New Year, New Post

We’ve entered a new year here in the PRC, the Year of the Golden Rabbit. For anyone thinking this is a ridiculously late New Year’s post, keep in mind Chinese holidays follow the traditional lunar calendar, so the year started on February 3rd (making this just an oddly late New Year’s post).

 Pictured here is one of five very collectible (to me) 红包 I got this year. 红包 (hong2bao1) are literally “red envelopes” that adults give to children during the first weeks of the new year, usually filled with “lucky” amounts of money. Though it’s not unheard of, it’s strange to give 红包 to adults.

The Trix rabbit, on the other hand, is basically unheard of in the PRC, since Trix cereal isn’t sold here; these 红包 came with a box of Cheerios. Nor are there any commercials using the line, “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.”

I almost wonder whether, instead of just being chosen because it’s the only General Mills rabbit mascot, the Trix rabbit isn’t suddenly appearing here as part of an obscure joke, the unspoken English catch-phrase changing to “Silly rabbit*, 红包 are for kids.” The Chinese on the envelope is 茁壮成长(zhuo2zhuang4cheng2zhang3), “Growing/maturing vigorously.”  Taken together, it’s almost like saying, “My, but you’re getting big so fast…guess this will be your last 红包.” Or maybe it’s only me that makes that connection.

For anyone wondering why the 福 (fu2) on the rabbit’s cereal bowl is upside-down, this is a widely followed tradition. The 福 or “luck” hanzi is usually hung upside-down, because the Chinese for  upside-down, 倒 (dao4), sounds like the Chinese for arrive, 到 (dao4), so an upside-down 福 sounds like luck arriving.

*小兔崽子(xiao3tu4zai3zi5) or “son of a rabbit” is a slightly rude way to refer to a kid, but I do hear parents here fondly using it to tease their own children.