My Australia: Episode 13 - Part 3

Hi, excuse me.
Yeah, hi.
Hi, what do you know about Chinese New Year?
Oh, Chinese New Year, I really like it. I’m from Korea.
So do you celebrate Chinese New Year?
Of course. It’s a big celebrating.
Have you ever celebrated Chinese New Year?
No, I haven’t.
Have you ever been to the parade or anything like that?
No, I haven’t.
What do you know about Chinese New Year? Anything?
I don’t know much.
No, I’m actually from Canada.
Oh, I’m sorry.
My parents are of Korean background so we do celebrate Chinese New Year.
Okay. So tell me about what you do for Chinese New Year.
We have the rice cake soup, and all those fancy traditional foods.
Traditional food in China for New Year is dumpling, dumpling.
Okay.
Spring roll.
We make the special foods.
Special food?
Yeah, special food in home.
Have a few dinners, get red bags, you know.
It’s all good for me.
Tell me about the red bags.
Oh it’s basically a Chinese tradition where you get money within the bags and hand it
to our kids so we have spending money.
So what did you do last year?
Shit, what did we do ..?
Can't remember.
Oh, my God.
How does Chinese New Year in Hong Kong compare to in Australia?
I think in Australia it’s really boring but, sorry to say that, but in Hong Kong it’s
much more fun,
like we have like four public holidays and then we can go just travelling,
and I went to Japan with my family, after like celebrating the first day of the New
Year.
Oh, so you went on holiday with your family?
Yep, we went to Japan.
Oh, okay.
Went to Osaka with our family.
In Hong Kong or in China they are really keen on this festival because it is actually the
most important festival in China.
Okay.
So have you ever celebrated Chinese New Year here in Australia?
Ah, no.
Okay.
Yeah, I only celebrate Christmas.
Okay.
Weiping has never celebrated Chinese New Year in Australia.
Let’s see how it compares to the one back home.
My name is Weiping.
Back home I live in Ningbo which is two hour drive distance from Shanghai, China.
I have been living in Adelaide for three years.
At Adelaide Uni I studied law and accounting.
Later on I applied for a PhD at University of South Australia.
So I got accepted and got a scholarship for three years program.
Adelaide is a little, cosy place and it’s handy.
You always know where you go and not very cramped.
You know, you always, you have the Parklands.
People are very nice and friendly.
Thank you. See you later.
See ya.
I live in a very big house.
I live downstairs, and my landlords, they live upstairs.
Well done. Wunderbar. Well done.
My housemates and I we usually come and help Margie with cooking and you know,
even sometimes we go shopping together.
I like swimming.
I just like water so anything to do with water I like it.
I like you know, go to the sea, go to the beach, yeah, anything to do with water, I
like it.
I’ve never been to Chinese New Year celebration in China Town in Australia before.
Hi, Weiping.
Ah, Weiping, welcome to Australia, welcome to Chinatown Adelaide.
Thanks. I have been here for a while,
Have you?
But I never ...
Haven’t seen you around.
I never been to the celebration here yet.
Ah yes, very different in China. Where do you come from?
Ningbo.
Ningbo. Yes.
This is a tag.
Oh okay, thanks.
To official so that you can walk around and help out, alright.
Alright.
So you will help Pam and then you will help Doctor Gan, Doctor Gan with the lion dance
later.
Nice to meet you yes.
I think a lot of Malaysian and Hong Kongese they came many years ago,
and they possibly have a different perspective looking at Chinese New Year and is a way how
they celebrate it.
Could be a bit different.
Here we have a like a group celebration, community celebration, the whole, a lot of people coming,
you know, not just the the Chinese you know, all the Australian, people from the street,
all come up and you know, have a celebration which is good.
I come from Hong Kong and I arrive here 1974.
I’m marrying an Australian, and mate, I’m Aussie,
I’m Aussie, Oi, oi, oi.
In the last four years I think the Chinese population maybe doubled.
Ah, doubled, yes.
When I came to Australia forty years ago you walk around town. After half an hour maybe
you see one Chinese.
Another hour, you see one Indian.
But today, wherever you go, you see Chinese, Indians,
There are lots of Chinese.
Africans,
All sorts of people.
all living together as one.
Hello, Happy New Year.
My region, we are not very involved with lion dancing but we have like a shows,
like people walking, around dressing up you know, any characters, but not too much lion
dancing.
This is where we start.
We meet the lion dance here, then go into the markets, meet the people.
Give them all the little red packets and make them very, very happy.
Uh huh.
Happy New Year.
Lion dancing, giving away lollies,
and it was certainly a new experience for me as a Chinese in Australia.
It’s so different.
During the Spring festival usually we visit extended families,
and ah, like aunties and uncles, they come over, we always have a feast,
our feast together and and we have for kids they have fireworks.
Hello,
How, are you? so what are you going to do on the stage today?
We’re doing a dance, two dance.
Yes, what’s that? What are they?
One’s about the Chinese New Year performance and the other’s a dance about the pandas
coming to Australia, I think.
Hello.
My name is Weiping.
Chinese New Year means a lot when you’re away from your hometown.
So how do you think of Australia?
Well, is heaven.
Is a heaven, a heaven, in every way, in space, air, people, the culture.
It’s just the caring, you know, is not savage people here.
How do you find it now? You’ve been here four years.
Yeah, I like the wide open space, you know, the atmosphere.
Looking, so many Chinese together celebrating Chinese New Year.
I was actually, it was very touched by, you know, how wonderful it is to be part of it.
Some of the people I have spoken to today say have been here for thirty or forty years
and it has taken them so many years to build up a Chinese community in Australia.
And they work hard to achieve what they have, I mean, what we have now.
So, I am very proud of them.
There are a lot of ways to celebrate a new year, but I think Chinese New year looks pretty
cool.
That’s our show for today. Here’s what’s coming up next week.
Ken gets involved in a State election on voting day.
Michelle volunteers for the Animal Welfare League,
and Raymund explores a trash and treasure market.
See you then.