Ng is all smiles after successfully balancing four eggs standing upright on their ends yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: To the world, February 4 may be just another day. But to the Chinese, it is a day they know as ‘lap chun’, the year that marks the beginning of the Year of the Monkey.
It is associated with the day that eggs can stand upright on their ends due to the belief that the earth’s ‘qi’ or energy is at its strongest at this time of the year.
Many may try to, but the Chinese also believe that only those who are successful in their attempts to balance uncooked eggs on their ends on a flat surface will be granted good luck that particular year.
Allen Ng and his wife, residing in Foh Sang, Luyang, spent almost the whole day attempting to balance some eggs at their residence, but they only managed to have the eggs stand upright at 5.58pm.
The couple’s friend, environmentalist Dr CY Vun, said that those who were planning to give it a try should use eggs that are four to five days old as the yolk tends to sink down in them at this point, making it more likely for them to be able to balance upright.
Egg balancing has been associated with ‘Lichun’, which according to the traditional East Asian calendars is one of the 24 solar terms in a year, marking the beginning of Chinese spring, when the sun is at the celestial longitude of 315 degrees.