Today marks the start of the Lunar New Year in China, and this one is the year of the Dragon. Here’s an article on Awareness Days that you can check out for ways to celebrate.

While my husband (then boyfriend) and I were living in Japan and working as English language teachers, we travelled to many nearby countries. Since it’s Chinese New year, I thought I’d take an opportunity for a trip down memory lane – and bring you along with me!

Hong Kong

With my hero, Bruce Lee

I’m a huge Bruce Lee fan. Bet you didn’t know that about me. I studied Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do while I was a Queen’s University student in my hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland, under Sifu Martin O’Neill who was a huge inspiration. Here I am in Hong Kong with the Bruce Lee statue. This photo was taken by my then-boyfriend-now-hubby back in 2006.

Taiwan

Kung Fu salute

I didn’t know much about this beautiful island before I visited, and learned much while I was there, including about the native traditions and more recent history during WW2. We also visited Taipei 101, then the tallest building in the world (it’s now 10th tallest, if I am correct).

Traditional and modern buildings in Taiwan

A biographical note

I am of mixed heritage; that much is clear from how I look. Approximately an 8th of my heritage is Chinese, traced by a family tree on my maternal side. I only speak English though, as I was born and grew up in Northern Ireland. I speak some basic conversational Japanese too, as I lived there for 4 years, but sadly I forget much of what I learned since I’m now back living in my hometown.

Celebrations in Belfast

I think the Chinese New Year celebrations in my hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland were bigger pre-covid; certainly in previous years we would have attended family festivals, and the dragon was always a welcome sight for our youngster. Of course there’s always the annual Belfast Mela too, though that takes place in August, not February.

Belfast Mela takes place annually in August

In the meantime, we’ll be having Chinese food later for and we opened our fortune cookies earlier. Here’s what they had to say!

Posted by on February 10, 2024 in Biography and tagged , , , , , , .

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About Leilanie Stewart

Leilanie Stewart is an award-winning author and poet from Belfast, Northern Ireland. She writes ghost and psychological horror, as well as experimental poetry. Her writing confronts the nature of self; her novels feature main characters on a dark psychological journey who have a crisis and create a new sense of identity. She began writing for publication while working as an English teacher in Japan, a career pathway that has influenced themes in her writing. Her former career as an Archaeologist has also inspired her writing and she has incorporated elements of archaeology and mythology into both her fiction and poetry. In addition to promoting her own work, Leilanie runs Bindweed Anthologies, a creative writing publication with her writer husband, Joseph Robert. Aside from publishing pursuits, Leilanie enjoys spending time with her husband and their lively literary lad, a voracious reader of sea monster books.

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