Yee Sang at Marco Polo

For the past two years now, as the Chinese New Year approaches, Marco Polo Plaza Cebu, led by its super energetic GM Hans Hauri, is the first to celebrate the event with the usual Yee Sang Tossing ceremony.

As always, guest of honor was another super energetic lady Governor Gwendolyn Garcia who led in tossing the Yee Sang. She was assisted by GM Hans Hauri and some prominent personalities in Cebu including Madame Qin Yuan He, wife of Consul General of the Peoples Republic of China. Upon knowing that GM Hauri was born in the Year of the Ox, the Governor praised him for his ingenuity and perseverance, making Marco Polo what it is today…a Five Star Hotel!

Yee Sang actually is a fish salad that is eaten during the Chinese New Year only. Yee means “fish” and sang means “toss.” To do it, people gather around the Yee Sang and each one gets a pair of chop sticks to toss the salad. So tasty was the (giant) yee sang that it was served to all guests attending the celebration.

The media who attended the event were then treated to Chinese cuisine at Café Marco with a menu dubbed as “Dim Sum and Then Some.” Really, the food was fantastic!

By the way, prior to the Yee Sang Toss, there was the Lion Dance (Lang Sai) and Dragon Dance (Lang Ling) to open the traditional New Year as this would symbolize good luck and prosperity.

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One lazy evening, when there was no activity to cover, our dear friend and colleague Jaime Picornell invited us, Chinggay Utzurrum and Joe Recio, to a dinner at Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa and for a long-awaited tete-a-tete. Of course, with Jaime inviting us, who can refuse him? Taking his car, we arrived at Shangri-La and Lesley Tan, the new F&B Promotions Manager and Communications Manager Mildred Amon led us to the Tea of Spring where a little Yee Sang was first served us. The food was superb and we had a wonderful evening reminiscing the days when we started writing in the late 60s.