Lunar New Year in Distant Lands
– Musings of Dr. Jamie Hsu, 2.11.2019
On our recent cruise vacation through Australia and New Zealand, we escaped the bitter cold in Michigan and enjoyed the warm weather down under. Through a 10-day journey, we were captivated by beautiful scenery and greeted by many picturesque sunrises and sunsets.
To our pleasant surprise, we were also greeted by a variety of lunar New Year decorations and displays along the harbor, on the streets, and in the parks. The festive celebrations in the distant lands seemed to be even more intense and longer lasting than those in China.
The world is indeed getting smaller and closer, and cultures are becoming more diversified in many places. Some people have marveled at the beauty of such cultural diversity throughout the world. Yet lately, some proponents of nationalism seem to be threatened by what they consider a cultural invasion. The contrasting views have caused visible and invisible divides in politics and in policies.
A harmonious, diverse culture should be like a nicely mixed bowl of salad, where all the ingredients are visible and still maintain their unique flavors. Cultures should not be completely assimilated or blended like smoothies. Otherwise, all the individual ingredients will lose their unique textures and flavors, resulting in a bland culture. When a majority culture can embrace, but not smother other minority cultures, the mutual understanding and respect will create a rich, harmonious, and long-lasting culture. We need to be able to differentiate between the pros and cons of cultural diversity, cultural assimilation, cultural invasion, and cultural integration.
The sights of the lunar New Year celebrations in Australia and New Zealand gave me hope that someday we may indeed realize the utopian world of a multicultural pluralistic society.
“A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near.”
“海内存知己，天涯若比鄰”
海內存知己 天涯若比鄰
-作者 許俊宸博士
-中譯 薛乃綺
最近我們搭乘游輪到澳洲及紐西蘭度假，逃離了密西根州的嚴寒，去享受那邊溫暖的氣候。經過10天的旅程，我們被許多美麗的景致所吸引，並迎接了數個如詩如畫般的日出與日落。
更令人驚喜的是，我們還在當地的海港、街道及公園裡，看到了各式各樣農曆新年的裝飾與陳列。這些在外地的慶祝活動，似乎比在內地更加熱鬧、持久。
世界真的是越來越小了。在許多地方，文化已經逐漸變得多元化。也有人對世界各地這種”文化多樣性”的美好感到讚嘆。但，最近也有一些”国家主義”意識形態强烈的人觉得受到這類文化入侵的威脅。如此鮮明的對比，造成了在政治與政策上無形及有形的分歧。
一個和諧、多元的文化，應該像是碗拌勻好的沙拉，裡邊所有成份都可見，卻仍然各自保持其獨特的風味。文化不該是被完全同化、或糊在一起變成奶昔。否則，所有成份將失去其原有的質地與風味，而变成了没有特色的文化。當大宗文化能夠接受而不是扼殺其他次要文化時，就能互相理解和尊重，創造一種豐富、和諧、持久的文化。我們需要能夠區分文化多樣性、文化同化、文化入侵及文化整合的利弊。
欣賞了澳洲及紐西蘭的農曆春節慶祝活動後，讓我萌生一個希望，有朝一日我們或許能真正意識到那個多元文化、多元社會的烏托邦世界。各式各樣的人与文化都能和諧相處。正所謂”海內存知己、天涯若比鄰”！
