China Set To Celebrate Lunar New Year In Bitter Cold

By Samantha Tan Chiew Ting Bernama's correspondent in Beijing Samantha Tan Chiew Ting shares her take on China. BEIJING, Jan 27 (Bernama) -- Chinese New Year (CNY) or better known as the Spring Festival here in China is nearing with the rising festive atmosphere being clearly felt here in Beijing. The Chinese here, like the Chinese anywhere else for that matter, welcome a new prosperous year with family reunions and traditional customs. However this year, it will also be the longest public holiday in China as most Chinese will be off for a week from Feb 7 on the eve and will return on the Feb 15. Besides family gatherings, the Lunar New Year is one of the highly awaited events by the mainland Chinese to celebrate a year of hard work and to welcome a better year ahead. This year, the Chinese will not only have to prepare for the CNY but also for the anticipated worst cold spell in 30 years. Beijingers fear the cold spell could disrupt their travel plans, as seen in neighbouring South Korea that suffered a cold snap with many flights cancelled and the people forced to stay indoors. Beijingers have been enduring cold temperatures below 16 degrees Celsius recently due to winter with strong winds. There is a general fear that the weather will worsen in February during the Spring Festival. LABA FESTIVAL MARKS BEGINNING OF NEW YEAR In fact the festivities for the CNY has started with the Laba Festival on Jan 17, where the Chinese savour the Laba porridge (traditionally made from eight different beans, dried fruit and grains and make Laba garlic (garlic soaked in rice vinegar), a special sauce served during CNY. One of my local friend shared with me the CNY customs here and I was told the busiest time is the week before the Spring Festival that falls on Feb 8 this year. Ma Ying (she), 28, said the younger generation now is more flexible in celebrating the Spring Festival unlike in the olden days were all the traditional customs had to be fulfilled to ensure good luck ahead. "My cousins are from the younger generation and they plan for a short trip to Thailand during the Spring Festival. Besides escaping the freezing cold during that time, they wish to celebrate the new year in different way," she added. Ma's parents still celebrate the year in traditional way like buying new clothes, spring clean the house, paste the couplets and 'Fu' character (fortune) on the walls as decoration as well as prepare food a week before. "A week before the new year is the busiest as we will have to prepare delicacies because we are not allowed to use knives for a week during the Spring Festival. Therefore, food like tofu, baozi (steamed bun) and dumplings are often prepared in advance for the festival," she explained. On the eve, Chinese families gather and stay awake and as the clock strikes 12am, fireworks will be lighted and they eat dumplings dipped with Laba garlic to welcome the new year. YOUNG PEOPLE CELEBRATE DIFFERENTLY However, nowadays people don't want to go through the old traditions that they consider a hassle. Many of the younger generation are now ordering food from restaurants that catering during the new year. Hu Jiayi, 31, said although the younger generation have dropped many of the old traditions in celebrating the Spring Festival, the food preparation still takes centre stage. This is because the young also believe having food on the table represents wealth and luck, and what more food is something that no one can do away with. She said some of the young would still prepare food like dumplings and steamed bun, however, it takes so much effort to make the dough and prepare the ingredients for the fillings. "Now it is so much convenient as many restaurants offer ready made dumplings, steamed bun and other fares. You just buy them, freeze them, steam them and they are ready to eat," she said. Hu, who celebrated the 2015 Chinese New Year in the United States, said many young people were now keen to travel or plan mini gatherings elsewhere to avoid the crowds. "You know during the new year, is hard to travel around China because people are going back to their hometowns especially those working in cities like Beijing. So it's impossible to travel within China and therefore many plan to nearby regions like Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore," she said. -- BERNAMA