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If a foreigner can visit Beijing only once, it should be during Spring Festival – the most important time of the year for the Chinese people.
THE Chinese capital can ironically be known for being at its most subdued during the festivities in the depths of winter, when many residents and workers return to their hometowns in the provinces and regions throughout the country. There are still numerous reasons to spend the year’s top holiday season in Beijing.
For someone who comes from a tropical country that strictly limits the use of fireworks to mass displays, the sidewalk pyrotechnics on New Year’s Eve in Beijing are one of the top attractions for me.
From handheld sparklers to the pretty weapons shot from barrel-sized launchers to light up the night sky, the fireworks being peddled in numerous designated tents during Spring Festival days offer a primitive, warming countermeasure to the slow, bitter cold.
While the fireworks do not come cheap, generous Beijingers are more than willing to share their fireworks with neighbors in the areas demarcated for setting them off. For the past two years, I have eagerly anticipated the Spring Festival fireworks readily supplied by my neighbors. The citywide show is a visual treat for any guest of the capital and one that leaves a deep impression on newcomers.
In Chinese culture, fireworks and firecrackers help ring in a prosperous new year and dispel any possible misfortune. Fireworks themselves were invented in China in the 12th century as a way to ward off demons. They were based on the Chinese invention of gunpowder. China remains the largest producer of fireworks, with larger pyrotechnical displays including those shot into the air by a skyrocket or aerial shell.
The practice befits a civilization that enjoys spending loud, boisterous times with loved ones. Wait for Po Wu, the fifth day of the first lunar month, to experience the ground-shaking effect of fireworks that reverberate throughout the city for the entire night.
Another major way to enjoy the season is to visit one of the many temple fairs in the capital. Temple fairs give foreigners such as myself a chance to mingle with true-blue Beijingers who will be taking in the food, games and souvenir stalls bedecked with ubiquitous red bunting and lanterns. Crowds fill historical sites such as the Temple of Earth or Ditan for the better part of the day, before heading to the warmth of their homes to share a comforting hot pot dinner together.
In 2009, Beijing saw record numbers of tourists during Spring Festival. The municipal tourism authority said it had received 3.24 million domestic tourists in the last week of January, up by one-fifth from that of the previous year. Income from the travelers was also up 32 percent at RMB 2.16 billion (US $316 million). Host to the most popular of the capital’s seven temple fairs, Ditan Park received more than 1.2 million people in that week.
The Chaoyang Park Temple Fair is also set to present a theme of love for this year, with the festival falling on Valentine’s Day. It will be an interesting way to see how local Beijingers meld their time-honored traditions with the hallmarks of modern commercialization that include the many ideas brought in by foreign and domestic travelers.
Other local delights to indulge in during Spring Festival include the dumplings or jiaozi. On the eve of the Chinese New Year, most families, especially those who hail from northern regions, will keep vigil past midnight with lights blazing throughout the house. The practice comes from a belief that the vigil will ensure the elderly at home have many happy and healthy years ahead of them. Making the dumplings together then becomes one way to stay occupied during the long night.
The tradition of eating Spring Festival snacks and dinners is also called “yaochun,” which means “eating some fresh spring vegetables and food both for disease prevention and to welcome the New Year.” Other favorite dishes during the holiday season include “zhouzi,” braised upper part of a leg of pork, and “chunjuan,” fried rolls stuffed with leek and eggs, as well as “chunbing,” a “spring pancake” made of flour, eggs, bean sprouts and leek. Celebratory dishes also include a whole steamed fish, noodles, as well as sweet and sour shrimp, all with their relevant symbolisms of long life, prosperity, health, happiness and other good tidings.
The most important meal of the period is the reunion dinner on the eve of Spring Festival and this is the crucial time when migrant workers and other people head back to their provinces to usher in the new year with their families. In Beijing, residents that remain in the city will still share the same moment as their absent citizens when they watch the annual Spring Festival gala show by national broadcaster CCTV, a mainstay of the occasion.
From songs and performances by the year’s hottest celebrities to skits by the best comedians parodying the most pressing issues of the day, the gala remains one of the best ways to think about a year gone by in the country and what could be next on the mind of the man on the street in the coming months. With such a great opportunity to learn Chinese culture at the ground level, I will be no different from Beijing viewers of the show.
Increasingly for many regions across the globe with a sizable Chinese Diaspora, the scale and splendor of the Spring Festival gala show is also becoming one way for ethnic Chinese to connect with their ancestral home and a fast-rising China.
Another major custom keeping the capital’s residents occupied in the days of celebration – up to 15 days proper – is that of visiting family and friends. Traditionally, as practiced in many other Chinese communities worldwide, families don their best attire, in many cases red, to visit others. Children are particularly raucous during these times, because they stand to receive hongbao or red packets of money from their elders, which implies blessings, in a custom that is seen more in southern Chinese families than northern ones in the capital.
One of the most amazing sights for a foreigner will no doubt be the Spring Festival decorations in every corner of the city. From fresh pictures of the Kitchen God on doors to gigantic floats of the current zodiac animal– with 2010 being the Year of the Tiger – in public parks, it is difficult not to get into the festive mood and realize why this is the grandest time of the year for the country.
Similarly, the festival is also an opportunity for families to show off their best new attire, another custom for ensuring a good start to the New Year. Department stores and neighborhood malls are always poised to cash in on a major clothes shopping season.
Beijing can also offer the best choices for those who want to get away from all the hustle and bustle of Spring Festival and make use of the vacation time to enjoy the capital’s quieter attractions. For example, in the Forbidden City, a dusting of snow on its mustard-colored eaves and unusually empty grounds can be a visual and spiritual treat. Walking through the imperial palace in the dead of winter would transport anyone to the heyday of the Qing Dynasty and the cloistered existence of its emperors. It is an experience of near exclusivity almost impossible to achieve in warmer seasons or on working days when crowds swarm the top draws of the capital.Moreover, places such as the Great Wall, the Summer Place and Beijing’s remaining hutongs also offer travelers the chance to learn the history of the country.
Spring Festival in Beijing would probably not have been very different for residents and visitors in the past, for many traditional customs ofthis festival have been carried on.
THE Chinese capital can ironically be known for being at its most subdued during the festivities in the depths of winter, when many residents and workers return to their hometowns in the provinces and regions throughout the country. There are still numerous reasons to spend the year’s top holiday season in Beijing.
For someone who comes from a tropical country that strictly limits the use of fireworks to mass displays, the sidewalk pyrotechnics on New Year’s Eve in Beijing are one of the top attractions for me.
From handheld sparklers to the pretty weapons shot from barrel-sized launchers to light up the night sky, the fireworks being peddled in numerous designated tents during Spring Festival days offer a primitive, warming countermeasure to the slow, bitter cold.
While the fireworks do not come cheap, generous Beijingers are more than willing to share their fireworks with neighbors in the areas demarcated for setting them off. For the past two years, I have eagerly anticipated the Spring Festival fireworks readily supplied by my neighbors. The citywide show is a visual treat for any guest of the capital and one that leaves a deep impression on newcomers.
In Chinese culture, fireworks and firecrackers help ring in a prosperous new year and dispel any possible misfortune. Fireworks themselves were invented in China in the 12th century as a way to ward off demons. They were based on the Chinese invention of gunpowder. China remains the largest producer of fireworks, with larger pyrotechnical displays including those shot into the air by a skyrocket or aerial shell.
The practice befits a civilization that enjoys spending loud, boisterous times with loved ones. Wait for Po Wu, the fifth day of the first lunar month, to experience the ground-shaking effect of fireworks that reverberate throughout the city for the entire night.
Another major way to enjoy the season is to visit one of the many temple fairs in the capital. Temple fairs give foreigners such as myself a chance to mingle with true-blue Beijingers who will be taking in the food, games and souvenir stalls bedecked with ubiquitous red bunting and lanterns. Crowds fill historical sites such as the Temple of Earth or Ditan for the better part of the day, before heading to the warmth of their homes to share a comforting hot pot dinner together.
In 2009, Beijing saw record numbers of tourists during Spring Festival. The municipal tourism authority said it had received 3.24 million domestic tourists in the last week of January, up by one-fifth from that of the previous year. Income from the travelers was also up 32 percent at RMB 2.16 billion (US $316 million). Host to the most popular of the capital’s seven temple fairs, Ditan Park received more than 1.2 million people in that week.
The Chaoyang Park Temple Fair is also set to present a theme of love for this year, with the festival falling on Valentine’s Day. It will be an interesting way to see how local Beijingers meld their time-honored traditions with the hallmarks of modern commercialization that include the many ideas brought in by foreign and domestic travelers.
Other local delights to indulge in during Spring Festival include the dumplings or jiaozi. On the eve of the Chinese New Year, most families, especially those who hail from northern regions, will keep vigil past midnight with lights blazing throughout the house. The practice comes from a belief that the vigil will ensure the elderly at home have many happy and healthy years ahead of them. Making the dumplings together then becomes one way to stay occupied during the long night.
The tradition of eating Spring Festival snacks and dinners is also called “yaochun,” which means “eating some fresh spring vegetables and food both for disease prevention and to welcome the New Year.” Other favorite dishes during the holiday season include “zhouzi,” braised upper part of a leg of pork, and “chunjuan,” fried rolls stuffed with leek and eggs, as well as “chunbing,” a “spring pancake” made of flour, eggs, bean sprouts and leek. Celebratory dishes also include a whole steamed fish, noodles, as well as sweet and sour shrimp, all with their relevant symbolisms of long life, prosperity, health, happiness and other good tidings.
The most important meal of the period is the reunion dinner on the eve of Spring Festival and this is the crucial time when migrant workers and other people head back to their provinces to usher in the new year with their families. In Beijing, residents that remain in the city will still share the same moment as their absent citizens when they watch the annual Spring Festival gala show by national broadcaster CCTV, a mainstay of the occasion.
From songs and performances by the year’s hottest celebrities to skits by the best comedians parodying the most pressing issues of the day, the gala remains one of the best ways to think about a year gone by in the country and what could be next on the mind of the man on the street in the coming months. With such a great opportunity to learn Chinese culture at the ground level, I will be no different from Beijing viewers of the show.
Increasingly for many regions across the globe with a sizable Chinese Diaspora, the scale and splendor of the Spring Festival gala show is also becoming one way for ethnic Chinese to connect with their ancestral home and a fast-rising China.
Another major custom keeping the capital’s residents occupied in the days of celebration – up to 15 days proper – is that of visiting family and friends. Traditionally, as practiced in many other Chinese communities worldwide, families don their best attire, in many cases red, to visit others. Children are particularly raucous during these times, because they stand to receive hongbao or red packets of money from their elders, which implies blessings, in a custom that is seen more in southern Chinese families than northern ones in the capital.
One of the most amazing sights for a foreigner will no doubt be the Spring Festival decorations in every corner of the city. From fresh pictures of the Kitchen God on doors to gigantic floats of the current zodiac animal– with 2010 being the Year of the Tiger – in public parks, it is difficult not to get into the festive mood and realize why this is the grandest time of the year for the country.
Similarly, the festival is also an opportunity for families to show off their best new attire, another custom for ensuring a good start to the New Year. Department stores and neighborhood malls are always poised to cash in on a major clothes shopping season.
Beijing can also offer the best choices for those who want to get away from all the hustle and bustle of Spring Festival and make use of the vacation time to enjoy the capital’s quieter attractions. For example, in the Forbidden City, a dusting of snow on its mustard-colored eaves and unusually empty grounds can be a visual and spiritual treat. Walking through the imperial palace in the dead of winter would transport anyone to the heyday of the Qing Dynasty and the cloistered existence of its emperors. It is an experience of near exclusivity almost impossible to achieve in warmer seasons or on working days when crowds swarm the top draws of the capital.Moreover, places such as the Great Wall, the Summer Place and Beijing’s remaining hutongs also offer travelers the chance to learn the history of the country.
Spring Festival in Beijing would probably not have been very different for residents and visitors in the past, for many traditional customs ofthis festival have been carried on.