WHAT are the wishes of Hong Kong people for the Year of the Dog? Apart from good fortune in general, people in Hong Kong want school achievements for their kids, good health for everybody in the family, peace and harmony in Hong Kong and all over the world, and prosperity in business, in that order.
This I found after spending 20 hours at the Chinese New Year Fair listening to people relating their wishes.
The DAB (Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong) hosted a stall at the fair in Victoria Park. For a donation to the Hong Kong Community Chest, a visitor could say his or her new year wish, and have it written into a faichun, a poster with Chinese calligraphy on red paper, to decorate the home with at new year time.
I sat at the stall for hours and gave away hundreds of faichun, all written by request to depict the most earnest wish of the recipient. Besides collecting a handsome sum for charity, I gained some insight into people's perceptions of happiness.
By far the phrase in greatest demand was ''Progress in Learning'', sought not by students themselves, but by parents for their children in school. It is no news that parents in Hong Kong care a lot about their children's educational achievements, but still it was quite remarkable so many put it before health and riches.
As they took their faichun inscribed with the promising words, many parents turned to the kids by their side and delivered aloud a little speech urging them to work hard to make the wish come true. Most of the youngsters listened to the paternalistic instructions very nicely, if sometimes looking a little sheepish.
Of course those were kids who had not grown out of the age of going out with their parents. Yet to their Western counterparts they must look rather submissive. This does not mean that a Chinese child is less happy at home. Happiness depends on how you perceive your world. It is not something to be defined for you by others. Indeed, happiness is rarely compatible with imposing alien values or standards on an existing culture.