YEARS ago, when I was studying overseas, I remember a friend of mine asked me for the common Chinese New Year (CNY) greeting. I told him it is ‘Gong Xi Fa Cai’ (in Mandarin).

He was intrigued to understand the meaning, but was surprised (and probably felt uneasy) when he was told that it actually literally meant: “Congratulations on making fortune”.

That certainly did not sound to him like the usual way of greeting people, “Happy New Year” in other cultures.

The big “Why?” question followed, I hesitated and hated to admit that the obvious materialistic aspect is already part of the prevalent contemporary culture of global Chinese (surely not restricted to just Chinese Malaysian).

I acknowledge that many among the global Chinese communities and diasporas in the past centuries had been living in economic hardship due to poverty caused by incompetent and corrupted governance in the rule of various imperial dynasties, especially the last two Ming and Qing.

Things were not much better after the fall of the last emperor, the mainland was mired in prolonged civil wars, and the population also experienced terrible famine under the rule of Mao Ze Dong due to his Great Leap Forward programme.

Hence, for those who survived through the dark periods of impoverishment and migrated out of the homeland, they would yearn for materialistic sufficiency and took prosperity to be synonymous with a “better life”. Perhaps I should show some understanding about this historic background.

Often Chinese are compared to Jews in terms of perseverance under adverse conditions as well as prowess in doing business or making fortune.

However, it seems to me that when the Jews celebrate Rosh Hashanah they do not have such common greetings so blatantly shining on wealth.

For Chinese, more expressions go this way in the name of “prosperity”, such as “Zhao Cai Jin Bao”. Literally: “Attract fortune and treasure”), “Cai Yuan Gun-Gun Lai” (“Wealth is rolling/streaming in”), “Jin Yu Man Tang” (“Full house of Gold and Jade”) and “Yi Ben Wan Li” (“One portion of capital (returns with) 10,000 times profit”) – the latter would be accused of windfall profiteering in contemporary socioeconomic order, and definitely attract Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs to come investigate.

Of course, I am aware that there is exaggeration in such greetings, but these expressions often migrate into popular songs, literature and artworks, making it difficult for me to stay “unheard” during the festival.

However, I cannot say that these exaggerated expressions do not influence the community thinking about wealth, especially about the value and priority of wealth in life.

Unless we talk about winning big prizes from the lottery, “Yi Ben Wan Li” simply ignores who actually paid for the windfall profit we can accumulate for self-interest, and at whose expense?

“Sheng Yi Xing Long” (Prosperous business) would be a much more acceptable common wish. However, the issue is most of the time Chinese communities at the joyous CNY festival do not reflect upon how they make money, they often talk gloriously and look up to those who garner more wealth, especially those tycoons, never mind their ethics, values and characters.

In fact, some among the Chinese communities worship “Cai Shen” (God of Fortune) during the CNY festival so openly, extravagantly and loudly (especially when “announcing” his arrival – the “Cai Shen dao!” moment), as if “Cai Shen” were the finance minister at a heavenly level who has unlimited resources to distribute according to the needs (and wishes) of the worshippers year after year.

No other Gods are so prominent during this period, say on health, education, environmental and personal relationship matters.

I also can’t help but notice the most popular new CNY songs and videos produced by various media outlets (competing with each other for public attention).

They contain so many built-in sponsored commercials in the short videos themselves, some of which look awkward, distractive and unnatural to me.

Behind the often overtly optimistic and upbeat tones as well as loud noises, the CNY festival displays few retrospections as compared to those who celebrate Hari Raya Aldilfitri and Christmas – I particularly like the expression of “Maaf Zahir dan Bati” and it is nice to talk about sharing love, happiness and intimacy within the circle of family and friends.

I am still quite puzzled that there is almost no popular four-word CNY greeting wish that contains the word “love” (爱, Ai) but plenty on happiness/blessing (福, Fu) – how can there be happiness without love?

To me, that also partially explains why some Chinese feel it is hard to express love in words directly without feeling awkward.

Having said that, there are still many CNY greetings and popular songs which I like and appreciate.

There is no shortage of greetings wishing people happiness, health and safety. One of my favourites is “Nian Nian You Yu” (“Every year has surplus/reserve”) – this is an expression to show being frugal and prudent as a virtue.

Perhaps the surplus may not have to be excessively large, and it should also go beyond the realm of personal or family wealth.

The community, society and nation should have reserves as well, be it social capital or natural resources, to keep them for future generations or for rainy days.

Due to the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, these days many appreciate more good health, and see health as wealth.

This is perhaps a positive development for the Chinese community to do soul searching and rethink what they value the most.

The pandemic has brought misfortune to some families or also separated some others. Perhaps for this year when interstate cross border family reunion is possible, this adds further meaning to the festival.

Here I wish those who are celebrating the CNY festival: “Xin Nian Kuai Le” (Happy New Year) and “Xin Nian Jin Bu” (New Year New Progress)! – January 31, 2022.

* Lim Chee Han is a founding member of Agora Society and a policy researcher. He holds a PhD in infection biology from Hannover Medical School, Germany, and an MSc in immunology and BSc in biotechnology from Imperial College London. Health and socioeconomic policies are his concerns. He believes a nation can advance significantly if policymaking and research are taken seriously.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.