New Year’s Message from the Torchbearer

Dear Viewers and Contributors,

I would like to extend my heartfelt wishes to all of you as we welcome the arrival of the Lunar New Year of the Dragon. This joyous occasion brings a renewed sense of hope, prosperity, and cultural celebration.

I sincerely thank everyone for your unwavering support and enthusiasm towards our website. Your dedication and interest in Chinese culture have been instrumental in our journey to preserve and promote our rich heritage.

As we embark on the Year of the Dragon, I want to assure you that we remain committed to delivering a wealth of engaging and informative articles. Our team is committed to researching diverse aspects of Chinese culture, offering you an even greater depth of knowledge and insight.

We promise to continue publishing articles, photos and videos that delve into the fascinating history, traditions, and values that define Chinese culture. We will also continue to organize and participate in an extensive array of cultural activities. Our goal is to globally inspire, educate, and foster a deeper appreciation for the beauty and significance of our cultural legacy. Last year, we had viewers from 77 countries. This year, we plan to expand to even more countries.

May the Year of the Dragon bring you and your loved ones abundant joy, success, and good health. Let us embrace the opportunities that lie ahead as we continue to learn, grow, and celebrate the richness of Chinese culture together. Your support is what drives our passion and motivates us to pursue excellence.

I hope you have a prosperous and fulfilling Chinese New Year!

6th May 2023

A little less than four months ago, this website was officially launched. As of 5 May, we have accumulated a total of 83,000 viewers and 4,228 users. This accomplishment is due in no small part to the executive finesse of Stella Wong, Senior Manager of the Loke Kok Kuen Chinese Cultural Legacy Research Trust, and the hard work of her team. Stella has been most fortune to be strongly supported by her Academic Board of Advisors who are all senior members of the academic community conversant with the multiple aspects of Chinese culture and committed to heritage work.

For the frequent visitors to this website, hardly a week goes by without new events, articles and videos being posted. One continues to be amazed by the depth and breadth of Chinese culture, and feels privileged to be learning from the past, savouring the present, and looking forward expectantly to the future. This website has indeed developed into a treasure trove of traditional Chinese wisdom. For instance, reading the articles on the 24 solar terms gave me the insight that the traditional dependence on the agrarian economy made it necessary for the Chinese to be close to Nature and be experts in predicting weather conditions. The rituals inherent in the 24 solar terms are not just there for show but demonstrates awareness and gratitude toward the nurturance provided by heaven and earth.

Thus far, it has been an excellent education for me in my continuous effort to affirm and reinforce my Chinese roots. There is so much beauty and wisdom in traditional Chinese culture, and I am determined to pass it onto the future generations of Chinese descendant all over the world. I invite you to join me in this meaningful journey.

6th Jan 2023

Although I am a fourth generation Malaysian Chinese, I have always had a close affinity with Chinese culture. For as long as I can remember, my parents and grandparents have instilled Chinese values and beliefs in me, and I have naturally done the same with my own children and younger employees. When I moved with my entire family to Hong Kong six years ago, I started a wonderful journey of immersion in Chinese culture and began to appreciate it on even deeper and more meaningful levels. For instance, I realized that most if not all these values – benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness - which I appreciate so much are rooted in Confucianism. I am most enamoured with the value of benevolence which in Confucianism is translated as the love between two persons, that of the ruler and ruled, father and son, husband and wife, brothers, and friends. According to Confucius, if selflessness and unconditional regard exist in a relationship, then the greater good always prevails. This, as far as I can discern, is the earliest version of commonly known win-win philosophy. My unsophisticated understanding of benevolence alone has stirred in me the urge to contribute to the legacy of Chinese culture. Therefore, I was delighted to be able to set up the Loke Kok Kuen Chinese Culture Legacy Research Trust through which systematic research could be conducted in collaboration with scholars from Hong Kong Shue Yan University. Furthermore, it is my sincere wish that the findings from this research can form the basis for the building of the Dragon Vein Project.

The Dragon Vein Project promises to bring together various aspects of Chinese cultural legacy such as a museum of everyday living, horticulture, culinary arts of the coastal provinces, the performing and expressive arts, feng-shui based architectural designs, traditional Chinese medicine, and so on. The Project will seek to utilize high technology to convey these valuable cultural aspects to the modern world and substantially fuse the old and the new. Therefore, this website which contains the cumulative findings of the Loke Kok Kuen Chinese Culture Legacy Research Trust project is of central and essential importance to the construction of the Dragon Vein.

I hope you enjoy navigating through the content-rich and colourful pages of this website and in the process become once again re-connected with your Chinese roots.