Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
Hello everybody. Welcome to a special Spring Festival edition of Roundtable.
I'm He Young, coming to you from Beijing.
Today we're celebrating the spirit and significance of the Chinese New Year.
For the Chinese people, this holiday is about family, honoring traditions, and ushering in a new year full of hope and prosperity.
We're so excited to have two wonderful guests joining us via video link from Africa.
And here they are, Bernard Mamani, Editorial Director with Capitol FM in Kenya, and Jean -Paul Lam, President of New Chinatown Foundation in Mauritius.
Welcome, gentlemen.
Hi, Hayang, and thank you for having me on the show this morning.
Hi, Hayang, hi, Bendo, and hi, everyone.
Great. It's lovely to have you both on the show.
As China and Africa continue to build stronger ties, especially in trade, culture, and community, our guests will share how this celebration is bringing people together across continents.
Let's dive right in.
To kick things off… east of Madagascar.
Little Ireland, 1 .3 million of inhabitants, and then you have the best sale in the world, white sandy beaches, very famous, and a very big diversity of multicultural countries.
Chinese New Year is the official public holiday.
Oh, wow. So you guys get some time off.
Yes, we're going to take one day off by the government, but normally all the Chinese community, we're going to take one week off.
A long holiday is spending with families.
Yeah, that's exactly what the Chinese New Year is about for the Chinese people.
And also, Jean, you are from a family moved to Mauritius a few generations ago, right?
Tell us a little bit more about your family's history.
We can say Chinese history we have is more than 240 years of migrants to Mauritius.
But my family, the LAM family or the LIM family, I'm the fourth generation.
At home, we still speak Hakka or Mandarin.
But normally in Mauritius, everyone is very diverse and very multi -language, we can sing.
We'd love to hear how you celebrate the Chinese New Year and what you enjoy the most.
Ancient Kung Fu and other activities is not something you can learn overnight.
So to really practice and join in with the Chinese people to celebrate this big holiday, I already feel the festivity in the air.
And tell us a little bit more about that, Bernard.
You know, just like you rightly said, some of the moves we see them perform are not something somebody can learn within a day.
And it's even more fascinating when we are told that most of them have actually learned them here in Kenya.
Some of them, when I got a chance to speak to some of them and they told me they've never set foot in China, but they've learned all that here.
I mean, the choreographs, the moves, I mean, it's just so interesting to watch how they are able to coordinate so well doing all this and how they've embraced the Chinese culture, you know.
And that is a really very good kind of exchange that we're having of cultures.
Yes, that's a great sentiment to share and also to get everybody involved with, you know, as a Chinese person to hear, you know, with your culture.
That's something of pride and also just.
Take pictures, do a lot of TikTok.
But the Chinese and non -Chinese also become, it's starting to become popular.
This is what we say, the Chinese spirit.
We work a whole year.
We don't take leave.
We don't take holidays.
We work very hard. The Chinese New Year is one week we go for a break and then we keep sharing, giving gifts away and then share good times together with you.
Well, when you say that a lot of Chinese people don't take any days off during the year and it kind of coincides with how we generally perceive Chinese people.
We're very diligent, hardworking.
And, you know, it's finally the time that you have almost the perfect excuse to slow down a little bit and to truly enjoy your time.
Yeah, that's still, I think, sort of a mindset very much alive here at home in Beijing and in China, I feel.
And also you mentioned sharing.
That's something that isn't always mentioned.
But when I think about it, yeah, that is so true.
That could be also another.
Kung Fu, the acrobatics, you know, it's just so fascinating, so interesting.
When I try to compare our culture with China in terms of food, for example, in Kenya, we are not used to having so much food on the table at a go.
but when you go to you're invited for dinner or lunch uh the for with chinese friends you know you get to eat a lot of food you know a variety of them and uh it is just and it becomes even better uh during this particular uh season of the chinese new year celebrations uh you get to eat a lot of various
foods and it's really really really interesting i think you should be having these kind of celebrations even more.
Bernard, what's your favorite dish?
Wow, you mean Chinese food?
Yeah. Beijing duck always.
I also like the dumplings.
Yeah, that's something definitely us northerners in China, we definitely have for spring festival.
And because, you know, it's quite soft and, you know, it's wrapped in dough and has delicious filling.
yeah in a way it's like a little token of unity and we definitely have to have it for the Chinese New Year and it's something that I really enjoy.
Sometimes I want to add also because during the dinner there's sometimes I've got a few friends say wow so much food what it was sometimes it's too much food but I want to share also because normally a Chinese community at home we are quite we save a lot, we are quite saving money.
We don't, we eat very simple, we don't, but the Chinese New Year is the time we want to bring a lot of food on the table and share it to people.
It's just the moment we are so happy because in New Year, we believe that the more we share, the more we are going to get.
Yes, indeed. And Bernard, you work in the media in Kenya.
Could you tell us a bit more about how the Chinese New Year as well as news stories from China are being covered over there?
Well, if I speak about media coverage, I'll say as compared to activities of the Chinese community and the Chinese calendar, I think the Chinese New Year is widely covered because you will see it in most television stations.
You'll see it in newspapers.
widely covered uh from couple of them i'll say for example we usually do a live stream on youtube we do it on social media as well and we dedicate the whole of that week we actually dedicate a page where you'll be able to find chinese new year celebrations capturing various events that are usually done
here in kenya so it's really a big event it's a big news event for us Well, speaking of media and also maybe a little bit of entertainment, well, the China media group or previously known as, you know, CCTV Spring Festival Gala has become a contemporary tradition for the Chinese people when we consider
our celebrations, especially on Chinese New Year's Eve.
I wonder if you've heard anything about this spring festival gala in the past or have you caught a glimpse of it maybe on social media?
Bernard, this question is still for you.
Yeah, I've watched the event and it's really, really, really colorful.
I don't know whether you want me to speak to any specific one that I've enjoyed.
I really spent a lot of time watching the dance of the lucky fish.
You know, the girls that are seen dancing in water, making really nice moves, the costumes.
I mean, the way they dance is really something you just want to replay.
You want to keep replaying.
And I think it sets a really good, good mood for the Chinese New Year celebrations.
And I hope to watch even more.
And Jean, originally your family's from China, and you can understand Mandarin, so you must have caught this show before, right?
What is it like watching in Mauritius?
For my family, it's quite a tradition.
I guess for a few families in Mauritius also, when we have all parents out here, it's quite a tradition.
It is the next day at noon that we are going to sit down and watch together the CCTV chun -wan, the Gala Show.
We're going to watch it on TV.
We're going to have lunch together and watch it on TV and enjoy.
Nobody was very fascinated with all the creativity because we were expecting new shows here and there.
I remember last year, it was the Stun Bridge.
very stone bridge it did makes me feel that the stone is step by step because when we were talking about China, I'm born in 1978 people were laughing but now the economic boom of China, everything it is a modern China and then you have the show very disciplined very radiant, beautiful it made people
dreams and then the show So, yeah, you can see a lot compared to before, a lot of fusion.
I do organize a lot of events in my life.
I guess I have at least 1 ,000 events that I have been organizing.
I have 600 events in Mauritius, almost 400 events in China that I have been organizing.
But when you see the organization of the level of the standard, for me, it's just a perfection.
It's cutting edge. It's definitely a lot of work behind the scenes.
It takes months for the folks behind the production team to put it together.
One makes me ask every time, how can you every year push the lever up?
It's only so high and you keep pushing it every year.
When you look at business, wow, that easy.
Well, I suppose our colleagues in China Media Group, they're under a lot of pressure because you're in the spotlight.
You know hundreds of millions of people are going to be watching this.
So the pressure really is on, and they pull out all the stops in terms of creativity, technology, and also just lining different shows up for a fantastic performance.
Yeah, they really try very, very hard.
And in what ways does the celebration of the Chinese New Year foster greater cultural exchange between Kenya and China from your perspective, Bernard?
uh i think it plays a great role because it's a time uh to showcase china to kenya and for kenya to also learn more about china you know in terms of food in terms of culture you know on this particular day for example you'll see how colorful the the venues are the lanterns all over and uh they usually
actually put even desks where you can be able to ask so many questions about china anything you want to know about china how to go to china places to visit in china how to learn mandarin and all that you know and uh even you get the confucius institutes uh putting up desks uh to to register people you
know if you want to learn mandarin or you want to join the universities and uh even the embassy actually puts up a desk and uh gives people information on how to apply for visa so this really helps to foster that kind of understanding answering all the questions anybody wants to know and above all also the entertainment
that really brings China and Kenya together so I believe it's part of the spirit of the Chinese New Year And Jean in Mauritius, how do you think this celebration of the biggest holiday for the Chinese people can help locals maybe to foster a friendly sentiment towards the country and the culture and maybe
vice versa as well?
For us, it's for us emotions, we find it very natural.
It's seen that it brings the trust, it brings the fusion of cultures.
You can see when we do a lot of my events, for example, We have a lot of songs, a lot of shows.
We have different communities putting together, singing together.
We have local motion celebrities coming and singing together with the Chinese celebrities coming from China.
So the fusion, the mix, the good understanding is here.
And especially what I like, when the cultural show is very active, is very vibrant, it makes the young generation say, hey, mom, I want to go to China.
I want to check. Maybe I want to learn Mandarin.
It's going to bridge here and there.
And then anything also for businesses, sometimes it's a good opportunity for all our businesses.
We meet the clients, we share around the food, understanding the bridge, we're bridging the connection between that.
The Chinese New Year has been added to the UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
And that's been seen as a huge milestone for the Chinese people.
Do you think this can also contribute to getting people more excited and interested in Chinese culture, and especially during this period of time?
Yes, I agree. Actually, this is a big milestone, because Chinese is one of the official languages in the UN, for example.
so and this is because it's spoken by so many people more than one billion people uh in the world and uh it is in fact uh i think it was so it was it it ought to have been done so so long ago uh adding it to to to to unesco because this celebration is huge it is equally celebrated by more than one billion people
across the world so it is actually it was long overdue i will say for it to have been added.
So it is a huge milestone, and I believe it's going to post more understanding cultural exchange across the world and for more people even to get to understand the Chinese culture.
I think it's part of opening up China even more to the world.
Thank you. For us, the Chinese EU has intangible cultural heritage.
We are so proud. We are so proud like this.
even this year we have noticed one thing, is people start asking, we have a lot of performances, they are going to search deeper for the meaning of a tradition, more discovery of a culture.
And then it becomes, it just opens the eyes of the whole nation, the whole people are asking, are so curious about the Chinese culture.
Because before, you can say the Chinese New Year is a little bit more only for Chinese, now it's just become more popularized, and the openness, especially I like to say the openness of the Chinese culture, make the young become more and more interesting.
Yes, and as we conclude our conversation today, what are your best wishes for our listeners as they celebrate the Chinese New Year, wherever they are in the world?
From Nairobi, Kenya, I want to wish the Chinese people, the Chinese community, all the best and success throughout the year.
May they continue sharing.
I mean, it's a time to share and celebrate, so let this continue, this festive mood of the new year.
I wish all the Chinese community, all the people around the world, keep sharing, sharing the love, sharing the joy that we have.
And today's discussion has truly highlighted the beautiful ways in which the spirit of the The Chinese New Year is shared beyond borders, whether in Kenya, Mauritius or China.
The Chinese New Year is a time to celebrate family, hope and the promise of new beginnings.
A heartfelt thank you to our wonderful guests.
Bernard Momani, editorial director with Capital FM in Kenya and Jean -Paul Lam, president of New Chinatown Foundation in Mauritius.
Thank you for having us on the show and having to share with us and be with you.
our perspectives of the new year thank you very much thank you all it's a great honor to be among us and to share our our perspective of our chinese year and wish all the best and happy new year to everyone and it's been a pleasure having you with us wishing all of you wherever you are all joyful and prosperous
chinese new year
