Shanghai, China
Welcome back to our UO global gifting year-end countdown! Today’s gifting suggestions come to us from China via Vivi Chang, BA ’13 (Art) and current students Icy, Hongzhou Huang, and Qiaochu (Hannah) Cui. Following their personal gift picks, our alumna and students have also shared some information about popular gifting holidays in China.
After earning her degree from the UO in 2013, Vivi Chang, who was born and grew up grew up in Taiwan, moved to mainland China with her family to reconnect with relatives. After spending some time as a marketing manager with a company that had Nike Greater China as one of their major clients, she joined the Nike Greater China team as a Regional Brand Manager (Basketball).
Hongzhou Huang, and Hannah Cui are all recipients of the highly competitive International Cultural Service Program scholarship. Hongzhou is a senior Economics student from both Chengdu, China and Tokyo, Japan. His interests include the modern history of China; movies; novels and literature; karate; traveling; poetry; Kanji (Japanese writing using Chinese characters); the culture of Chengdu, and Japanese history, especially Okinawa history and the Meiji Restoration. Qiaochu (Hannah) is a junior double majoring in Mathematics and Linguistics at UO’s Clark Honors College. She is from Tangshan, China and Salem, Oregon. Her interests include learning languages; traveling; dancing (Tibetan, modern, and ballet); piano; Chinese food; culture differences, and the China-United States relationship. She has also worked on campus as a Mathematics tutor and as a Resident Assistant. Icy is a senior Business Administration student.
Icy International Program Student Assistant
Vivi Chang, BA ’13
Nike Basketball Regional Brand Manager and fan of travel as a path to understanding difference
Top gifts: Trends and traditions
Moon Cakes
During the Mid-Autumn (Moon) Festival, we give each other moon cake; it is a round cake filled with red bean paste or other fillings. Mid-Autumn Festival is a holiday to celebrate what you have, so moon cakes are gifted between family members, colleagues, and friends. Sometimes I receive too many and have to give extra moon cakes away!
You can try making your own mooncakes with this recipe, but it will definitely require a trip to the Asian market!
Other gifts are popular for this festival as well and the Mid-Autumn Festival is a holiday to send gifts to each other.
Electronics and Luxury Accessories
It is common for those giving larger gifts to buy the latest and most popular electronics and accessories. These are also at the top of most people’s wish lists!
Red Money Packets
Commonly during Chinese New Year, we give red envelopes (with money in it) to children and elders. It symbolizes passing good luck and happiness to them.
I still remember in Eugene during 2013 Chinese New Year, I went shopping in an Asian market. The owner gave me a red envelope with $1 and told me Happy Chinese New Year. I felt so warmed by that gesture since I was studying and couldn’t go home to celebrate with my family.
We give away red envelopes not only during Chinese New Year, but also during the moon festival and on any
occasion that is worth to celebrate. When someone passes away, we give a white envelope.
Top gifts: Personal picks
More Global Cooperation in the battle against COVID-19
I would like to see the world-leading countries openly cooperate and stand side by side to solve the pandemic together rather than working on their own. In history, we see how global economics
was built by thinking of solving issues of supply and demand on a global level. That was based on interest. Why can’t we also all work together based on solving the current crisis?
A donation to the International Cultural Service Program Scholarship Fund
My unique experience has made me a strong advocate for experiencing new people and places as a means of accepting and appreciating differences. I think the International Cultural Service Program at the UO is a great opportunity for
international students. I hope all students can step out to see more of the rest of the world!
A donation to the International Cultural Service Program Scholarship Fund (continued)
My grandparents left mainland China for Taiwan along with millions of others at the end of the Chinese Civil War; my father’s side came from Tianjin (near Beijing) and my mother’s side came from Ningbo (near Shanghai).
Since moving to Shanghai, I have enjoyed connecting with family and culture in China and experiencing all that China and Taiwan share between them, despite ongoing political tensions.
Icy, Hongzhou Huang, and Qiaochu (Hannah) Cui
Current UO students; photos top to bottom
Our top gifts: Trends and traditions
Qiaochu (Hannah): Fruit baskets and food baskets
Food and fruit baskets are a popular and good gift since they are almost certain to be enjoyed and are also good for sharing! We have many delicious fruits in China, including some that are eaten less here in the U.S. like Chinese pears and Chinese plums, persimmons; star fruit; dragon fruit; pomelo; durian; lychee, loquat, and yumberry. You can see a wide variety of Chinese fruits at this visual guide that includes Chinese and Western names along with growing seasons.
Icy: Zongzi
Zongzi is a famous dish associated with the Dragon Boat Festival. It is a steamed or boiled stuffed rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. You can try to make zongzi at home using this recipe!
Hongzhou: Calligraphy
My grandfather was proficient in the art of calligraphy. He used to write couplets in his beautiful handwriting and gift them to people in his village.
The photo here is of 13th-century calligraphy of a couplet by Tang dynasty poet Han Yu:
“[The bamboo’s] lofty appearance defies the austerity of autumn,
Its chaste color surpasses the lush beauty of spring.” Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Chinese calligraphy is a UNESCO inscribed intangible heritage of humanity. You can learn more about its history and technique in this short UNESCO video.
Icy: Gift cards through WeChat
WeChat is a Chinese messaging app similar to Facebook messenger of WhatsApp. In China, we use it for all kinds of communication and money exchange. This includes buying and sending gifts, whether online or from a store. It is becoming easy and fun to send gift cards over WeChat for stores including Starbucks! It has also become popular to send “digital red envelopes” through WeChat to gift cash.
Our top gifts: Personal picks
Hongzhou: A grad school acceptance letter
In a world with so much uncertainty, I want to be able to count on the fact that I will be starting my graduate studies this fall!
Qiaochu (Hannah): A study abroad to China fund
I know first hand how much I have learned about international cultures and differences through my studies at the UO as an international student. It would be wonderful to see more scholarship support for UO students to study in China. I would like to see a much more positive China – U.S. relationship. For that, it is necessary for more people in the U.S. to better understand China and its culture.
Icy: Books
I love reading and enjoy all kinds of books, so they are a great gift for me! I like novels as well as non-fiction books on history and culture. I also enjoy biographies!
Hongzhou: A nice and warm Christmas greeting
I really like the tradition of sending Christmas cards. People find so many nice ways to make them personal – making them by hand, including family photos, and writing heartfelt messages. They are a joy to receive!
Gifting in China
Vivi, Icy, Hongzhou, and Qiaochu (Hannah) share that the gifting holidays they have ceebrated include Chinese New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The Spring Festival or Chinese New Year is an important time for the family reunion, the whole family together for dinner
and talk about this year’s experience, visiting relatives and friend. to celebrate.
Vivi shares that, ” Chinese New Year is more like Christmas in western countries, when you all take some rest, being thankful to the past year and spend some time with the entire family. On New Year’s Eve, the entire family will gather together
for the biggest meal and stay up till 12am. It is very fun that we have all different kinds of food during Chinese New Year. In north (my dad’s side), we will have dumplings together at midnight, and one of them is stuffed with a coin. Whoever got the one with will have the best luck in the coming
year. In south (my mom’s side), we all have rice cake – the name of it translates to, ‘getting better every year’.
“Chinese New Year is also good time to give charity. A lot of companies give employees “year end” bonuses, and people tend to have extra money. I know a lot of people give to charity during the season.”
The Dragon Boat Festival is in memory of Qu Yuan, an ancient Chinese patriotic poet. The festival is said to be celebrated to remove misfortune. While zongzi (rice dumplings, see above) are the main gift of this festival, some people do offer gifts to tecahers and relatives as well.
According to Icy, “The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Reunion Festival. It is said that the formation of this important festival of the Chinese nation is related to the story of Emperor Tang Ming sleepwalking in the Moon palace (more on this beautiful story here). In ancient times, people offered refined cakes to the moon god on Mid-Autumn
Festival. After this, the whole family eats moon cakes and other delicious food for the family reunion. The family reunion and moon cakes are the traditions that have still been passed down until today.” Mid Autumn Festival takes place on the full moon day of August in the lunar calendar.
Vivi adds, “The Mid-Autumn Festival is a holiday originally to celebrate the great harvest. Nowadays, we don’t celebrate the harvest anymore but families tend to stay together and enjoy the full moon. We also worship nature and
the land for all the gifts we have we received. I would say the concept might be a little like Thanksgiving.
In China, the Moon Festival is often very close to the National Day of the People’s Republic of China on October 1st, which is celebrated for a full week known as Golden Week.
Because of the extended holidays, people get the chance to visit more friends; this makes the scale of the holiday even bigger! You literally see gifts everywhere (online shopping goes crazy, too)! Just as with Chinese New Year, people tend to make donations
during this season as well.”
China Ducks
The China Ducks, who number over 4,500, have their own WeChat group and host meetings and events in Beijing and Shanghai. China Ducks who are now based in Portland, Oregon also have an active WeChat group. To connect with our China Ducks, please visit the University of Oregon Alumni Association International Ducks page!
