As Asian-Americans across the US marked the Lunar New Year on Tuesday, they could celebrate by eating Mickey Mouse-shaped tofu, sporting a pair of Year of the Pig-inspired Nike shoes and by snacking on pricey cupcakes.
The delicacies and traditions that once made a generation of Asian-Americans feel foreign are now fodder for merchandizing. Between now and Feb. 17, Disney California Adventure Park is offering “Asian eats” that include the Mickey-shaped tofu and purple yam macarons. Nike is issuing a limited-edition Chinese New Year collection of shoes with traditional Chinese patchwork. Housewares giant Williams Sonoma has a slew of Lunar New Year dishware, and its Web site offers a set of nine “Year of the Pig” cupcakes for US$80.
Robert Passikoff, a marketing consultant and founder of Brand Keys Inc, said there has been a “reawakening” in the past few years of the US’ world view of China, but it is also about differentiating your business and growing revenue, not necessarily inclusion.
Photo: AP
“They’re not there as social workers to create harmony among the disenfranchised people,” Passikoff said. “The other side is brands are all looking for an itch, they’re all looking for some way to engage customers. And if the Lunar New Year will do it, why not?”
Chinese fast-food chain Panda Express (熊貓快餐) funded a New Year’s-themed interactive exhibit inside a Los Angeles mall. “The House of Good Fortune: A Lunar New Year,” includes different rooms showcasing customs, like a room of “flying” red envelopes and a “hall of long noodles,” a customary dish that symbolizes long life.
Crazy Rich Asians cast member Harry Shum Jr (岑勇康) promoted the exhibition and brushed off those who may scoff at the company’s efforts.
Photo: AP
“I think it’s good to be reminded of these traditions. It’s been so important for many generations before us to try and pass that on and also experience it in a new way,” Shum said.
Andrea Cherng, Panda Restaurant Group Inc’s (熊貓餐飲集團) chief marketing officer and the daughter of Chinese-American founders Andrew Cherng (程正昌) and Peggy Cherng (蔣佩琦), said she knows some Asian-Americans will roll their eyes.
“Now the reality about Panda is that we were many people’s first Chinese experience in the US,” Andrea Cherng said. “But then what a fantastic opportunity for us to be able to bridge cultures and bring to them our interpretation of what’s so special about this holiday.”
Christopher Tai, 37, of San Francisco, recently bought a Golden State Warriors jersey specially made for the Lunar New Year as a gift for his girlfriend’s father. The design includes the Chinese character for “warrior.” He said the jersey shows an effort at inclusion.
“They’re recognizing an underrepresented part of their fan base,” Tai said.
However, he wonders if shoppers who snap up Williams Sonoma dishware will come away learning anything.
“I feel like a lot of people are attracted to these aesthetic elements like say red, dragons, dogs or shiny gold, without really knowing the significance of the colors and symbols and what the animals mean,” Tai said.
Most Chinese traditionally ring in the Lunar New Year, which is assigned one of 12 animals each year off the Chinese zodiac, with a family dinner the evening before. The meals typically include a whole chicken, a whole fish, pork, noodles, spring rolls and dumplings, whose shape resembles ancient Chinese gold ingot currency.
Other customs include giving money-filled red envelopes to children or single young adults and sharing mandarin oranges, which represent good fortune. The celebrations, which are also commemorated in Vietnam and other countries with ethnic Chinese communities, can last up to two weeks.
As Asian populations in the US and social media use grow, it is easier for people to be aware of the holiday and its customs.
Xi Chen, who is from China and teaches Mandarin to middle-schoolers in Hamilton, Massachusetts, incorporated dumpling making as part of her Lunar New Year lesson.
“We don’t have many Asian restaurants in town. Some students told me it was the first time in their life they’ve tried dumplings,” Chen said.
Stella Loh, 39, of Los Altos, California, said as a kid, she often got questions like, “Didn’t we already celebrate the new year?”
Now, however, even non-Asian co-workers have been wishing her a happy new year.
“I’d never really brought it up before,” Loh said. “It’s always nice to know people who aren’t Chinese recognize a piece of your own culture.”
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
RSS