Wishes for the true spirit of Christmas shining in your heart and illuminating your path

Christmas Day is the most festive season of the year for many people worldwide.

Millions leave the cities on trains, planes, and buses to travel home and reunite with their families and friends, forming the biggest human migration. It is a special day and holds similar celebration values as Chinese New Year, with a vast similarity that depends on the importance of kinship. It is a religious holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ and a Christian cultural festival in North America and Europe that shapes many companies' decelerate production due to the holiday break that may extend up to two weeks. Christmas is very similar to Chinese New Year. Many Chinese take two or longer weeks break to celebrate the importance of the festive day, worshiping their blessings and appreciation in the past year with a hope of prosperity for the upcoming year. These special days in the West and East connect to a religion and ancient cultural history.

As we enter the last month of the lunar calendar every year, the working pace in entire China begins to slow down until the end of the festive celebration, which lasts for one to two months. As New Year's Eve is approaching, the noisy city has suddenly become slower and colder in immigrant cities like Shenzhen, but people are filled with enthusiasm about returning. During these two months, most people are on vacation as 80% of these working populations are from rural areas working in the city returning to their hometowns. Family plays a central role during celebrations, and thus, gatherings and visits between friends and family become the main theme during this festive season.

When I was a kid, as a student, we would have a total of about 20-30 days of vacation around the Chinese New Year, from the Off Year until the end of the Lantern Festival. All children will exchange and receive gifts during this Christmas Holiday, which is very similar to the Chinese New Year tradition. Children would receive red packets or "hong bao" containing money from parents and married elderlies, which symbolizes a new beginning and fortune for the upcoming year. Hence, Christmas can be seen as an equally important festive holiday of the Chinese New Year in China. These special days are associated with red decorations, praying ceremonies seeking blessings and prosperity for the coming year, and firecrackers that resemble vibrant happiness and liveliness. The blazing explosive fireworks can be seen across the sky, dazzling with a loud bang sound to spark the spirit of celebration across the country and allow the public to enjoy this aesthetic and entertaining moment with their loved ones.??

In China, working means coming of age. I have been in Shenzhen for 10 years. I met the love of my wife here and now have a 7-year-old son. My second Hometown - Shenzhen, carries values and outlook on life and dreams, except for memories. If the Hometown is not a choice, then for people of my generation in China, the city where we settle is the result of a comprehensive selection, there may be chance or certainty, and work is one of the factors.

However, life has changed since I joined the cannabis vaping device manufacturing industry two years ago, building Cilicon with my team on the journey of success.?

In this fast-paced organization, my team and I have had very little opportunity to take a break over the past year. We have massively expanded our team, constantly redefining our business model, evaluating market needs, and introducing innovative technologies and products for our customers. Although this journey has a mix of excitement and tiredness for everyone, we have superseded four times of sales amount from the previous year, which is a noteworthy rewarding for our efforts. It provides everyone with a sense of accomplishment and enjoyment throughout this working journey. However, it is part of my job to enable my team and me to export creativity sustainably within the daily eight hours of working hours without compromising their personal lives. Overtime is strictly controlled as spending time for ourselves, and our families will help us recharge the energy for better growth, allowing us to have a work-life balance.

Lastly, Christmas around the corner also reminds us that the Chinese New Year is approaching closely. Our production line workers started returning home to prepare for the celebration of the Chinese New Year. Our team is looking forward to the holiday break. Although it is only ten days, going home to reunite with family is still a precious moment. Before the holiday break, the company will distribute the promised bonuses and dividends accordingly. For me, I will most likely reward myself with a new car, bring my wife and children back home to join my parents in ancestral worship, and make dumplings together and enjoy eating festive dinner with our loved one throughout the Chinese New Year. It will be a new experience for my child to enjoy breathing in the fresh air from the countryside and rolling in the snow with his cousins. Firecrackers may be a significant event indicating the past year has ended for him as a child, but spending New Year's Eve with my loving family will become his fondest childhood memory. These fond memories from childhood may help us as adults retain our innocence and optimism when encountering difficulties.

I wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR. May the COVID end soon, and please stay safe during this pandemic.

Wess Zheng

VP?of?Growth