Without a Bang

It's difficult keeping track of lunar holidays in the US. In China, the fireworks would've started days ago, but I don't have those cracks and bangs to remind me that Spring Festival is here. It just doesn't feel like Chinese New Year without fireworks being set off haphazardly after drinking Tsingtao and baijiu.

Reading this morning's Twitter feed while sitting around because the college has a delayed opening due to icy conditions, I was reminded of the tradition of watching the CCTV Spring Festival Spectacular. The commentary can be quite amusing--especially when it comes time for the singing and dancing minorities portion of the show. Instead of watching the show, I attended a party with the Mandarin Monday group in New York. Part of the festivities was a Kung Fu demonstration that included very few Chinese--there was one large, older white guy who was surprisingly agile.

Since the weather is terrible and we have to work, Jia and I will have more of a celebration this weekend with a dinner out at Grand Sichuan.

I still miss the fireworks (at least one night of them, not the two weeks that follow).

End of the Festival

Today is Lantern Festival, the end of Spring Festival and the lunar new year celebration.

We had a nice small dinner at home after making a trip out to the Asian market--it was quite crowded, but I'm not sure if it was because of Lantern Festival or just a normal Saturday as we usually go on weeknights. I was told that I had to eat the traditional 元宵 (yuan xiao), glutinous rice balls filled with sesame paste (though this year I only had to eat two). These little balls of goo are not high on my list of enjoyable Chinese delicacies--they're a little more pleasant than mooncakes.

The rest of my Lantern Festival was spent doing laundry and watching the US-Canada gold medal hockey game. I predicted yesterday that it would be a 3-2 overtime game, but I got the winner wrong. It was still a great game to watch.

Happy Tiger

春节快乐！(chūnjiékuàilè) Happy Year of the Tiger!

It really doesn't feel like Spring Festival without fireworks. But at least we'll have a nice feast at home tonight.

Past on the River

It was my second trip outside of Shenzhen (and only about my fifth time outside of Bao'an district). Jia and I had been dating for a couple months and decided to spend the long Spring Festival holiday together. Being that my Chinese was almost non-existant, Jia made all the plans. Our first stop was Guilin and Yangshuo, where tourists gaze upon beautiful jutting mountains that have been painted repeatedly by Chinese artists over the centuries. This was the scenery I had envisioned when I arrived.

We took a boat tour down the Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo--five hours in the cold, light rain to stare at the mountains as we floated by. Zhong Yi, our Red Army driver and guide, would meet us at the dock to take us around the town.

In the winter, the river is low and locals collect rocks from the exposed riverbeds. This is not the time of year that is most picturesque, but there were still plenty of tourists on the boat. Of course, I was the only waiguoren on board.

There were announcements over the PA system to call attention to particular mountain formations or areas of interest, like the mountains that looked like a camel. Jia had a difficult time translating everything for me--it still sounded like gibberish to me. Every twenty minutes or so we were told to go upstairs on the deck to view the scenery through the mist and fog. Everyone would take a dozen photos and then head back down, only to re-emerge twenty minutes later. It was tiring jostling for prime photo-taking positions, and the weather didn't help.

As we passed villages along the Li River, bamboo rafts would drift alongside and men would try to sell souvenirs through the windows of the ship. I decided to follow the captain's orders to

ignore the hawkers and enjoy the scenery.

Halfway through the journey, I was tired of climbing the stairs and pushing through the crowd. The rain was heavy at times and I wasn't interested in pneumonia this early in my stay in China. The mountains began to look the same and I didn't take many more pictures unless instructed to do so by Jia. It was better to remain in the slight warmth of the ship and watch the river through the window.

It was mid-afternoon when we arrived in Yangshuo. Zhong Yi drove us around to see the countryside, which was difficult in rain. It let up for brief moments and we got out of the car for more photos and to walk around.

Light the Way

Today is the Lantern Festival (元宵节, yuan xiao jie), which signals the end of Spring Festival. We'll be having dinner at Jia's taichi teacher's home. Should be interesting foodwise since she's Taiwanese and she spent quite a bit of time in Singapore before moving to Shenzhen. 

I'm hoping that after tonight the fireworks will finally stop. It's been 15 days and I've heard enough fireworks in the middle of the night.

This is an old photo from a previous Lantern Festival. I'll try to get a new one tonight.

Spring Festival Hangover

Just a few more photos from Spring Festival in the area.

On our way back from Bali, we stopped off in Hong Kong. Near the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple we came across these happy looking cows for the new year.

On the eve of Spring Festival, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. They had set up a market selling decorations and other wares for the holiday. We quickly discovered there was nothing left as everyone celebrated. This was probably the cleaner area of the market--the side street looked worse.

Celebration Continues

The fireworks industry in China doesn't appear to show any signs of economic trouble--plenty of people around Shenzhen have been shooting off fireworks in every corner of the neighborhood the last three nights. Last night was rather quiet after about 1 am, with loud bursts every now and then to wake us from slumber.

Here's a video from our 16th floor window. Can you tell that the fireworks are going off about 20 feet from us? Jia is playing the guzheng (Chinese zither) in the background. Sorry for the quality, it's an older digital camera.

Another Niu Year

How many times a year can I celebrate the new year? Apparently three. Tonight is the beginning of Spring Festival and the year of the cow. 春节快乐 to all.

There are some amusing aspects of seeing this year. The first being the joke that keeps getting less amusing every time you hear it. The Chinese word for cow is 牛 niu (sounds similar to "new"), so happy 牛 year! The other one is the presence of the golden cow everywhere. There are a lot that resemble the Wall Street bull. There are also many more that are cute and cartoonish. Many foreigners are a little disturbed by the sight of a golden calf being sold at every store.

Anyway, break out the baijiu and dumplings, put on your lucky red undies, and gather 'round the TV to watch CCTV's Spring Festival festivities.

Spring Festival Redux

Lighted ribbons on a wishing tree.


















Giant firecrackers at the community gate.














The lanterns in front of the restaurants; all closed for the celebration.

A local grandfather assisting a child in setting off some fireworks.

Old Dogs and Golden Pigs

Xin nian kuai le!
We had a bit of a party at Jia's home last night. Far too much food and drinks. We found some nice spots to watch the insanity of fireworks being set off everywhere. Some of the people in this neighborhood had some big ones to light. There were some impressive lights and decorations all around as well. We tried going to Green for some beer after we ran out just before midnight. We found Liu a bit loaded at the gate--he was happy to see us, but too drunk to let us drink at the closed restaurant. I got a few photos, but I don't know how well they came out. I'll post those a little later.