, Gong Xi Fa Cai means wishing you to be prosperous in the coming year.

Well meaning for sure.  However, I had to exert strong self-control not to cringe when I was greeted thus.

For people who grew up in China, especially in families value scholarly achievement and societal contributions, such greeting is rather too mercenary and crass.

The assumption that all Chinese greet each other during lunar new year time with this phrase is false.  It has been mostly used by merchants whose life goal is making money.  People who came to the U.S. several generations ago were mostly in the lower social-economical tiers and many of them became small merchants in the U.S. in order to survive and prosper and this phrase states their collective desires perfectly.

I personally will choose not use this phrase but have learned to smile back when I heard such greeting by well-wishers.

Happy Spring Festival to all!

Spring Festival (Lunar New Year) Time in Berkeley

February 14 is the beginning of traditional lunar new year celebrated primarily in the Pacific Asian countries. It is commonly referred to as Spring Festival in mainland China. However, in most part of China, it is far from spring. But it sure feels like that spring has arrived in Berkeley, California:

P.S. - Happy Valentine's Day!