Then & Now | Lunar New Year for foreigners in Hong Kong: lai see headaches and gripes about pricey haircuts

For many resident foreigners not directly caught up in festivities, the holiday season in the city used to be something to be endured rather than celebrated

In some respects little has changed: earnest discussions still go on today about how much lai see to give the virtual strangers who ease their daily existence

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An expatriate purchases a miniature tangerine tree for Lunar New Year at the Flower Market in Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, in 1996. This and giving lai see is still the extent of many foreigners’ involvement in the festival. Photo: SCMP

Jason Wordie

Published: 4:45am, 24 Jan 2022

How do festivals observed by majority populations, such as Eid in the Islamic world, Diwali in India, or the Lunar New Year in China, appear to resident minorities who – for cultural, linguistic or religious reasons – find themselves excluded from all but the most accessible aspects of these celebrations?

Memoirs written by outsiders who spent part of their lives in the midst of the Chinese world – whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere – invariably describe what the Lunar New Year (generally referred to, in these accounts, as Chinese New Year) was like for those not directly caught up in festivities.

For most resident foreigners – other than the more public facets, such as fireworks displays and colourful seasonal markets, which were sources of either enjoyment or annoyance, according to individual tolerance – the Lunar New Year was simply something to be endured, with associated inconveniences and expenses managed around, as best one could.

Until statutory leave allocations were legislated for in the 1970s, domestic workers were generally absent over Lunar New Year. For most ordinary people, this was the only universally given time off; ad hoc leave was requested as the situation arose, and was usually for a wedding, immediate family member’s funeral or other major life events.

Kenneth Chan and Wong Hill-man receive lai see packets from their grandfather in Hong Kong in 1987. Photo: SCMP

Shops were closed for the entire festival period, and sometimes – depending on the business – for some time afterwards. Many Chinese working in Hong Kong had permanent homes elsewhere in China and the festival was the only time of the year they could travel to see family members.

In Fragrant Harbour – A Private View of Hong Kong (1962), University of Hong Kong lecturer and marine scientist F.D. Ommanney wryly recounted his observations about the forthcoming Lunar New Year.