Where is Chinese New Year celebrated?
世界上有哪些地方庆祝春节？
You might say in China of course but it’s not only there.
To answer this question correctly, we need to zoom out and look beyond just the name of the country and think globally about Chinese people and their culture.
哪里庆祝春节？
你可能说当然中国，但其实不仅仅是中国。
为了正确回答这个问题，我们需要扩大视野，不要单看国家的名字，宏观地思考中华文化。
Nǎlǐ qìngzhù chūnjié?
Nǐ kěnéng shuō dāngrán zhōngguó, dàn qíshí bùjǐn jǐn shì zhōngguó. Wèile zhèngquè huídá zhège wèntí, wǒmen xūyào kuòdà shìyě, bùyào dān kàn guójiā de míngzì, hóngguān de sīkǎo zhōnghuá wénhuà.
There’s a so-called The Chinese Cultural Circle (中华 / 汉字文化圈Zhōnghuá/ hànzì wénhuà quān) which encompasses China and its surrounding areas which used to be a part of China at some point in time or were in a close political relationship with The Chinese empire. Therefore both North and South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, even Mauritius in East Africa all have Chinese New Year celebrations. Needless to say, it is also popular in Chinatowns around the world. It’s believed that 1/6 of the world population participates in Chinese New Year festivities. In fact, you can say where the Chinese are, the culture is present!
有个所谓的中国文化圈（中华/汉字文化圈Zhōnghuá/hànzìwénhuàquān）涵盖了中国及其周边地区，这些地区在可能曾经是中国的一部分，或者与中国王朝有着密切的政治联系。因此，北朝鲜和韩国，日本，台湾，马来西亚，新加坡，越南，缅甸，泰国，印度尼西亚，菲律宾和东非的毛里求斯都举行了农历新年庆祝活动。不用说，世界各地的唐人街也庆祝春节。据说，世界有1/6人口的参加了农历新年庆祝活动。您可以说中国人在哪里，那里就有其文化，就庆祝新年！
Yǒu yīgè suǒwèi de zhōngguó wénhuà quān (zhōnghuá/hànzì wénhuà quān Zhōnghuá/hànzìwénhuàquān) hángàile zhōngguó jí qí zhōubiān dìqū, zhèxiē dìqū zài kěnéng céngjīng shì zhōngguó de yībùfèn, huòzhě yǔ zhōngguó wángcháo yǒuzhe mìqiè de zhèngzhì liánxì. Yīncǐ, běi cháoxiǎn hé hánguó, rìběn, táiwān, mǎláixīyà, xīnjiāpō, yuènán, miǎndiàn, tàiguó, yìndùníxīyà, fēilǜbīn hé dōngfēi de máolǐqiúsī dōu jǔxíngle nónglì xīnnián qìngzhù huódòng. Bùyòng shuō, shìjiè gèdì de tángrénjiē yě qìngzhù chūnjié. Jùshuō, shìjiè yǒu 1/6 rénkǒu de cānjiāle nónglì xīnnián qìngzhù huódòng. Nín kěyǐ shuō zhōngguó rén zài nǎlǐ, nàlǐ jiù yǒu qí wénhuà, yě jiù qìngzhù xīnnián!
Why are there Chinese everywhere?
为什么世界各地都有很多华人？
In the mid 19th century, due to the fall of the Chinese empire, 4 more ports were forced to open to cover the West’s ever-growing demand for tea, spices, porcelain, and silk…Because of that, a lot of workers that were working at the only harbor in Guangdong lost their jobs. *The only harbor that was opened due to the Close-door Diplomatic Policies of China was in Guangzhou (in Guandong province), near Hong Kong, where the Opium war with the British took place.
在19世纪中叶，满清政府末期，以满足西方对茶，香料，瓷器和丝绸不断增长的需求，4个港口被迫开放。因此，许多在广东唯一的港口工作的人失去了生计。 *由于满清的锁国政策，唯一开放的港口是在香港附近的广州（广东省），也是与英国的鸦片战争发生的所在地。
Zài 19 shìjì zhōngyè, mǎn qīng zhèngfǔ mòqí, yǐ mǎnzú xīfāng duì chá, xiāngliào, cíqì hé sīchóu bùduàn zēngzhǎng de xūqiú,4 gè gǎngkǒu bèi pò kāifàng. Yīncǐ, xǔduō zài guǎngdōng wéiyī dì gǎngkǒu gōngzuò de rén shīqùle shēngjì. *Yóuyú mǎn qīng de suǒguó zhèngcè, wéiyī kāifàng dì gǎngkǒu shì zài xiānggǎng fùjìn de guǎngzhōu (guǎngdōng shěng), yěshì yǔ yīngguó de yāpiàn zhànzhēng fāshēng de suǒzàidì.
If you think the history of African slavery was cruel, “Chinese Volunteer” was the later version of it.
With the ban of African slavery, some western countries like Spain, Portuguese and The Netherlands started importing cheap labors from China and India to work at different plantations, mines, construction sites of bridges and railways, even battlefields. Like that people were sent to different parts of the world, to the U.S., Canada, Cuba, Peru…
如果您觉得非洲奴隶制的这段历史很残酷的，那么“中国志工”就是它新的版本。随着非奴制在各地被废止，西班牙、葡萄牙和荷兰等西方国家就开始从中国和印度进口廉价劳工，去不同的农园、矿坑做苦力，或送去做筑桥和修铁路的危险工地，甚至到战场上搬运屍体。就这样，人们被送往世界各地，到美国，加拿大，古巴，秘鲁等地方…
Rúguǒ nín juédé fēizhōu núlì zhì de zhè duàn lìshǐ hěn cánkù de, nàme “zhōngguó zhì gōng” jiùshì tā xīn de bǎnběn. Suízhe fēi nú zhì zài gèdì bèi fèizhǐ, xībānyá, pútáoyá hé hélán děng xīfāng guójiā jiù kāishǐ cóng zhōngguó hé yìndù jìnkǒu liánjià láogōng, qù bùtóng de nóng yuán, kuàngkēng zuò kǔlì, huò sòng qù zuò zhù qiáo hé xiū tiělù de wéixiǎn gōngdì, shènzhì dào zhànchǎng shàng bānyùn shītǐ. Jiù zhèyàng, rénmen bèi sòng wǎng shìjiè gèdì, dào měiguó, jiānádà, gǔbā, bìlǔ děng dìfāng…
Some people from the West like to joke around saying Chinese people came like a plague and spread everywhere. But very often they forgot about the history of colonization. Chinese workers were brought to the West by their ancestors and some were even tricked to work under very harsh conditions and were treated unfairly. For the Chinese, it wasn’t intentional, it was all about survival. It was a matter of life and death of the whole family, many took only one-time advance payment or just a broken promise in hope to save the family from dying of hunger. A great deal of them never made it back to their homeland to see their loved love ones. Some lucky ones had their names carved on their gravestones in a foreign land but many of them just got forgotten in history.
西方有些人喜欢开玩笑说中国人民像瘟疫一样到处传播。但是很多时候他们忘记了殖民历史。中国工人是由他们的祖先带到西方的，有些甚至被骗，在非常恶劣的条件下工作，受到许多不公平的对待。对于中国人来说，这也不是他们想要的，只是无奈于生存。因为关系到整个家庭的生死攸关，许多人只接受了一次预付款，或是一句假话，希望一家人免于死于饥饿，就踏上了不归路，许多人从未有机会返乡再见亲人一面。幸运的话，异死他乡，墓碑上还刻有自己的名字，但有更多人却只能被遗忘在历史上。
Xīfāng yǒuxiē rén xǐhuān kāiwánxiào shuō zhōngguó rénmín xiàng wēnyì yīyàng dàochù chuánbò. Dànshì hěnduō shíhòu tāmen wàngjìle zhímín lìshǐ. Zhōngguó gōngrén shì yóu tāmen de zǔxiān dài dào xīfāng de, yǒuxiē shènzhì bèi piàn, zài fēicháng èliè de tiáojiàn xià gōngzuò, shòudào xǔduō bù gōngpíng de duìdài. Duìyú zhōngguó rén lái shuō, zhè yě bùshì tāmen xiǎng yào de, zhǐshì wúnài yú shēngcún. Yīnwèi guānxì dào zhěnggè jiātíng de shēngsǐyōuguān, xǔduō rén zhǐ jiēshòule yīcì yùfù kuǎn, huò shì yījù jiǎ huà, xīwàng yījiā rén miǎn yú sǐ yú jī’è, jiù tà shàng liǎo bù guī lù, xǔduō rén cóng wèi yǒu jīhuì fǎn xiāng zàijiàn qīnrén yīmiàn. Xìngyùn dehuà, yì sǐ tāxiāng, mùbēi shàng hái kè yǒu zìjǐ de míngzì, dàn yǒu gèng duō rén què zhǐ néng bèi yíwàng zài lìshǐ shàng.
You might be able to recognize them through the faces of their offsprings like I have some friends from Central and South America, Thailand, Indonesia whose grandpa or grandma were Chinese, some could even speak my grandmother’s dialect! And good things did happen too as many revolutionists like the founding father of the Republic of China “Sun Yat-sen” was in fact one of those overseas Chinese (华人huá rén). With the termination of hunger, they were able to pursue something far greater with the resources abroad and were able to collaborate together to overthrow the Chinese Empire in 1911 (满清帝国Mǎn qīng dìguó).
您也许可以透过他们的后代的面孔来认出他们，就像我有一些来自中南美洲，泰国，印度尼西亚的朋友，他们的祖父或祖母是中国人，甚至有些人会说我祖母的方言，有他乡遇故知的感觉！
历史上也确实因此发生了好事，因为许多革命主义者，例如中华民国开国之父“孙中山”，他就是当时海外的华侨之一。不再饥饿的情况下，他们追求更高境界的自由，他们利用国外的资源内外合作，推翻了1911年的满清。
Nín yěxǔ kěyǐ tòuguò tāmen de hòudài de miànkǒng lái rèn chū tāmen, jiù xiàng wǒ yǒu yīxiē láizì zhōngnán měizhōu, tàiguó, yìndùníxīyà de péngyǒu, tāmen de zǔfù huò zǔmǔ shì zhōngguó rén, shènzhì yǒuxiē rén huì shuō wǒ zǔmǔ de fāngyán, yǒu tāxiāng yù gùzhī de gǎnjué! Lìshǐ shàng yě quèshí yīncǐ fāshēngle hǎoshì, yīnwèi xǔduō gémìng zhǔyì zhě, lìrú zhōnghuá mínguó kāiguó zhī fù “sūnzhōngshān”, tā jiùshì dāngshí hǎiwài de huáqiáo zhī yī. Bù zài jī’è de qíngkuàng xià, tāmen zhuīqiú gèng gāo jìngjiè de zìyóu, tāmen lìyòng guówài de zīyuán nèiwài hézuò, tuīfānle 1911 nián de mǎn qīng.
It truly was one of the major migrations in human history and that’s why you can see Chinese everywhere today. It’s sad to talk about it. But what would be even sadder is not understanding the history and not learning from it. I am definitely not saying that the East should hate the West, the same thing happen so many times in history and different places. Colonization or let’s say politics is a game of powers, the wealthy exploit the poor and it happens everywhere even beyond the colors of skin. To diminish local powers to gain better control, the rulers would kill all the locals and build the place from scratch, like the massacres in America and Indonesia. Or crusaders fought in the name of Christianity. Some softer measures would be forbidding locals to trade, to get a decent job, and impose a lot of tax like what happened in Ireland (Northern Irish Conflict). For sure, somethings like this are still happening today one way or the other.
确实，这是人类历史上的主要大迁徙之一，这就是为什么今天到处都可以看到华人的原因。听起来好像很可怜，但是更可悲的是不了解历史，没能向历史学习又重蹈覆彻。我绝对不是在说东方人应该恨西方，同一件事在历史上和不同地方其实发生过很多次。殖民又或者说政治，就是权力的博弈，富人剥削穷人，这种事无处不在，甚至不是肤色的差异可以去概括的。为了削减地方势力以获得更好的控制权，统治者往往杀死当地所有人，就像西班牙在美洲和荷兰人在印度尼西亚的大屠杀一样，又或者以基督教的名义参加十字军东征。一些较宽松的政策通常是禁止当地人进行交易，以经济控制他们，并征收大量税款，就像爱尔兰北部（北爱尔兰冲突）那样。可以肯定的是，诸如此类的事情今天仍在以某种形式发生。
Quèshí, zhè shì rénlèi lìshǐ shàng de zhǔyào dà qiānxǐ zhī yī, zhè jiùshì wèishéme jīntiān dàochù dōu kěyǐ kàn dào huárén de yuányīn. Tīng qǐlái hǎoxiàng hěn kělián, dànshì gèng kěbēi de shì bù liǎojiě lìshǐ, méi néng xiàng lìshǐ xuéxí yòu chóng dǎo fù chè. Wǒ juéduì bùshì zài shuō dōngfāng rén yīnggāi hèn xīfāng, tóngyī jiàn shì zài lìshǐ shàng hé bùtóng dìfāng qíshí fāshēngguò hěnduō cì. Zhímín yòu huòzhě shuō zhèngzhì, jiùshì quánlì de bóyì, fù rén bōxuè qióngrén, zhè zhǒng shì wú chù bùzài, shènzhì bùshì fūsè de chāyì kěyǐ qù gàikuò de. Wèile xuējiǎn dìfāngshìlì yǐ huòdé gèng hǎo de kòngzhì quán, tǒngzhì zhě wǎngwǎng shā sǐ dāngdì suǒyǒu rén, jiù xiàng xībānyá zài měizhōu hé hélán rén zài yìndùníxīyà de dà túshā yīyàng, yòu huòzhě yǐ jīdūjiào de míngyì cānjiā shízì jūn dōng zhēng. Yīxiē jiào kuānsōng de zhèngcè tōngcháng shì jìnzhǐ dāngdì rén jìnxíng jiāoyì, yǐ jīngjì kòngzhì tāmen, bìng zhēngshōu dàliàng shuì kuǎn, jiù xiàng ài’ěrlán běibù (běi ài’ěrlán chōngtú) nàyàng. Kěyǐ kěndìng de shì, zhūrúcǐlèi de shìqíng jīntiān réng zài yǐ mǒu zhǒng xíngshì fǎ shēng.
这些历史事件教了我们什么？
What is the history trying to teach us?
So what did these historical events tell us? It’s telling us that drawing a line, choosing a side, putting a label, and being divided has always been the start of misunderstanding and trigger of war and is NEVER the answer. Feminism, racism, nationalism, LGBT, you name it. The world IS full of possibilities and differences. I believe mutual understanding and love can be the ultimate answer to all. Let me know what you think with a comment below!
我们若是中间画一条线，选边站，贴上标签，选择分裂，这始终是误会和战争的开始，永远都不是答案。女权主义，种族主义，民族主义，LGBT，一堆标签随便你说。这个多彩缤纷的世界本来就由不同的可能性和差异构成的。我相信相互理解和爱会是所有问题的最终答案。如果有什么收获或想法，欢迎在下方留言告诉我！
Wǒmen ruòshì zhōngjiān huà yītiáo xiàn, xuǎn biān zhàn, tiē shàng biāoqiān, xuǎnzé fēnliè, zhè shǐzhōng shì wùhuì hé zhànzhēng de kāishǐ, yǒngyuǎn dōu bùshì dá’àn. Nǚquán zhǔyì, zhǒngzú zhǔyì, mínzú zhǔyì,LGBT, yī duī biāoqiān suíbiàn nǐ shuō. Zhège duōcǎi bīnfēn de shìjiè běnlái jiù yóu bu tóng de kěnéng xìng hé chāyì gòuchéng de. Wǒ xiāngxìn xiānghù lǐjiě hé ài huì shì suǒyǒu wèntí de zuìzhōng dá’àn. Rúguǒ yǒu shé me shōuhuò huò xiǎngfǎ, huānyíng zài xiàfāng liúyán gàosù wǒ!
Acapoti 喝杯茶看世界 