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Chinese lunar festival a distant memory in adopted ‘home’
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A Sri Lankan Chinese spread for the Lunar New Year. (Pix by M A Pushpa Kumara and Akila Jayawardena)
By Senuka Jayakody
Some Chinese living in Sri Lanka have scaled down their Lunar New Year celebrations, while others pass up on the festivities. There are others who have returned to China in time for the festival.
The chairman of the Lanka China Study in Sri Lanka Abroad Service Centre, Huang Mingjian, also known as Hanstavo, said the import restrictions have affected the community because decorations such as lanterns cannot be bought.
Lanting Hang
Mr Huang has stayed in Sri Lanka for three years and is planning a trip across Sri Lanka during the Lunar New Year.
Around 6 percent of the Chinese living in Sri Lanka have returned home for the Lunar New Year and are expected to return by March.
Chinese students in Sri Lanka have also returned home. So the Lanka China Study in Sri Lanka Abroad Service Centre does not celebrate the Lunar festival. But, those who have not returned to China will be joining their loved ones online.
Mr Huang likes it in Sri Lanka since the climate is warm and not cold as in China at this time.
However, Sri Lankan Chinese have mostly given up on the tradition.
Hunji Mingjian
Lanting Hang, a second-generation Chinese tailor in Maradana used to celebrate the Lunar New Year, but has not been marking the event since his father’s death.
His father had avoided serving the Chinese resistance against the Japanese invasion in the ’40s, by coming to Sri Lanka, where he married a Sinhalese woman from Kandy. He said he now celebrates the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.
He speaks fluent English and Sinhala, as well as a few words of Tamil. He says he is not fluent in Chinese.
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