Chinese New Year - Part One

Valentine's Day in and of itself is pretty much non-existent here but this year February 14th is monumental here in China - it's Chinese New Year. If you combined Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's you might be on the verge of approaching the magnitude of Chinese New Year. For the last month, the stores and streets have been decked out in red and gold and shopping has been even more of a exercise of patience and...well, more patience due to the throngs of people stocking up before things shut down for the coming week of celebrations. The kids have the week off from school and even Intel is shut down until Thursday.

Last night we experienced two important pieces of the holiday - eating jiaozi (dumplings) which families make together and eat for dinner on New Year's Eve and then again at midnight. Our ayi brought us about 3 or 4 dozen - hao chi! (delicious!) And then there are the FIREWORKS...truly, we hear them nearly every day of the year at random times during the day and/or night and/or crack of dawn - the Chinese love their fireworks! But the new year celebrations take it to a whole new and unbelievable level - everyone, everywhere has fireworks.

The video below shows what some of the dads around here call "kid fireworks". I am of the opinion that there is no such thing...(Emma is in the blue jacket, Erin is in pink - with a bow-adorned headband on top of her hat)

Our community had a little display last night after we enjoyed a potluck dinner. From about 10:00 on, and especially at midnight, the sky in every direction was booming with lights and noise. Mike and some friends went downtown to really experience it all and words can't really describe the sheer volume - both noise and amount - of the celebration. Everywhere he turned, he saw fireworks. It's worth noting that anyone can buy them, anyone can set them off, anywhere they want.

Here is a little snippet of the festivities from New Years Eve- the sound cuts out towards the end but you get the idea. Pay attention to a few things - the men running around lighting the boxes, traffic cruising by, and the distance from the buildings. ONLY in China:

We are heading downtown tomorrow to Xing Hai Square, one of the huge parks that will put on a show to end all shows. We have booked a room at a hotel in the park and have been warned that sleep is unlikely because there will be explosions all night. It's cold out there so we wanted somewhere to go for intermittent thawing. I will definitely blog with pictures next time!