Chinese New Year and I

The Chinese have an interesting custom, one that is shared in the New England area of the United States where I grew up: children are often told to address friends of their parents as "uncle" or "auntie". The two little girls that were born to my Chinese friends here have always called me "Uncle Glyn". My wife and I would often watch the children for the parents when needed, and I would often help the parents with various matters when they needed someone whose English was better than theirs to help them understand something. The girls spent quite a bit of time at my house, especially the year before they started school because the parents wanted the girls to improve their English. I would often come home to find two "extra" children playing at my house and I would be greeted with smiles and "Hello Daddy" from my own children and "Hello, Uncle Glyn" from my "adopted" nieces. Later, the husband's sister, her husband, and their 17-year-old daughter arrived from China to help with the restaurant and to allow Qiaowei to graduate from High School here in the USA so she can go to college in the USA. She immediately started calling me "Uncle Glyn", and my children all took to her immediately as well.

Because these friends own and run a restaurant, Chinese New Year is a special time. Most Americans would not recognize real Chinese food, so many Chinese restaurants that are in areas without large Chinese populations serve what we call "Westernized" Chinese food, and my friends' restaurant is no exception.

However, on Chinese New Year, the REAL Chinese food comes out. After the restaurant closes, the family and restaurant employees will gather in the restaurant for a special dinner with foods that you would not see in the restaurant on any other day. My wife, children, and I are always invited to join the family on that special day as part of the family. We're the only non-Chinese there. We have always been treated as part of the family, we've been called at all hours to help with emergencies, we share good news and bad, and we've been through quite a bit together.

Family is more than just blood, and my Chinese friends here in South Carolina have taught me that. Because Chinese New Year is a celebration of family, it is the most important holiday because we share it with this special kind of family that we have here, people from different countries and cultures have come together to become a family.

Thus, Chinese New Year is a celebration of the real foundation of Chinese culture: family.

By Glyn Gowing, Ph.D. , 林子卿 博士