The New New Year: Part I
Spring Festival planning actually starts as Christmas ends. That sad moment of shoving carefully boxed Christmas trees and garlands in the loft offset with bringing down another box, labelled “CNY DECS”. This box isn’t opened up immediately though, there’s a lot of real life things that need to happen, including cleaning and writing the inevitable articles for media who suddenly remember Chinese people exist. The box sits in a corner for a few weeks, saving us the effort of having to head to the loft a second time, but also taking the edge off the January blues, until we open it on Xiaonian.
Posted in Culture and tagged china, Chinese, Chinese New Year, culture, customs, Spring Festival, tradition
The Hesuipian
As Chinese New Year draws close, it’s worth spotlighting a relatively recent tradition, the ‘Hesuipian’, literally, “film to celebrate the birth of a new year”, the New Year Movie, which has now become a tradition of four decades.
Posted in Culture and tagged action, black hmour, china, Chinese, Chinese New Year, Christmas movie, cinema, comedy, family, film, hesuipian, movie, new year movie, Scifi, Spring Festival
Chunwan 2020
It’s Chinese New Year eve. We all know what that means. After the big meal, there would be four hours of non-stop song, dance and comedy. Like a baptism by fire to being truly Chinese, the Chunjie Wanhui (Chunwan for short), has to be done. For all Chinese like myself who’ve grown up with it, sat through it during childhood, rolled our eyeballs at it over adolescence (when our parents still managed to get it over satellite), as we get older, it’s become a ritual that, no matter where in the world you are, and how you’re celebrating, brings you right back.
Posted in Commentary and tagged 2020, china, Chinese, Chinese New Year, Chunwan, culture, gala, show, Spring Festival Gala, variety show
CCTV Gala 2019
The Chun Jie Wan Hui, CCTV’s New Year Gala, (often just referred to as as Chun Wan), is almost as old as I am, though there had been televised celebrations of a more artistic nature broadcast on and off since the 1950s. On every New Year’s Eve, after the huge meal, my family would inevitably gather round, and watch through four or five hours of this state produced extravaganza, keeping us awake til the small hours of New Year’s Day with the pomp and majesty of costumes, lighting and stage sets; and the relentless exuberance of acts trying to out ham each other.
Posted in Commentary and tagged CCTV Gala, china, Chinese, Chinese New Year, culture
Chinese New Year Commercials
In recent year, China has seen the commercialisation of Chinese New Year on a scale it has never seen before, not just within the country, but around the world. Every company splashes red and gold packaging onto its products, and creates a “Going Home for Spring Festival” advert.
Posted in Culture and tagged advert, china, Chinese, Chinese New Year, commercials, culture, film
8 Festive Dishes & 8 Festive Traditions For Spring Festival
If you’re reading this you probably already know about Chinese New Year, so I won’t spoil the festive occasion with too much scholarly detail. 8 is the lucky number in China so here are 8 festive foods and 8 festive traditions for Spring Festival. Since CNY is as big as Christmas and China is vast, every region has its variation of customs. Having a northern mother and southern father, mine will be a mixture of northern and southern broadly speaking, leaning towards southern because that’s where I spent my childhood.
Posted in Culture and tagged china, Chinese, Chinese New Year, culture, festival, food, Spring Festival, tradition
Chinese Lanterns at Chiswick House
There are many elements of Chinese culture that I would love to share with my readers. Some, I do my best to convey in my writing, but others you really have to see for yourself.
When I saw the poster for the “Magical Lantern Festival”, I was thrilled that these Chinese silk illuminations are coming to the UK. A traditional Chinese craft relatively lesser known in the West, I was happy that my readers may have a chance to experience these themselves, especially in the gorgeous grounds of Chiswick House.
Posted in Commentary and tagged china, Chinese, Chinese New Year, Chiswick Gardens, culture, festival, lanterns, silk illuminations, Spring Festival
Chun Yun: the Mass Spring Migration of China
Whilst most of my readers will be struggling to get themselves back into physical and financial shape after Christmas and new year blow outs, China is getting ready to let its belt out, stuff the Hong Bao, and generally indulge in the biggest annual festival.
Posted in Culture and tagged Beijing, china, Chinese, Chinese New Year, culture, Guangzhou, Spring Festival, train, travel
Yeh Shen: the World’s First Cinderella
There are some stories which just spring up time and time again, from culture to culture. Certain fears and hopes in the human Psyche that show we’re all basically the same. “Yeh Shen” is one of these, or maybe it’s several, as the Yellow Earth Theatre draws many comparisons in their publicity, and even in the play’s opening scenes, to Cinderella, and proudly announcing that this Chinese fairy tale is the oldest recorded version of the story.
Posted in Commentary and tagged china, Chinese, Chinese New Year, Cinderella, dance, fairy tale, pantomime, play, puppetry, Spring Festival, theatre, Yellow Earth