農曆新年祝福各位讀者滿有祝福!

今年是龍年, 中華文化中, 龍代表尊貴和權力, 因此一直只有皇帝才能用龍來代表。1978年侯德健的一首「龍的傳人」表達了離開中國的國民黨軍人, 在台灣出生的下一代對尋根的渴求, 同時也表達了他對中國這片土地的懷念, 是這時候我們才有了華人是龍的傳人的說法。最近馬來西亞歌手黃明志, 數週前推出的音樂視頻「龍的傳人」, 諷刺今天中國人及中國政府, 在中國經濟發達後, 在世界不少人眼中, 所表現出的自私、自大、無知、卑劣、對普世價值及美善的漠視。視頻受到瘋傳, 兩週內已有超過8百萬點擊。

我一直在問, 我是否仍以作為「龍的傳人」而驕傲呢? 我們是否仍覺得自己比別人更尊貴呢? 我們是否仍覺得自己的文化比別人優越呢? 我們是否沒有尊重原來在這國家的人呢? 我們對澳洲的制度、文化、價值觀、以至早期移居的白人、或是最近三、數十年才移居這地的不同族裔移民, 都有著尊重呢?

成為澳洲人後, 我一直為此感恩。這一個重視人的價值及追求自由平等民主的年輕國家, 吸納了大量移民, 讓他們在這片土地, 追求自己的人生實現。原住民有著包容別人的文化, 加上最初的移民大都是在社會中受壓迫的低下階層, 因此澳洲建立了對人較為寬厚及關懷的社會制度。再加上人口少而土地資源多, 因此社會願意幫助有需要的人, 而且也有這樣的能力。是在這樣的環境下, 我見到澳洲的將來。

我的下一代在這裏成長, 再下一代也會是這國家的公民, 他們可能還會說中文, 有著中華文化的生活習慣及價值觀, 但同時也會擁有對自由、平等、法治、民主及人權等的尊重。我相信這是不少移民澳洲的華人也會期盼的。我希望我們的後代, 能傳承中西文化中最好的部份, 而且把這些都能感染身邊的澳洲人, 使我們能影響及把最好的, 建立澳洲今天發展中的多元文化。

農曆新年表達了我們重視人與人關係的建立, 因此我們會與親人及朋友慶祝, 並且祝福他們。這和基督教內給別人祝福很相似。我盼望今年, 我們能把這些祝福, 不單在華人朋友中展現, 也讓這裏的澳洲人, 與我們不同文化的一群, 也同樣一起慶祝農曆新年, 豐富他們的生活。

周偉文 社長

Bless Australians around you

Blessings to all in the Lunar New Year!

This is the Year of the Dragon, being a sign of majesty and power, dragon was used to represent emperors throughout Chinese culture and history. Composer Hou Dejian’s  ‘Descendants of the Dragon’ in 1978 represented the desire and aspiration of those Kuomintang soldiers and their next generations who had left China to settle in Taiwan on their mother country. Only since that time, Chinese called themselves as “descendants of the dragon”. Recently a Malaysian singer Wee Meng Chee aired a new version of the song and MV to tease Communist party and the Chinese government who do not align with the world values as they are selfish, ego, ignorant, mean amid their economic uprise. The MV became viral in in two weeks with over 8 million hits and a lot of responses.

I have been asking myself should I be proud of being Chinese? Are we really superior to others? We have supreme culture? We have not been respecting people of this land? Are we honouring Australian system, culture and values… the western people who came to here for long and those different ethnic communities who migrated to here over the past few decades?

I have been saying grace for becoming an Australian here. This young nation respects humanity, freedom, justice and democracy whereby attracted a lot of immigrants in fulfilling their dreams here. The earlier settlers have been accommodating, and with many of them were originally from the lower sectors of the society, Australia was built upon a generous and caring social system. With a low population on a vastly resourced territory, the society is willing and capable of offering help to people in needs. We see a future of Australia in such a circumstance.  

My next generations to come will be Australians who know Chinese and retain their Chinese lifestyle and values, but at the same time they respect, freedom, justice, law, democracy and human right. This will be what most Chinese Australians want – owning the best of both worlds, then extending this to the Australians around, giving their best to contribute in this multicultural nation.

Lunar New Year tells the importance of building human relationship as we celebrate with and bless our friends and relatives around, akin to the blessing of Christianity. This year while we celebrate Lunar New Year I hope this blessing would not just happen within the Chinese community but goes beyond to embrace and enrich all Australians with a different cultural background.

Mr. Raymond Chow, Publisher