Money makes Hong Kong go round

By MARK GRAHAM


It is a time to get a haircut, buy clothes, settle debts, patch up quarrels with friends and family and - most importantly - hatch a scheme for making more money in the next year.

Especially making money. In unabashedly capitalist Hong Kong, the Chinese New Year greeting of kung hei fat choy, heard ringing through the streets in the weeks before the festival, translates literally as "wish you make more money".

Yet for many years, the world's most brazenly cash-worshipping society eschewed the chance to make a quick buck from the Chinese Year festival. Until a decade ago, Hong Kong virtually shut up shop for the four-day holiday. Visitors unfortunate enough to find themselves staying during that time would have found few shops and restaurants open.

All that has changed, thanks partly to a push by the city's tourism body to manufacture some kind of activity during the Chinese New Year period, traditionally a time to stay home and celebrate with close family. A parade through the streets is now an established part of the festivities, featuring elaborately decked-out floats from far and wide; leggy American cheer-leaders share the streets with Chinese lion-dancers and drummers. This year it will be held at night, for the first time, on the evening of January 22.

For all this razzle-dazzle approach to celebrating the festival - this month marks the beginning of the Year of the Monkey - traditional elements remain the mainstay. In the two days before New Year, people flock in their hundreds of thousands to a temporary flower market in sprawling Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. It is such a popular event that a complex pedestrian one-way system is needed to ensure human traffic flows smoothly.

Kumquat trees are particularly popular purchases, symbolising the rich fortune households hope will come their way during the next 12 months; an auspicious alternative is pink-blossomed peonies.

This is a great spot for outsiders to capture the mood and spirit of Chinese New Year. The air crackles with energy and bonhomie as good-natured banter flies between shoppers and stall-holders. Restaurants also have New Year cheer. Chefs rustle up special menus for the occasion, featuring foods considered auspicious. The Chinese character representing the dish, or pronunciation of its name, can have just as much influence as the taste. Popular combinations include dried oyster (good business) mushrooms (prosperity), pig's knuckle (prosperity, especially in business or gambling), fish and lotus root (rich).

At the Harbour Plaza hotel, executive chef Richard Yung, has a clear favourite - poon choy - and knows the story behind its popularity at this time of year.

"Poon choy [or treasure bowl] is a combination of foods prepared individually and then served in one large wooden bowl from top to bottom," he says.

"The ingredients each have their own respective representations. Prawns, for example, are seen as a jumping, active ingredient symbolising prosperity, while fish balls bring imagination. Sea moss, or fat choy, of course represents money or wealth, as do pork bellies. Abalone serves as a 'golden bar' while dry oyster signifies 'good business'.

"During the Chinese New Year, most markets are closed, so it's traditional to buy all of these during the week beforehand. That's why everything is so busy in Hong Kong the week prior to the holiday.

"As the time spent with family also involves much gambling and gift exchanging, there is really time for only one main meal. That's why poon choy is so common: it's virtually a taste explosion with all of these wonderful ingredients, and this has been going on for years and years."

Fortune tellers also do brisk business during the holiday period. They are most visible at the night-market in Temple St, in Mongkok, where part of a street, near the public toilets, is given over to soothsayers armed with elaborate charts and almanacs.

Hong Kong's busiest temple, suburban Wong Tai Sin, close to a Mass Transit Railway station, throngs with worshippers during the holiday period.

This is the public face of Chinese New Year. In homes throughout Hong Kong, generally off-limits to visitors, an elaborate cleaning-up process takes place in the approaching days, involving much sweeping and dusting to ensure a clean and pure start to the 12 months ahead.

Some more arcane rituals, especially the ones involving fasting, are ignored or amended by more modern-minded Chinese but the custom of well-wishing visits to the homes of relatives remains strong.

Again, money plays a significant role, in the form of lai see or lucky money packets. These are handed over by bosses to employees and by adults to children. Married people are expected to donate a red lai see envelope to unmarried friends and relatives; the contents can be as low as HK$10 ($1.90) or as high as HK$1900 ($200) but mostly it is at the lower end, a symbolic and fun gift-giving practice.

After two days of family-oriented activity, most modern families are glad to have an excuse to get out and about, hence the popularity of the annual New Year parade, organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board. The event is light on tradition, heavy on fun, intended as a loud and colourful way to begin the following 365 days, featuring a giant snaking dragon, marching bands, leggy cheer-leaders and costumed cartoon figures.

The following day sees yet more explosive fun in the shape of an evening harbour fireworks display. The skyscrapers of Central, Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui, already festooned with lavish bouquets of neon, depicting some element of Chinese New Year, form a backdrop for this superb spectacle.

Fireworks for personal use are banned in Hong Kong, ensuring a large turnout for any public display; more than half a million people line the harbour, giving a collective Chinese-style "waahhhh" at every bang, thud, sparkle and shimmer.

The final event on the calendar is devoted to a favourite Chinese pastime - gambling.

A New Year race meeting during the holiday is likely to draw 50,000 or more people, armed with fistfuls of dollars and convinced that fortune is sure to shine their way in the Year of the Monkey.

Getting there

Cathay Pacific flies 12 times a week to Hong Kong from between $1749 and $2099 return. Contact your preferred travel agent for package deals.

Getting around

There's an excellent and safe public transport system, and taxis. But seeing Hong Kong on foot is the only real way to savour the sights and sounds of this diverse and exciting city.

What to see and do

Free tai chi classes with Pandora Wu and William Ngu are held at the Waterfront Promenade, behind Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, between 8am and 9am on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Po Lin Monastery: Open from 11.30am to 5pm daily. Take a ferry to Silvermine Bay (Mui Wo) from Hong Kong's Central Pier, and Bus No 2 to Po Lin. Or take the MTR to Tung Chung Station, and Bus No 23. Allow a full day for the trip and, depending on your schedule, consider a meal at Silvermine Bay or Tung Chung before boarding the bus.

If going to Po Lin, make the effort to visit the traditional fishing village of Tai O where you'll see houses on stilts and copious quantities of dried fish for sale.


Find more information at Discover Hong Kong