Monday February 8, 2010
This Saturday night around 11:45pm, it'll sound like the sky is falling in China. Firecrackers and bottle rockets will light the night sky and create a deafening noise into the wee hours. No one will be able to sleep for the noise, so we'll head outside and join in the fun, being careful to stay out of the way of lit fireworks on the streets and corners. Chinese folks will be ringing in the Year of the Tiger on the mainland on February 13, Lunar New Year's Eve.
How will the rest of the world celebrate? There's no dearth of Chinese New Year celebrations. Here's what's going on in your neighborhood:
If you're staying home and still want to celebrate, Rhonda Parkinson, our Guide to Chinese Food has some great suggestions for traditional Chinese New Year recipes.
Photo: New Year decorations. © 2010 Sara Naumann, licensed to About.com.
Wednesday February 3, 2010
This is a great question as folks around the world are celebrating the Year of the Tiger - and not just Chinese. We used to make it down to Market Street every year for the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco and then go eat Chinese food. Another excuse to have some fun and why not? Western holidays are exported (see my recent post about Valentine's Day) - why shouldn't we all celebrate the Lunar New Year wherever we are?
I digress. What should you take to a party? Well, lucky for you, it's pretty easy as there aren't any fixed traditional items (except the Hong Bao for kids) - at least on Mainland China. This allows you to have a little fun with your gift. Chinese friends here helped me come up with these suggestions for Chinese New Year host gifts.
Monday February 1, 2010
It's my prediction that Western
Valentine's Day is not going to get its usual commercial-consumer support this year in China. While shops are doing their best to put some heart-shaped candy gift boxes together, this year, Valentine's Day falls on Lunar
New Year's Day and I have the feeling folks are going to be too tired from a night of merriment and
jaozi eating to get geared up for a day of cheap chocolate and overpriced roses. I suppose couples will use the opportunity as an excuse for a night out but I'm rather pleased to see an imported Western tradition be squashed by the largess of Chinese New Year.
You may be curious to see what happens on our romantic holiday, so here's a little guide to Valentine's Day in China. By the way, China does have its very own romantic legend and special day that occurs in July/August called Qi Xi, but it doesn't have the same consumer trappings that the imported Valentine's Day does.
So if you're in China with your sweetheart and you somehow managed to miss that it's Chinese New Year on February 14, I hate to break it to you. Those aren't the fireworks of love lighting the sky behind you - it's the Year of the Tiger saying hello.
Sunday January 31, 2010
I'm already reading about the masses lining up for their train tickets for the upcoming "
Spring Festival", the local name for Chinese New Year. In fact, there's a local joke about a migrant worker who gets to the back of a long line and asks the rather dapper yuppie in front of him "is this line for hard-sleepers?" (referring to the cheaper class of car on overnight trains). The man in front replies "you want to watch Avatar lying down?" (
Avatar is raking in the bucks in China too.)
According to the Ministry of Transport, travel numbers are up 7.7% over last year and when you consider that over 170,000 people left Shanghai on January 30 alone (the start of the New Year travel holiday), that's going to be a lot of people.
You might be traveling in China over the holidays and have a few questions about being here during these busy travel times. Here are some answers to common questions about travel during Chinese New Year. The good news is that things don't just shut down over the holidays. Lots of little shops and restaurants will be closed for a day or two around February 13-14 (New Year's Eve / New Year's Day), most everything else will be up and running. The only real problem I can see you having is trying to get to sleep at a decent time on New Year's Eve. The sound of firecrackers will be deafening!
Travel statistics source: Shanghai Daily, January 31, 2010.
