Cassandra's reflection

During these three weeks of learning, I have learnt quite a few life lessons. For example, for last week's CID lesson, we were given two photos to ponder on. The two pictures depicts people begging. For the first photo, it was a man holding a sign stating that he was homeless had his things stolen, and was asking for help from others. For the second photo, it was a woman carrying a baby and was begging money from a man in fine clothings. 

After looking at those photos, we were asked to decide who to help if we had only one one-dollar coin. I was stuck on whom to choose since both are very pitiful and needed much help. However I decided to help the woman carrying a baby because not only she needed money to look after herself, but also the baby. She also can't carrying her child and beg for money since the baby is still very young, it needs more care and attention.

However, after the teacher told us the behind story the picture. For the first picture, the man was crippled and his home was broken into so needed some money to contact his family members. However for the second picture, the woman was a syndicate beggar and was forced to carry a baby to beg in order to gain others pity so that they would give her money. The money collected would mostly belonged to the syndicate.

After we knew the story behind the pictures, we were asked to reconsider our choices. I decided to give the money to the man as a dollar could enable him to contact with his family members but giving money to the woman would result to more harm to her since she was able to gain some money, the syndicate will continue to use her in order to get money and she may never be able to have freedom.

From this lesson, I realised that not everything that we see from our own eyes may be true since there may be some inside story that we may not know. I also realised the importance of looking and thinking beyond the situation 

Winnie's Colour,Symbol and Image(Chinese New Year)

1)Colour

According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian which  would come on the first day of New Year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. One day people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red, they understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, during Chinese New Year celebrations people would wear red clothes, hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors.For the Chinese, the colour red represents happiness and joy. Red clothing is preferred during this festive occasion. Red is considered a bright, happy color, sure to bring the wearer a sunny and bright future. Wearing red clothes, you would  bring more happiness and joy to the people around you. The colour, red in Chinese culture usually means good luck. So like the red packet which is given every Chinese New Year, is just a symbol of good luck in the coming Year. Children and unmarried friends, as well as close relatives are given little red envelopes with crisp one dollar bills inserted, for good fortune. In Chinese Metaphysics, Red symbolized the Fire element (shiny element which can chase out all evil).

2)Symbol

The "lucky Fu" symbol is traditionally posted on the front door on the Chinese lunar New Year. So, why do we hang it upside down? The Chinese characters 到 (arrive) and 倒 (upside-down) are both pronounced "dao". During the Chinese New Year festive period, the character 福 ("fu", literally meaning auspiciousness, blessing or happiness) is displayed inverted, so that fu dao ("reversed fu") also suggests luck or fortune has arrived. Fu(福) is written on the paper squares, which can be pasted normally or upside down, for in Chinese the “reversed fu” is homo-phonic with “fu dao le” pronounced as “fu comes”. The upside down fu becomes a pun that implies “good fortune has arrived”. Thus, the paper squares represent the “arrival” of spring and the “coming” of prosperous year  Thus,"福"pasted upside down is an auspicious symbol to put on one's door welcoming prosperity into your home.

3)Image

Children gets to enjoy this festival as most of them look forward to getting “Hong Bao 红包" from every married couple they meet, it is actually money wrapped in red packet. The amount of money contained in the envelope usually ends with an even digit, in accordance with Chinese beliefs; odd-numbered money gifts are traditionally associated with funerals. and amounts ending with 8 are very popular as the number 8 sounds like prosperity. Depending of the currency base, the most popular amounts are 8, 18, 168, and 888. An amount that ends or involves 4 is usually avoided as 4 in Mandarin and most Chinese dialects sounds like death. Traditional red envelopes are often decorated with gold Chinese characters like happiness and wealth. Variations of the red envelope include red envelopes with cartoon characters and red envelopes from stores and companies. Giving and receiving red envelopes, gifts, and even business cards is a solemn act. Therefore, red envelopes, gifts and name cards are always presented with both hands and also received with both hands. The recipient of a red should also not open it the red packet in front of the giver as it is deemed disrespectful and rude.