Explore I CHINESE NEW YEAR
A seafood feast
56
ROSEANNE AND RENEE LIANG Based in Auckland, New Zealand writer and director Roseanne Liang’s awarded movies include Banana in a Nutshell and Do No Harm. Older sister Renee is a paediatrician by day, poet and playwright by night.
Tell us about your heritage. Roseanne: Our parents are from Hong Kong. I’m a firstgeneration New Zealander. I’ve lived all my life in Auckland. Our parents brought us up traditionally. I was the youngest of three daughters and we were all over-achievers. They told us that anything less than an ‘A’ grades wasn’t acceptable. We did ballet, piano, speech and drama –all the extracurriculars. What are your favourite CNY memories? Roseanne: The eating! Mum made sticky rice like mochi, but with brown sugar. You’d cut it into slices, coat it in egg and fry
54-63_EXPLORE_CNY INTERVIEWS_V2.indd 56
it. Our dad would bring out his best dishes. CNY is summer in New Zealand so there would be amazing crab, fresh fish, shellfish and prawns. Renee: We always used to call relatives when I was little. We’d make overseas phone calls, which were really expensive back then. I remember our grandmother was deaf, and my Cantonese was limited to, “What?” She’d be like, “Blah blah blah,” and I’d go, “What?” It would go on like that then eventually I’d yell, “Happy New Year,” in Cantonese, and the call would end. It was the same conversation for 20 years.
Did you follow any traditions? Renee: We’d drive from house to house – I’d jump out, run up and do the ‘chin-chin’ gesture to get a red packet. There might only be 20 cents in it, but you could get some lollies with that. Not that we could – we had to put it straight into the bank. How do you celebrate CNY? Roseanne: I love that it’s not just Chinese who celebrate it anymore. There’s stuff going on around the city, not just in Chinatown. Schools celebrate it as well. We still have big family dinners. It’s nice to have a cultural touchstone that is so historic, and so contemporary.
12/01/2018 11:15 AM