恭禧发财 - Year of the Monkey - 猴年
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| Chinese Lantern |
It's actually not Chinese New Year yet - that's next Monday - but my school held its official Lunar New Year celebration today with a special morning assembly organized by our
Chinese department. The well-funded Chinese Department at my school is run by
Hanban (the Confucius Institute), a part of the Chinese Government dedicated to Chinese language and culture education, with a small cadre of recent graduates from China sent to Thailand to teach. The Chinese teachers are very highly-trained in sharing their Chinese culture. They have also been some of the friendliest and nicest people I've met here.
My school, maybe unlike the other schools in Bangkok, is pretty Chinese. By that I mean that we have a lot of Chinese influence and really embrace the Chinese side of Thai culture. It helps, of course, that our patron HRH the Princess is very interested in Chinese, as is the director of Mathayom (the secondary school) where I teach. As I was walking to my class the other day, she stopped me and told me that the teachers who wear Chinese outfits at the assembly would get a special gift from the school. Last year, several of the teachers wore Chinese-style clothes, and I guess the administration really liked that and wanted to encourage it again this year.
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| teachers receiving their gifts from the Assistant Headmistress |
Of course, I wouldn't let the school down! I borrowed a shirt from the Chinese department (I'm still studying Chinese with them this year) to wear to the morning assembly. People at this school love it
when the white guy dresses up, and they even asked me to help present a gift to one of the students who performed a Chinese song at the assembly.
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| Mimi LaoShi, my Chinese teacher |
To those wearing something Chinese, the assistant headmistress presented us with our gift from the school. Yuanbao (
元宝) was an old, vaguely boat-shaped gold ingot in Imperial China imprinted with a lucky character. The currency was replaced in the 20th century, but small plastic yuanbao are still used as gifts at Chinese New Year. They are said to bring wealth and prosperity. I think that's a pretty nice gift from the school!
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| 元宝 jin yuan bao (gold ingot) |
Like last year, there were two shrines set up on the grounds outside the assembly hall. The first was for the Chinese (Taoist) gods, and the second was for heaven, earth, father, and mother. Lighting incense at the second is said to bring health and luck to ones parents.
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| Chinese offerings at the shrine |
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| lighting incense for mom and dad |
Happy Year of the Monkey! I hope the new year brings good luck to all.
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| English department in Thailand dressed Chinese |
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