The ‘Gold’ Mandarin Orange
by Felix Lim
@ 17 Jan 2014
As Chinese New Year rolls around, people are going to start buying mandarin oranges in droves. What they may notice, however, is an increase in the prices. Due to droughts in China, where a lot of the supply for these oranges comes from, the prices of these mandarin oranges have increased by ten to twenty percent. The mandarin orange is a symbol of wealth and completeness to the Chinese people, due to its shape, colour and Chinese name being phonetically similar to the word for ‘gold’. It is an integral part of the celebrations. Mandarin oranges are given out and eaten in large quantities because of this symbolism.
