Canadians are deciding on a befitting Chinese word for 2022 as the Lunar New Year approaches.
Japan began the kanji (Chinese character) of the year ritual in 1995 to reminisce about the previous year's experience and social mood, which later became a trend in other countries and regions that use Chinese characters. This year, Richmond-based Gendo Asian Art Foundation will bring this tradition to Canada for the first time.
Chak Au, Richmond city councillor and chairman of the Gendo Asian Art Foundation, explained that aside from people looking back on their 2022 experiences, the poll is a "cultural event by itself, bringing people together in a cultural sense."
The foundation's cultural experts have nominated twelve Chinese characters for Canadians to vote on which character portrays their lives in 2022. The shortlisted Chinese characters include pandemic (疫), restrictions (困), inflation (漲), suffering (苦), worry (憂), discrimination (歧), evil (惡), balance (平), war (戰), election (選), quitting (躺), and health (康).
While Chinese characters often have more than one meaning, some of the words selected may appear negative, reflecting the hardships such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian-Ukraine war, the rise of racism and the soaring cost of living that are impacting many people's lives.
"Canadians went through a turbulent year in 2022," Au said.
A Richmond News reporter spoke to community members on their thoughts about the twelve characters. Richmondite Adam Miller told the News that the word that best represented his 2022 would be 'static,' a word that was not on the list.
Arthur Wang, secretary-general of the Gendo Asian Art Foundation, hopes the event's official launch can encourage more people from different ethnic groups who understand Chinese to participate together.
Wang said last week's advance voting saw 10,000 responses in three days, with most votes coming from the East Coast.
The poll will end on Jan. 27, giving people more time to vote even after Lunar New Year. The Gendo Asian Art Foundation is also planning a calligraphy ceremony on Jan. 28, which is when the results will be announced.
The public can vote by calling or texting 236-989-3021, messaging WeChat ID 245145218 or email gendoaaf@gmail.com
