Monday 9 February is Lantern Festival. This candle-lit family evening out under a full moon brings the Chinese New Year festivities to an end.

Since the party began two weeks ago, a quarter of a billion people have moved across China by road and nearly 200 million by rail. The Chinese Premier has travelled through Europe meeting with heads of state in a ‘Trip of Confidence’ and China’s rival super-power has inaugurated a new president. Global shifts like these naturally impact the debates we have in Jersey about the way forward. So while we wonder whether China will be a bearer of light or a dark force to be resisted, Jerseyman and China expert, Tim Nash, shares something of what it means to be ‘Chinese.’

When I was growing up, Jersey residents were either Beans or Grockles and the standard retort to any criticism of the island was “There’s a boat in the morning.” You were either in or out. The word for ‘Chinese’ in their own language simply means ‘you’re in.’ What is it that gives a person immunity from the dawn ferry?

Within China’s borders are the homelands of fifty-six distinct ethnic groups. Ninety-three percent of China’s population, however, are Han and trace their ancestry back 4707 years to the Yellow Emperor. Within the Han, there are one hundred surnames that are considered to be as old as China itself. Thus, the Chinese equivalent of ‘Joe Public’ is ‘Old Hundred Names.’ If you’re called Wang, Li or Chang you must be Chinese, as surely as Bulstrode Vibert must be a St Ouennais.

Get into a conversation with Joe Public in Jersey and it will not be long before they blame the state of the island on the incompetence of its leaders; have the same conversation with Old Wang in China, and they will conclude ambiguously: “Five thousand years of history – that’s so long.” Pride in their rich heritage is mixed with a fatalism that nothing will change in their life-time. Hence, when asked if they thought the French Revolution was a good thing, one Chinese famously replied: “It’s much too early to tell.”

China has been in continuous revolution for the past two centuries, and especially intensely over the last two decades, yet still the 5000 year long river keeps rolling. So what did the Yellow Emperor ever do for us? Legend credits him with the invention of the diamond wedding anniversary, the neck tie, homeopathy and the road sign.

The Yellow Emperor made as big a deal of diamond anniversaries as we do. His calendar saw society as moving in a sixty year cycle like a clock. In Jersey, we tend to focus on the linear dimension of history as a list of successive dates and upgrades. But within that, each generation is allotted an average turn of just 60 years to go from cradle to grave. “Plus ca change …”

The Yellow Emperor followed deer through the forests, watching which plants they ate and which they did not. From his observations of natural phenomena such as this, he concocted the fundamental recipes of Chinese traditional medicine and invented a musical scale based on wooden flutes tuned to bird song. Have we stopped enjoying and learning from the beautiful island around us?

One afternoon, the Yellow Emperor’s wife is said to have been taking time out for a cup of tea under a mulberry tree when the cocoon of a silk worm fell into her cup. As it began to unravel in the hot water, she drew out the thread and wove it into the silk which Jersey’s office workers now tie around their neck each morning.

In offices in China, the writing system they use today is said to be based on the characters invented by the Yellow Emperor’s historiographer. On discovering a hoof print in the mud one day, he realised that he could identify not just that an animal had been there but which specific animal. With that insight, he created a set of pictographs that could be scratched onto ox bone to record specific thoughts. We still use the same principle in Jersey with our road signs that communicate a message directly with an image rather than spelling out the sound of a word that in turn will mean something to us.

The next time you wear silk or pass a road sign or look at a clock, let the Yellow Emperor remind you with gratitude for the positives in your heritage and challenge you to bring the most light that you can in your short turn on the earth.

To pose your questions, or to share your views and experiences of China with other people in Jersey, go to http://jerseychina.ning.com. To contact Tim Nash, email jerseychina.com@gmail.com or call 077 007 CHINA (24462).

• Picture: The Yellow Emperor