On Feb. 12, the first day of the Chinese New Year, New York City mayoral candidate, Yang Anze, a Chinese-American Democrat, tweeted a New Year greeting to everyone, but was unexpectedly mocked by netizens for confusing traditional Chinese holiday Culture.
Yang Anze tweeted, “Every year on Lunar New Year’s Day, my Parents would give my brother and I small red envelopes of cash and we would eat mooncakes and other traditional foods. Sometimes our Family will go to Chinatown to celebrate and watch the rally and lion dance performance… Happy Year of the Ox!”
Mooncakes for Chinese New Year? Those who are familiar with Chinese holiday culture know that mooncakes are the traditional Food for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (August 15 on the yellow calendar), which is several months away from the Lunar New Year, and the festivals are different.
Yang Anze makes a joke about eating mooncakes on New Year’s Day (Photo credit: Twitter screenshot)
The mistake was reinforced by the addition of a diagram of a mooncake after “eating mooncake” in Yang Anze’s tweet, which was ridiculed by many netizens who know Chinese festival culture.
James directly reminded him, “Anze, eating mooncakes is not a traditional custom for the Lunar New Year.”
Astha Yuan was confused: “Eating mooncakes? Your Chinese New Year doesn’t look Chinese. Maybe you guys use your own favorite way to celebrate New Year!”
King of Rock joked, “The question is, where do you get moon cakes during Lunar New Year? Did you have leftovers from last year’s Mid-Autumn Festival?”
Jackey Hong said nonchalantly, “My mom said it’s not a Chinese tradition to eat mooncakes on New Year’s Day, and if I did, she would say I’m stupid. I think mom is right, Yang Anze is being silly.”
Although he doesn’t know much about the culture and customs of the Chinese holiday, Yang Anze still took his New Year’s greeting in Chinese seriously, sending his wishes to the Chinese community in Chinese via video on New Year’s Day, “Happy New Year, congratulations and prosperity.” In the video, Yang also encouraged everyone: “Although we are still facing many challenges from the Epidemic, the situation is getting better and many people are lining up for vaccinations and the number is increasing. He is running for the office of mayor of New York himself and hopes to lead the citizens back to normal Life soon.”
During the New Year, Anze Yang also aptly posted a bullish and festive campaign ad to pay tribute to the New Year, using a variety of languages including Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Korean, to gain popularity for himself in New York’s Asian community.
Yang Anze made his political debut in 2017 by registering to run in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and received attention as a Chinese-American Democratic presidential candidate, but announced his withdrawal from the race in February 2020 after underperforming his competitors. However, he has gained some supporters in some campaign activities and accumulated some popularity and recognition.
On Jan. 13 this year, Yang officially announced his candidacy for New York City mayor again, competing with more than a dozen other candidates for the post. However, a short Time ago, on February 2, Yang Anze tested positive for the Chinese Communist virus and is still in quarantine.
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