Celebrity Life

Lions and tigers and lanterns, oh my! Here are the best Chinese New Year displays around town, to get in the festive mood.

In between prepping for the big family reunion dinner and gathering all your lunar new year decor, make a stop at one of these stunning installations — featuring plenty of red and gold, lucky cats and tigers, and lanterns galore.

The Best Chinese New Year Displays in Hong Kong

Citygate Outlets x Lan Lan Cat

Taiwanese LINE sticker character Lan Lan Cat is paying a visit to Lantau, dressed up as a tiger to mark the occasion. Citygate Outlet's Atrium on L2 is currently full of larger-than-life cat statues, a 'blessing tree' full of lucky firecrackers, and a pop-up with brand new Lan Lan Cat merch — snap some pics and grab a few pieces.

Citygate Outlets, 20 Tat Tung Road, Tung Chung, Lantau Island

Double Cove Place, Green Code Plaza, Grand Waterfront Plaza, and Metro Harbour Plaza

Miss travelling? This Lunar New Year special installation series takes you on a tour around the world, of different cultural lantern celebrations. Experience Seoul's Yeon Deung Hoe (Lotus Lantern Festival) at Double Cove Place, Vietnam's Hoi An Full Moon Festival at Green Code Plaza, Japan's Akita Kantō Matsuri festival at Grand Waterfront Plaza and Taiwan's Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival at Metro Harbour Plaza.

Double Cove Place, 8 Wu Kai Sha Road, Ma On Shan, New Territories
Green Code Plaza, 1 Ma Sik Road, Fanling, New Territories
Grand Waterfront Plaza, 8 San Ma Tau Street, Ma Tau Kok, Kowloon
Metro Harbour Plaza, 8 Fuk Lee Street, Tai Kok Tsui, Kowloon

Harbour City

Head to Harbour City for a few Chinese New Year displays, including "Happy Fatty New Year", featuring the first-ever Garfield x Plastic Thing collaboration (with limited-edition artworks from the Hong Kong illustrator!) and a “Garfield New Year Blessing Garden" at the atrium on the G/F of the Ocean Terminal, with a 1.5m high Tiger Garfield and 1.6m high Odie. Ask for your fortune at the Chinese candy box-shaped lucky wheel and receive some goodies (upon donation).

And “PAWsperity for ALL”, with Harbour City's Ocean Terminal Forecourt transforming into a "Lucky Lantern Pathway" with over 100 colourful lanterns and 8 giant wishing knitted balls for good luck, wealth, and health.

Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon

Langham Place x MUZIK TIGER

Langham Place is bringing us a special collaboration with Korean illustration brand MUZIKTIGER, complete with art installations, gallery walls, and the brand's first-ever pop-up in Hong Kong. Browse everything from plush toys to stationery, art cards, homeware and more. And don't forget to try out the Instagram AR Filter and WhatsApp stickers.

Langham Place, 8 Argyle Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon

Lee Gardens

Get ready for spring with blooms and blossoms at Lee Gardens' “Blooming Fortune Art Garden”. You can stroll past Hysan Place's Kai Chiu Road entrance to see a 'wishing wall' or head to its atrium for the 'floral garden'. Or make your way to Lee Garden One, for an exhibition of these large-scale floral tiger sculptures by contemporary artist Hung Yi.

And if you're missing the flower market, swing by Lee Theatre Plaza to show support to local farmers and neighbourhood florists — on from today until Monday, 31 January (11am to 7pm, at the G/F Piazza).

Hysan Place, 500 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay
Lee Garden One, 3 Hysan Avenue, Causeway Bay
Lee Theatre Plaza, 99 Percival Street, Causeway Bay

MCP Central

So many illustrated tigers! Created by Chinese artist Bu2ma, Fat Tiger (or Alexander the Tiger) is getting his own solo show at MCP Central — with a giant sculptures, blessing lanterns, large-scale scroll paintings and a pop-up with plenty of limited-edition merch.

MCP Central, 8 Yan King Road, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories

Plaza Hollywood

For the Lunar New Year, Plaza Hollywood is also paying a trip to Japan with this beautiful 'lantern art garden' with 150 floral lanterns (look at that revolving installation!), a lotus pond and wooding wishing bridge.

Plaza Hollywood, 3 Lung Poon Street, Diamond Hill, Kowloon

Times Square

Learn about the evolution of lion dance at Times Square. The shopping centre has teamed up with Keung’s Dragon & Lion Dance team and GrowthRing&Supply for a special New Year exhibition and pop-up store ("Needless and Borderless"), showcasing various traditional and modern lion dance costume heads. Don't forget to browse the pop-up for some special pieces.

Shop 517-519, 5/F, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay

(Hero image courtesy of Green Code Plaza, featured image courtesy of Harbour City)

The post The Best Chinese New Year Displays in Hong Kong for the Year of the Tiger appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Festive-themed clothing and accessories you'll be happy to keep sporting after the celebrations are over.

The post Our picks of pieces from Chinese New Year fashion collections that can be worn way after CNY appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and you know what that means! Family dinners, the memory of fireworks and parades (ah... maybe next year!), wall decorations, lion dances and the sounds of drums, and lai see!

You're bound to be familiar with the ornate red paper envelope filled with money by now. Known as lai see in Cantonese, hong bao in Mandarin and ang pao in Hokkien, this red packet is a gift given on important occasions: weddings, birthdays and, of course, during the start of the lunar new year.

Traditionally, envelopes are red (hong/ang means red, bao/pao means packet) with gold calligraphy, as the colours signify good fortune — ideal for a new year. And a tradition isn't a tradition without a few guidelines, so we've compiled everything you need to know to make sure you avoid any bad luck in your future, or worse, bad judgement right now.

How to give and receive lai see

What is lai see?

Besides myths and supernatural origins to the red packet ("The Legend of Sui" to be exact), ancient China has had a tradition of gifting coins to ward off evil spirits dating as far back as the Han Dynasty. In later years, the custom of giving money would involve threading coins with a red string or gifting them in a red colourful pouch. Newer coins would lose the hole that one could thread string through, leading to the rise of coins gifted in wrapped paper packets. And fast-forward to today, banknotes are readily available and packets, which are still red, are easy to purchase.

Who gives and who receives?

You can follow the simple "big to small" rule — that means "older to younger" and "senior to junior". Generally, lai see is given by those who are married and of higher authority, to those who are younger and single!

This includes children, unmarried loved ones and those younger than you. It also includes service providers. That's right! Your domestic helpers, your building's guards, even waitstaff — it's a way of showing gratitude to those around you.

You want to stick to even numbers. In Hong Kong, our banknotes mean you can just work in multiples of ten, making avoiding odd numbers very easy.

As we said, your amounts will vary but as a loose outline, you could go for:

• HK$20-$50 for someone you see frequently but don't know too well — such as a casual acquaintance or building staff
• HK$100 for someone you know and care about, or see very often — like your friends, family, loved ones and even someone you work above

Put different amounts in different envelopes so you can differentiate between them and make sure to stock up on red packets.

When and how do you give lai see?

You can start handing out lai see from the start of Chinese New Year, on 1 February this year, and you have all 15 days up to the Spring Lantern Festival, on 15 February.

Hold the red packet with two hands and exchange greetings — you could say kung hei fat choy or sun tai kin hong!

What if I’m receiving a red envelope?

Lucky you! Make sure to receive your lai see with both hands and express gratitude. And don't peek just yet — it's considered impolite to open a red packet in front of the person who's given it to you.

Kung hei fat choy!

(Hero image courtesy of RODNAE Productions via Pexels, featured image courtesy of Angela Roma via Pexels, image 1 courtesy of Angela Roma via Pexels, image 2 courtesy of Omid Armin via Unsplash, image 3 courtesy of Angela Roma via Pexels)

The post Chinese New Year: Your Lai See Etiquette Guide appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Start the Year of the Tiger right with this selection from the best luxury fashion brands out there.

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Pick up a range of sweet and savoury treats for gifting this lunar new year, or fill up your snack platter with an assortment of festive bites.

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Toss to a new prosperous year with the best Yu Shengs Singapore has to offer!

The post Best Yu Sheng in Singapore 2022: Toss To A Prosperous New Year appeared first on LUXUO.

Here are some of the legends and traditions, and ancient history, associated with Chinese New Year in Hong Kong.

Hongkongers love a festival — this city observes everything from Easter to the Buddha’s Birthday. And Chinese New Year is arguably the festival with the most cultural significance in Hong Kong and in the Mainland.

Celebrating the start of the Chinese lunisolar calendar’s year, you may be familiar with the festival by its other names, including Lunar New Year and Spring Festival — as it marks the end of a cold, dark winter and welcomes spring. Traditionally, you can observe the new year from the night before all the way until the Spring Lantern Festival (not to be confused with the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival).

In Hong Kong, we get three public holidays for Lunar New Year. In 2022, the first day of the lunisolar calendar will fall on Tuesday, 1 February and will welcome the Year of the Tiger — an animal known for being powerful, brave and tough in the face of adversity. Sounds exactly like what we’re in need of.

Chinese New Year in Hong Kong: Lunar legends, traditions and taboos

Origins and legends

Celebrating the start of the Lunar New Year is common in many Asian regions and countries, from Tibet and Taiwan to Korea and Vietnam, as well as for many Chinese-speaking populations like the ones in Singapore, Malaysia and so on.

The festival dates back thousands of years, when ancient Chinese people would gather and celebrate the end of the harvest — but the first record of a Chinese new year celebration is said to trace back to the Warring States period. Different dynasties would then see the cementing of different practices and rituals, such as a thorough clean of the house (Qin), worshipping of ancestors (Han), all-night eating and drinking (Jin), giving money to children (Song) and eating dumplings (Ming)… just to name a few.

With each practice came folk tales and ancient mythical origins. Here are four legends associated with Chinese New Year.

The Legend of Nian

According to ancient folklore, Chinese New Year starts with a monstrous beast. Called “Nian”, the beast’s head looked like that of a lion’s but with a sharp horn used for attacking prey. As the legend goes, Nian lived in ancient China, out in the wilderness, under the sea or, as some tales say, in the mountains, but on the last day of the lunar year, it would venture out in the middle of the night to eat villagers — especially children.

These villagers would hide away and flee before sundown to avoid the monster, but one year, an old man with silver hair came to them with promises of driving the beast away forever. As night fell, he dressed in red, lit candles and fired bamboo (an early form of firecrackers) — scaring the beast away. And so the villagers learnt of the secret weapons: the colour red, bright lights and loud noise.

After that, people did as the old man instructed every New Year's Eve, and the beast never showed up again.

The Great Zodiac Race

As we welcome a Year of the Tiger, you might recall the story of the great race — when the Jade Emperor decreed that the calendar years would be named after animals, only in the order they reached him.

As one version of the folk tale goes, many animals set off to cross a river to meet him. The Cat and the Rat hopped on the back of the Ox. As the Ox reached the other side of the river, the Rat pushed the Cat into the water and then jumped off the Ox and rushed to meet the Emperor — becoming the first animal of the zodiac calendar. The Ox had to settle for second. Then came the Tiger, strong but slowed down due to the current pushing him downstream. He became the third animal. The next animals were numbered as they arrived: the Rabbit, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Goat, the Monkey, the Rooster, the Dog and finally, the Pig.

Zào Jūn, the Kitchen God

Zao Jun is a household folk god who is said to reside in the stove or a similar area of a home, making him a god that interacts with humans the most. Known as the stove master, or stove god, Zao Jun watches over the home and family, and is in charge of their meals and livelihoods.

On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, he visits heaven to report on the status of families to the Jade Emperor. He then returns to Earth to bless or punish the families. So to avoid any punishments, on the "little new year", families will make malt candies that will sweeten his mouth so he’ll only praise the family, and stick his teeth together to stop him from saying anything bad.

The Legend of Sui (祟)

According to legend, there was an evil spirit or a demon who went by the name Sui (祟). It would appear on New Year’s Eve to come and terrify children — touching their heads three times as they slept, resulting in a fever and hallucinations. To protect their children, parents would light candles and stay besides them all night, guarding them.

On one lunar year's eve, one couple gave their child coins to play with to keep him awake. The child wrapped the coins in red paper, wrapping and unwrapping it all night. His parents placed the red paper packet with coins under his pillow. That night, when Sui came to touch the child's head, the coins flashed in the darkness and scared the demon away. And so, giving red envelopes became a way to keep children safe as well as bring good luck.

Traditions and taboos

The Lunar New year is traditionally a time to honour deities as well as ancestors. Generally, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese New Year vary widely but in Hong Kong, you're likely to be familiar with:

• The annual family reunion dinner — a time to gather with your loved ones and feast, the perfect way to start the new year. Popular dishes include steamed fish, spring rolls (see: spring!), and dumplings. And desserts and snacks include rice cakes, radish cakes and pudding.
• A thorough clean of the house, a spring clean before the new year, to sweep away ill fortune and make space for incoming good luck!
• Decorations on doors and plenty of red paper — these include pictures of the Door Gods (guardians who come to protect homes), red decorations to ward off Nian and other beasts, and upside-down calligraphy and poetry couplets about good fortune, happiness, health and wealth.
• The lighting of firecrackers and lion dance shows, and giving money in red paper envelopes (lai see).

And it's important to observe traditions and stay away from certain taboos to ensure you receive good fortune in the year — so make sure to avoid:

• Swearing and words with negative connotations like "death", "sick", "ghost" and "kill".
• Breaking ceramics, dinnerware and glass — it'll break your connection with prosperity.
• Using a broom after the new year has begun and using scissors, knives or other sharp objects.

Kung hei fat choy!

(Hero image courtesy of sippakorn yamkasikorn via Unsplash, featured image and image 2 courtesy of RootOfAllLight via Wikimedia Commons, image 1 courtesy of The Palace Museum via Wikimedia Commons, image 3 courtesy of Edward Theodore Chalmers Werner & Project Gutenberg via Wikimedia Commons, image 4 courtesy of Easton Mok via Unsplash, image 5 courtesy of Laurentiu Morariu via Unsplash)

The post Chinese New Year: Legends, Traditions and Taboos appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Modern takes on traditional symbols for Chinese New Year and beyond.

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The majestic feline lends itself well to various artistic interpretations in metiers d'art timepieces for the Chinese New Year.

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Tiger motifs and patterns take the spotlight in this timely menswear collection.

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A quick guide to deciding what stays and what goes for the new year

So, you’ve decided to partake in spring cleaning in honour of Chinese New Year, since the age-old tradition tells that clearing out homes and wardrobes before the new year is symbolic of ridding away of bad luck, and perhaps bad habits too. While it may be therapeutic for some, it’s also daunting for many; 2020 was largely spent squirrelling away matching cashmere lounge-sets and a dedicated collection of home comforts — how do you initiate the break up? Where do you start?

We’ll cut the fluff. The trick? Be ruthless. Unrelenting. Start by marking out three piles: ‘Keep’, ‘Throw’, ‘Resell’, and grab friends with good judgement and a bottle of bubbly, à la Carrie Bradshaw. Feelings may be hurt, memories rehashed, but somewhere in between there might be a gem uncovered — tucked away, once loved but forgotten — so fitting for the current style landscape. You know, what’s old is new, vintage revival and all that.

But if you find yourself really really unable to resist a good sale, we suggest trialling the ‘One in, One out’ rule — with every new piece of clothing that you bring home, one has to be taken out as replacement. Seems simple enough. A lesson learnt in not succumbing to purchases at first temptation, and keeping wardrobes neat, tidy and never over-stuffed, too. Double win.

When in conversation with the clothes pile you’ve just laid out in front of you, consider asking:

Did you wear it out in the last month?

2020 has come and gone, and with it, the penchant for languid pieces that look more like woollen throws on sofas — mostly, anyway. While we make the transition back to structured pieces that lend more purpose, it’s worth asking: “When was the last time I wore this?” Or more importantly, “Will I ever wear this out?” Perhaps it’s a piece too casual for outdoors. Or it’s been repeatedly shelved for a special occasion that, truthfully, isn’t going to happen. If you’re unwilling to simply let it go to waste, consider reselling it for a second life on luxury consignment e-tailer, Vestiaire Collective. A treasure for another’s man wardrobe and cold hard cash for you.

Is it comfortable?

If there’s was sartorial lesson learnt from the past year, it’s that we’ve truly underestimated loungewear, and from now on we’re only ever going to be found donning comfy pieces. Gone are the days of too-tight jeans, restricting frocks that limit each movement. No more pieces you can’t wait to shimmy out of once you step through the door. Whether it’s an itchy knit or a scratchy fabric, we’re not tolerating it. Into the ‘Throw’ pile they go.

Is it still in season?

You first spotted it plastered all over Instagram feeds. You’ve pondered it, sat on the idea for a good 24 hours, but you’re still thinking about it — dreaming of all its styling possibilities — so you caved and bought it. Fast forward six months later, the palpable excitement and hype all over and done. That impulse purchase? Back in its box, stuffed and wrapped, shoved to the back of your wardrobe. It’s time to be realistic. If it’s not going to have its moment in the limelight again anytime soon, without a sure bet it’ll come around again, then it’s time to bid adieu. Perhaps next time, you’ll take to something a little more timeless.

Consider these:

Is it still love?

Or rather, the more cliché question, “Does it spark joy?” If the answer is yes, pry it out of the faraway corner of your wardrobe, shake out the cobwebs and wear it! Love how good it looks. How great it feels. Find the connection. Make the commitment. Declare your affection. But if the answer’s no, there’s only one place to go. Throw. Pile. Though if it’s still in pristine condition, it could be deserving of a new life on Vestiaire.

Are you playing by the ‘One in, One out’ rule?

So you’ve got a type. We all do. But blind browsing tends lead to blind buying and before you know it, there’s too many of the same white shirts, checkered blazers, plain sneakers in your wardrobe. Sure, basics are the backbone of any well-attuned wardrobe, but like most things, best in moderation. If you’re stock-piling too many similar pieces or styles, perhaps its high-time to invest in more premium stalwart staples, or enforce the ‘One in, One out’ rule — only keep absolute favourites.

Consider these:

Please note: The prices listed are accurate upon time of publishing. Due to the nature of the Vestiaire Collective marketplace, this may have since changed.

Header image courtesy of Vestiaire Collective

The post Out With the Old: 5 Tips for Wardrobe Spring Cleaning This Chinese New Year appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.