8 Things Every Malaysian Kid Who Celebrates Chinese New Year Had To Go Through

Chinese New Year is one of the most anticipated festivals for Malaysians with Chinese blood in them – because this usually mean holidays, family bonding, good food and of course, angpaos!

And for us who grew up celebrating Chinese New Year, here are some of the things that practically all of us went through when we were kids!

1. The feeling when you’re receiving angpaos from an ‘open house’

Back then, besides the allowance we got from our parents, angpaos were the only alternative source of income for us. So anyone can imagine a kid’s excitement when receiving those lovely red packets.

… and then being forced to let your parents keep your angpao

Those RM2 notes feel like a hefty sum to us. But most of the time, parents would ask us to hand them over anyway because they’re probably afraid that we might spend them on useless junk.

2. Being told that your angpaos are being kept in the bank for you

While they coax us to hand over our precious angpaos, they’d tell us that it will be stored into OUR bank account as savings. While some parents may actually do that, some of us aren’t so lucky and later grow up to realize there’s no such ‘bank account’ registered under our name :'(

3. Being put at the ‘kids’ table

We all know how large family gatherings can get – there’s probably at least 4 to 5 uncles and aunties along with their respective kids.

When it comes to dining out, there’s ALWAYS an adults’ table and then there’s the kids’ table. FYI, most of us are stuck at the ‘kids’ table until today.

4. The struggle of having to address your relatives according to their Chinese family titles

Seriously. You always wonder why can’t they just stick with ‘auntie’ and ‘uncle’ so the world can be a much better place. All these different titles are going to crack our little kiddie’s brain open trying to remember them every Chinese New Year!

5. Whacking all your favourite CNY cookies without fear of what your body will become at the end of the holiday

When you’re still young and you are not living under the pressure of society’s judgement :’)

6. Playing a “friendly” round of cards and using your angpao as ‘capital’

There’s nothing like card or tile games during Chinese New Year. It’s one of the activities that form stronger bonds between relatives and friends, but sometimes when luck is not on our side, once awhile we’d find ourselves opening our red packet in advanced just to help us through a losing streak.

7. Being told how much you’ve grown every single year

“Wow, you big girl/boy already ah!” said every relative ever.

And you’re awkwardly there like… errr yeahhh?

8. Secretly opening our angpaos

We know that we’re not supposed to open the angpaos but you can’t blame kids for being kids right! We can all remember at least one time where we’d sneak back into our room just to discreetly check how much moolah we’ve scored.

All these memories are great but this year’s Chinese New Year will be even more amazing with the extra angpaos for you worth up to RM8,888 from YES 4G!

“How do I get them”, you ask?

Here’s the challenge: Spot all 14 Chinese characters in this 360 video by YES 4G for Chinese New Year!

Yes, this is not some ciplak video. They used that new 360 technology to create an awesome CNY wish video that’s practically a game for us!

In the video, you’ll need to find 14 hidden Chinese characters in that 360 view. So spin your phone around like no other! Just don’t get yourself dizzy.

Not to mention the famous Chinese Malaysian celebrity Jack Lim stars in this latest CNY video as he is endorsing YES 4G as their brand ambassador.

Let’s see if you have what it takes to spot all of them!

If you manage to find all the characters, combine them and form the right sentence, then submit them here! YES 4G is feeling super generous this CNY, so don’t miss your chance to win yourself a prize. Huat ahh!!

If you don’t know Chinese then get a friend who does to help you out lah. Sharing is caring ma. Plus, amazing things happen when you say ‘Yes!’