02. 13. 2013

Amy Abroad- Chinese New Year

One of my best girls, Amy Har-Even is Volatizing’s newest international contributor. She has been an expat in Hong Kong for the past 5 years where she lives with her family. Amy is a mom of 3 young girls, a writer and former copy editor for Elle Decor and a children’s wear designer with her own label, Ribbon Candy. Inspried by batik fabrics found in Bali, she designs the cutest little dresses for little principessas- seriously the cutest. She just gave birth to her third little one so she has put her business on hold for a minute, but we’ll see more Ribbon Candy delights soon. Amy is hilarious and has such a unique perspective and take on the world. She and I have logged in some serious time together and I love watching the world go by with her. I’m so happy that she is going to play with us. Stay tuned for more reports from Amy Abroad.

One of Amy’s little cuties decked out for Chinese New Year in her traditional cheongsam dress.

Chinese New Year
by Amy Har-Even

It’s that time of year, when Hong Kong empties of expats and fills with mainland
Chinese tourists, here to buy luxury goods and take pictures of my blond
daughters. Those of us expats who didn’t think to book a vacation a year ago
for this week do our part by dressing our girls in cheongsams and our boys in
Chinese pajamas and wandering around town to check out the local color.

And that color is RED. For Christmas, the decorations could not be more of an
eyesore: tacky North Pole snowscapes dreamed up by people who’ve likely
never seen snow, they hew to the aesthetic that can only be described as More
is more. But for Chinese New Year—the real deal out here, obviously—Hong
Kong is significantly less tarted up and, though never subtle, the trimmings are
often lovely. That onslaught of red (lai see money envelopes, lanterns, flags and
banners galore) is tempered by the sudden preponderance of cherry blossoms
and calamansi plants—dark green bushes covered with tiny oranges—helping
the city put on a pretty face for the holiday.

And Chinese New Year would not be complete without a few deafening lion
dances. No one would blame you for thinking you’d entered a war zone if you
weren’t expecting the banging and clanging that accompanies the young men
and their brilliantly painted lion as they roam the streets, even the small villages,
nearly waking the dead with their fireworks-caliber pitch. All in all it adds up to a
fantastically festive week and by far my favorite of the Chinese holidays.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!