Phoenix
Yees At Spring Festival Honored By
Distinguished Guests
Annually at the Lunisolar New Year, the
Yees in Phoenix area gather for the
festive full-house banquet to honor the
prospects for another chance at
prosperity, good health, family harmony,
and general happiness in the cycle we
ascribe to the eponymous ancestor of our
“race,” the Yellow Ruler (Huang Ti*) of
the Hua people, roughly accounted to have
begun in hoary antiquity, and reaching now
to us as the Year 4715**..
As
usual, the occasion on March 5th was one
of careful preparation, assiduous
implementation, and accordingly signals
success; indeed, the number of tables
reserved exceeded the capacity of the
Great Wall Hong Kong Cuisine site. Three
of the kindred graciously volunteered to
enjoy their banquets on the night
following.
Considerably more unusual were the number
and provenance of our distinguished
guests. As the Great Sage, the Master
K’ung is recorded to have emphatically
declared in the Analects 倫語 – “Is it
not pleasant when friends from afar
arrive?” For the Year of the Southern,
Fiery, Red 雞,
the Yees in the greater Phoenix area were
able to welcome –
Mr.
& Mrs. Alan Yi-shun Yu – Grand Elder
& past Western Region Grand President
Mr.
& Mrs. Peter Yee – Grand Elder and
past Eastern Region Grand President
Mr.
& Mrs. Frank Yee – Eastern Region
Grand President
Mr.
& Mrs. Kenneth Yee – Eastern Region
Grand Vice President
Mr.
& Mrs. Kenny Yee – Chapter Adviser
& past President Southern California
Mr.
Jing Han Yu – Chapter Vice President
Southern California
Ms.
Jackie Yu – New York Chapter
Guests
arrived from both of the coasts into our
little corner of Flyover USA, and several
were able to stay longer to enjoy our mild
winter and scenic sites – thereby
prolonging the great pleasure of those of
us able to play hosts and hostesses.
Chapter President Joe Yue and Western
Region Grand Vice President David M. Yee
were the formal heads of our hosting this
year, although of course Grand Elder John
M. Yee strove to be sure that every detail
was properly attended to from beginning to
end.
Yees
from around the Nation, from our great
northern neighbor of Canada, and indeed
from anywhere in the world, are always
welcome to observe Spring Festival with us
here in the Valley of the Sun on the first
weekend in March. The date is already set,
just book your tickets, let us know, and
increase our happiness in welcoming not
just friends, but indeed, family.
In
the meantime, may your upcoming 12 moons
be filled with concord and success, with
every wish entirely fulfilled.
Note
*: this is the 黃帝,
but is not the 皇帝.
The latter title, usually translated as
Emperor, was devised at the time of the
initial establishment of an imperial state
when the Kingdom of Ch’in completed the
conquest of the last of the Warring States
after 5 centuries of disunity and epic
battling in 221 B.C.E. and its ruler
became the Ch’in First Emperor 秦始皇.
Note
I **: There had never been any sort of
linear chronology during the ancient times
anywhere: and instead, everywhere, the
years were accounted according to the
local ruler or the reigning dynasty. And,
while this generally became more and more
“accurate” by modern understandings, and
while the birth of one accounted by
Christians as a long-promised Messiah of
Israel began what is now a nigh-universal
adoption of a nearly single thread for
counting time – there are various hiccups.
One
of these affects the designation of A.D.
2017 as 4715. In the last iteration of the
Chinese custom, on the overthrow of the
Qing Dynasty officially as of January 1,
1912, the Provisional President of the new
Republic of China (first in Asia), Dr. Sun
Yat-sen (or by his best known Chinese
courtesy name, 孫中山
Sun Chung-shan, or his preferred name in
signing documents, Sun Wen), decreed an
Inaugural Year, and he specified 1912 was
equivalent to 4609 as Huang Ti’s Year 1 on
the assumption that would have been 2698
B.C.E. Since then, archaeological
evidences have mooted the traditional
calculated dates for the earliest
rulers/dynasties in Chinese history.
M.
Cheak Yee 余文焯
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