Wai Po's Chinese Birthday

by Li Wei
(London, England)

I grew up in the city of Guangzhou in China, before moving to London for business school. Birthdays were always a great celebration for my family. I remember when I was a child, at every birthday my wai po (grandmother) told me how important birthdays become as you get older.

She talked about many enlightened things, from wisdom to respect. We lived in a very small apartment: my mom, dad, grandmother and myself. Whenever anything important came up, it seemed that everyone would gather at our place. So, it could feel very crowded at times!


My wai po also used to poke fun at me because, when she was a little girl, her birthdays were not really celebrated. My own birthday celebrations were rather lax ... we had a cake with some featured dishes.

But when it came to birthday celebrations for some of my older family members, especially my wai po, the event was greatly celebrated. The activities sometimes lasted for two days in total!

My parents would display my grandmother's most important possessions from her past, by hanging them around the small apartment. Some of her prized things were papers with writing, an old custom dress that she used for worship, and the names of her family ancestors.

There were also three important food items that were laid out to signify the importance of each passing year. Those were peaches, noodles and dry rice. I would often sneak the peaches when no one was looking. When my grandmother caught me doing this, she would laugh a few times.

The peaches and rice symbolize respect, and the noodles were meant for longevity. My wai po would eat the noodles to celebrate the longevity of each year that she was alive. She also requested raw eggs ... well, the outer part was soft boiled and and the inner part was raw. This had to do with the blessing of new life.

Family members would come over, and many of them stayed for the full two days. The sleeping quarters were so crowded! Food was cooked and eaten, and all attention was focused on my wai po during that time.

I am in my mid-thirties now, and birthday celebrations are much more formal in my family. We still have birthday cake for my party and for my parents' party. But we have not observed the elaborate, two-day birthday celebration since the passing of my wai po, over fourteen years ago.

I have one child, and for her birthday she receives the birthday gifts I would have wanted when I was a child. Those gifts are toys!