This year China welcomed in the year of the ox. In the three or four weeks leading up to the new year it became more and more apparent everywhere you went. Red is a lucky color in china, and it's the color for the new year, so many stores sold a lot of red things--especially clothes and underwear.
People also drink a lot of baijiu (the clear Chinese hard alcohol) so the bottles of it were displayed near the front of stores. it's customary to give other families gifts, commonly fruit or nuts or seeds or a nice bottle of baijiu. Also everywhere you went were cartoony posters of happy oxen, or some of the other customary images associated with the new year: fat babies riding goldfish, an old god with piles of money symbolizing wealth, and the long red strips of paper that most families hang on either side of their front door with traditional couplets written on them. Also hung on nearly every front door is the Chinese character fu, which means wealth. but everyone knows to hang it upside down as the word for upside down is a homonym for luck. thus hanging it this way is meant to bring luck and, with it, wealth to that home.
school children get one month off from school (--in theory; in reality most of their parents sign them up for extra classes and schools load them down with unbelievable amounts of homework to complete during the break.) Rather than presents children usually receive little red envelopes with money inside from adults. the whole country basically closes down for the couple days, but many shops stay closed for a week. Nearly everyone tries to get home for the holiday to be with family. So many people travel, in fact, that, so i've heard, the movement of the Chinese people over the new year is largest movement of humans on the planet each year. Add to that the growth in population, and each year becomes successively larger, which means that this was the largest migrations of humans in history. Which, needless to say, makes getting a train ticket tricky, or actually, nearly impossible. Train tickets go on sale 5 days before the date of scheduled departure and some ticket offices stay open 24 hours to sell them. Lines in the train stations are incredibly long and trains are packed (tickets are also sold for standing room, which makes getting up and down the aisles nearly impossible). The Chinese train system is actually really efficient and well run in my opinion--i can only wish that the U.S. would get it together and put together something even half as good--but it can't accommodatethe number of people trying to travel during these 2 weeks.
My most poignant impression of the time surrounding the new year is the fireworks. They are the soundtrack to every memory. A certain air of excitement cloaked the country, a certain feeling of lawlessness and childlike adventure. Traditionally, the sound of the fireworks is meant to scare away the bad spirits so they don't enter the new year, but really, who doesn't just like setting them off for the fun of it? And at least a week before the new year, it already started. Every day outside you could hear the sound of fireworks in the distance, and at nightfall it intensified. I quickly realized that China doesn't have the same regulations about fireworks as the U.S. and i got the feeling that the regulations they do have are not really enforced. Around every neighborhood and along the side of the roads little firework stands set up selling everything from sparklers to huge heavy weighted boxes of what we would consider professional fireworks. Every night people would set them off all around the city including the courtyard of our apartment complex. Hours would pass punctuated by the sonic booms and flashes outside our 13th storey windows lasting well into the night. The sound of each explosion echoed multiple times off of the surrounding tall buildings creating a very intense sound. We felt like we were under siege. Outside it was the same. People lit fireworks off on the sidewalks, and in the middle of the street. One went off practically underneath a taxi i was in. Middle age men stood around the sidewalks drinking and igniting the wicks with their cigarettes. Fathers set them off with their children. Children wandered around lighting wicks and throwing them on the sidewalk. we watched a three-year-old holding a roman candle, squealing with delight as it went off repeatedly. (his father was there with him, but it still was frightening). anyway, i was able to get used to it and liked the excitement in the air so i didn't mind, but for anyone who does not enjoy being surprised by loud unexpected noises, the atmosphere would have been pretty unbearable i think.
the other thing that made the new year a strange time was how empty the city became. Since so many people move to the city from the country, when everyone goes home the city empties out. the usually-crowded subways felt empty by comparison and the streets felt emptier too.
on the eve of the new year we went out with some friends to a big lake in central Beijingsurrounded by restaurants, bars and cafes. we sat in a second story booth overlooking the lake and watching the culmination of two weeks worth of escalating fireworks. As midnight grew closer the view became incredible and we ran outside to be in it. the path surrounding the lake was obstructed by fireworks exploding in both directions so we ran out onto the frozen lake. other people had the same idea and we all ran around on the ice surrounded by a 360 degree view of the city exploding around us. the air of excitement was unbelievable and for over half an hour the intensity of the fireworks didn't die down at all. i don't think I've been that excited for such a sustained amount of time for a long time. it was a very memorable night. i have a little video footage which can give you an idea of it... hit the play button below.
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