Lunar New Year 2023 – A Year of Opportunities
By Felix Wong, iCAN’s Head of Thought Leadership
How’s your new year resolution going? Any of them left still?
iCAN’s theme for 2023 is a Year of Opportunities, and last week this happily combined with my personal resolution to try new things, as for the first time iCAN was involved in events celebrating Chinese New Year - or using the more inclusive term - Lunar New Year (LNY).
On Wednesday, Aon welcomed iCAN and around 100 guests to a LNY event at their London offices. Guest speaker Jun Hong spoke about the similarities between Chinese culture and Greco-Roman culture, applied through the lenses of food (one of my favourite subjects), philosophy and leadership, while Jenny Yu delivered a clever twist on the topic of Chinese Alternative medicine – explaining the process for bringing medical treatment to the public in Western markets and showcasing how China is expediting existing cycles to accelerate production for the advancement of medical knowledge.
On Thursday, along with a team from iCAN and Marsh, I was proud to deliver our first iCAN event of the year at Marsh’s impressive new office near the Tower of London. First, our light-hearted panel discussed personal recollections of LNY celebrations. There are a lot of common traditions of LNY, like wearing red, decorating the house with lanterns and the giving of hong bao (red envelopes containing money), but through our panel we also shared some of the different customs in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia. Huge thanks to Karen Ko, Helen Lam, Erica Chu and Choong Kwan.
Capping it all was a spectacular lion dance held outside Tower Place. This noisy, colourful and acrobatic display is full of symbolism and, according to Chinese beliefs, bestows a blessing for success and prosperity to the business that hosts the lion. From speaking to you at our lively networking afterwards, I know for many it was their first time seeing a lion dance. It was surely the first ever lion dance for a London insurance company and it makes me proud to think that iCAN achieved those firsts.
To celebrate LNY with a mix of people from different backgrounds who wanted to learn more about our culture is the very essence of what iCAN is. I’m convinced we are the City’s Friendliest Network, and this confirmed it.
And in another first these two events brought together insurance professionals of East and South East Asian (ESEA) heritage. I’m keen to maintain that momentum, so If we met at the two events (or even if we missed each other but you were there) please keep in touch and we’ll see how we can get together again for support, networking and fun.
All that remains to say is Kung Hei Fatt Choi , Gong Xi Fa Cai, Chúc mừng Năm Mới, or in the words of the famous Chinese philosopher Ronnie Chieng, “Hope you get rich!”