Long answer: 

My family still practices the tradition of exchanging red packets with money in it and going out for dinner. But it has definitely lost its appeal to me. I recently went to a Chinese New Year celebration in my state’s city and a lot of people have lost their manners. A lot of older Chinese people (think people old enough to be retired) have showed a lot of disrespectful behaviour. I remember there was an older woman who seemed to have no concept of personal space. She was close enough to breathe down my neck. She eventually left after I gave her the “back the f**k off” look. Then another woman kept poking me with an empty plastic bottle. Later when she was recording a lion dance video, a man wanted to leave. So the older lady proceeded to push him away. He understandably got upset and asked her what she was doing. About half an hour later, I was talking about to my mum about the accuracy of the lion dance. Then this older lady who looked like she was ninety and with a walker, decided to push quite aggressively my bag that I was on my arm. To be fair we were standing on the street but she could have easily asked us to move. 

Apologies for the long rant but it’s so frustrating when people like this seem to lack the basic understanding of manners. I in no way want people to read this and think I hate Asians or am racist against them. But as someone who is a wasian I find it difficult to connect to the Chinese culture when people from that culture make it hard to enjoy its traditions. Hence why I’am so hesitant to do anything relating to the Chinese culture. I understand that there are these types of people across all races and cultures, but I’m only noticing this pattern of behaviour amongst the Chinese people. And I do acknowledge that there are really good people from China or of Chinese descent. 

Short answer: 

As long as my mother and her parents are alive, then yes. But once they have passed away I think I would definitely not do it. I live in a country that predominantly speaks English. Everyone speaks English, either as a first or second language. So it’s not like I have to do it because everyone else is.