Spring Festival: The New Year Celebrations

As it approached the 7th of March, we eagerly anticipated spending Chinese New Year with one of Roger’s friends in Zhanjiang, on the coast of Guangdong Province. However our enthusiasm was outdone by our local friends, many of who showed a child-like excitement in the lead up to Spring Festival. Just like our Christmas, their spirits were high as they looked forward to returning home to family and friends. And, just like our Christmas, there was lots of shopping, eating and drinking as companies entertained staff, friends caught up before leaving town, and people prepared for the holiday. Some of our women friends, while generally excited, were not quite so enthusiastic about the associated spring cleaning. Traditionally the house should be cleaned from top to bottom before Chinese New Year, but there is a break; you do not clean, or wash your hair, on New Year’s Day for fear of sweeping or washing away your good luck.

The weather prior to Spring Festival had been unseasonably cold, so bad that we understand it made the international news. We were told it was the worst in 50 years, and, while it wasn’t freezing in Zhangzhou, our apartment is built for warmer weather. We have no heating and the ceramic tile floor and concrete structure just sucks away body heat. Working at home involved me wearing 8 layers of clothes, wrapping myself in a rug and clutching a hot water bottle. Sometimes it was warmer outside! As we travelled in the southern, and usually warmer, parts of China we discovered the hotels were similarly no better, not even an electric blanket, and we needed to rug up when visiting restaurants as they were rarely heated and often highly ventilated with windows and doors left open.

Further north it was much harsher with the snow, ice and rain disrupting power supply, transport and, more critically, the Spring Festival celebrations. Guangzhou railway station became a temporary refuge to thousands of workers all desperate to return to their families, and many roads were impassable; we heard of one man skiing home down a highway. To us this showed initiative, but apparently the police were not so impressed. The snow and ice damaged powerlines, and coal production and distribution was reduced, leaving many places with power shortages and one city with none for two weeks. The local press made much of the workers who did not return home for their own celebrations so they could repair powerlines and, literally, stay at the coalface. Meanwhile the highest level of government assured us that all would be done to get the power back on and everyone home for the Spring Festival Holiday.

Fortunately our travel plans were not disrupted and we arrived at our friend’s house mid afternoon on the last day of the Chinese year 4704. We were warmly greeted by the whole family (our host, his child, 4 cousins, his parents, 3 sisters, and 2 brother-in-laws) as they were all staying in the 3 bedroom apartment so they could spend as much time as possible together. The modern apartment was simply decorated with a cumquat tree hung with hóng bāo (red envelopes), a couple of red lanterns on the balcony, some tinsel, and the debris from many snacks and hóng bāo hurriedly torn open by children eager to extract the cash. We had anticipated providing our host’s son with a hóng bāo but realised on seeing all the young cousins that our outlay was going to be greater than expected!


Like many Christmas lunches, the Chinese New Year’s Eve lunch was late in the day to ensure all could be there. I lost count of the dishes but I think there were 14, and while there were more courses than in an average meal, and possibly a preference for serving the family’s favourite dishes, the food was similar to everyday cooking. And, just like most Australian Christmas lunches, the women had spent a long time in the kitchen, a lot was drunk, and the kids were seated at a low table in front of the television. Later in the afternoon we prepared dumplings that would be a snack while watching the CCTV New Year’s Eve performance. This is an institution with many families gathering around the television to watch singing, dancing, and comedy skits up until midnight. Then, despite Zhanjiang and many other cities banning them, the fireworks began and continued, noisily, into the early morning.

The next day, the first day of the New Year, we chanced on a local Wushu troop performing lion and dragon dances to the beat of a number of drums. The young men, and a few women, had been engaged by Crowne Plaza Hotel to ensure good fortune for the New Year. The show and athleticism was impressive. It concluded with 2 lions fighting for a hóng bāo hung, along with a bunch of carrots, spring onions and other green leaves, over the door of the hotel; the winner ‘ate’ the hóng bāo and spat out the vegetables.

Later, exploring the riverside parks we discovered we were not the only people out on the streets enjoying the cool but sunny day. The broad promenade along the wide estuary was thick with people; parents and their children, couples, friends walking their dogs, and of course vendors selling snacks, helium balloons, kites, and any other trinket that would attract the attention of passers-by. Interestingly the next day the streets were almost empty; New Year’s Day was obviously the day for promenading.

Many family and a few restaurant meals later, and after drinking much bái jiǔ (white spirit) and red wine, we left Zhanjiang and the wonderful hospitality shown to us. We were only 4 days into the 15 day Spring Festival and there were still more pleasures to follow.