Letter to Western University (uwo.ca) on Chinese New Year Celebration Event

Dear Sir/Madam,

I hope this email finds you well. I just received the email for upcoming events for Western U Internationals, and I'm grateful for the efforts put into the events and the great opportunities provided for international students at Western. I am writing to respectfully suggest that we use the term "Chinese New Year" instead of "Lunar New Year" when referring to the upcoming traditional festival, as the expression "Lunar New Yesr" is fatually wrong and is very offensive cultural appropriation for Chinese people and for people from other regions and countries (Singapore, Malaysia, etc.) that have been using the CNY expression for hundreds of years.

I would like to outline several historical, cultural, and factual reasons in support of my suggestion:

1. "Lunar New Year" has a colonial legacy. The term "Lunar New Year" originates from British colonialisation in Hong Kong, during which British colonial authorities systematically downplayed Chinese cultural and political identity. This shift of terminology is evident in the colonial legal sources. The Holidays (Amendment) Ordinance No. 19 of 1967 adopted the term "Chinese New Year", whereas the Holidays (Amendment) Ordinance 1968 (Bill No. 11 of 1968), published later on 11 April 1968 within the Legal Supplement No. 3 to the Hong Kong Government Gazette, replaced it with "Lunar New Year" for the first time (Evidence attached to this email). This change suggests that the earlier term explicitly acknowledged the festival's name and cultural origin, while the later generic term served to dilute that connection. Reinstating "Chinese New Year" today aligns with broader global efforts toward decolonisation and the recognition of historically marginalised identities.

2. "Lunar New Year" is factually incorrect. The traditional Chinese calendar is luni-solar, not purely lunar. It incorporates both the lunar phases and the solar year to determine dates, which is why the Chinese New Year falls between late-January and mid-February. By contrast, the Islamic Hijri Calendar is the true lunar calendar, based solely on lunar cycles, and this Lunar New Year typically occurs around June. Calling the Chinese New Year "Lunar New Year" therefore conflates two fundamentally different calendrical systems and misrepresents the sophisticated astromonical principles underlying the Chinese calendar. Such imprecision risks academic malpractice and fails to respect both Chinese and Islamic traditions by obscuring their distinct historical and scientific foundations.

3. Respecting cultural origins truly matters. Just as we refer to the language spoken in the Anglophone world as "English" to acknowledge its origins, using "Chinese New Year" recognises where this festival came from without excluding other communities that also celebrate it.

4. Inclusivity should not come at the expense of cultural specificity. While I understand the intention behind using more inclusive terminology, genuine inclusivity respects historical and cultural origins rather than erasing them. Using "Chinese New Year" does not prevent others from participating in or celebrating the festival; it simply honours its source. As a student at Western University, I am confident that we all share a commitment to historical accuracy, cultural integrity, and the avoidance of inadvertent cultural appropriation through overly vague terminology.

For these reasons, I respectfully submit that "Chinese New Year" is the accurate and appropriate term, and that its use aligns with principles of truth-telling, cultural integrity, inclusion, diversity, and decolonisation. Attached is the evidence supporting the statements I made in this email. As people from a country that has suffered the disastrous slaughters of millions of people, LNY reminds people of the traumatic history, and it's heartbreaking to see it being used to represent our unique culture and festival, as there is a substitute expression of Chunjie/Spring Festival, which has already been admitted by the UN as World Intangible Cultural Heritage. So LNY is an extremely offensive usage to be displayed publicly.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best, Louisa