I know I’m not alone when I say that I don’t particularly like the “visiting relatives” part of Chinese New Year activities. The original intention, was to foster closer family ties. Back in China, maybe this was useful, and probably still is. In those days, when you were in trouble and you had no one else to turn to, you can always turn to family. “Blood is thicker than water”, so the saying goes.

Nowadays though, from my observation, “family” doesn’t extend too much past your own immediate family – your own kids, and your own parents. I bet not many people have close ties with their nephews, nieces and cousins – let alone their grand-aunts, grand-uncles, and other distantly related “relatives”. Personally, my friends are closer to me than my cousins and nieces and nephews. I have some friends who are the same too – their friends are closer to them than their relatives.

(As a quick aside, when my brother got married, 75% of the people who turned up at the wedding dinner were strangers to me, but my mom said those were our “relatives”. Yeah I’d never seen them before, let alone my brother).

When you partake in this “visiting relatives” thing, suddenly you are reminded WHY you don’t like this part. They would ask you embarrassing questions, or would pry into your private affairs. Or worse still, your own parents might even ridicule you in front of your “relatives”. Yeah Asian parents do that – it’s their way to “motivate” their own kids to “do better”.
Continue reading Irritating Things Parents And Relatives Do During Chinese New Year →