Spring Festival - Part 1

I've never done this before, but I will try to divide last week's experiences and revelations into a three part series. Besides documenting the Spring Festival for my own personal records, I also hope to share some interesting stories and insides on Chinese culture.

The enjoyment of this spring festival was compounded by the visitation of a great friend of mine and fellow Beiwai classmate of Fall '04. Studying at Beijing Foreign Language University during our semesters abroad, we discovered the city together while maintaining a sacred lifestyle of Chinese class, baozi, and 5 kuai beers. And after three long years, including a year of teaching English in Korea, we reunited in Beijing for another go at it (accompanied by 4 other teachers from Seoul). I'm not gotta lie, it was a most joyous occasion.



February 6



This day is deemed equivalent to our New Year's Eve. However, the festivities involved are somewhat different. First of all, the Spring Festival is a family oriented holiday, and therefore more wholesome in nature. You have children eating dumplings around the TV, only a few people on the streets, and practically every means of business including restuarants, bars, and even taxis comes to a halt. No champagne, no silly hats, no singing, no jumping up a screaming in a crowd of millions - but by no means is the city silent. If their is one think the Chinese New Year is best known for, it's the absurd amount of fireworks.

Before I get ahead of myself, our New Year's Eve began at a Hakka restuarant on the Houhai lake in the middle of Beijing. Hakka cuisine, although from Fujian Province, is considered an ethnic food in China since it is the food of one of China's ethnic minorities. I've lived in China for quite a while and to distinguish between and classify all the many varieties of Chinese cuisine is still a vexing conquest that I hope to one day overcome - I'll let you know when I do. After eating a great deal, the Thanksgiving aspect of Spring Festival, we strolled along the frozen lake as fireworks had already started to appear in every direction.

The main fanfare would naturally take place around midnight and with a few hours to kill, we headed to a popular but quiet hutong bar. I truly love Beijing's hutongs - while being unique to this ancient capital it also supplys new and enchanting suprises around every corner. Because the hutongs are so low, I usually get lost for hours using the sun as my guide, but in the dark, luck and a bit of intuition is all you can ask for (I'm not good with stars). At a hidden trendy expat bar called Bed Bar, we took off our shoes, played cards, and drank a bottle of Jameson, or two?

When we reemerged to join in on the public celebration between the Bell Tower and Drum Tower (originally built during the Han dynasty to help keep time - today they stand merely as historical monuments), we immediately put our firecrackers and fireworks into use. As I had expected, experiencing last years chaos, hundreds of small and beautiful explosions had engulfed the area and all senses were temporarily disabled. I made the unfortunate mistake of helpping a gang of men set off a number of firecrackers at once. Because of a faulty lighter and foolish perserverance, I endured a hundred or so cracks two feet away from my ear drums before jumping to safety. I still have a serious ring in my ear, and although no blood has come out, I'm still a bit concerned - I'll give it another week before seeking medical attention. My eyes and ears and nose (form the excess sulfur) were so out of whack, I insisted on moving the night along.

After waiting endlessly for a taxi, we made our way to a house party hosted by an American friend of mine (who also part-took in that disgraceful Body Slendor infomercial). It was a perfectly chill party with copious amounts alcoholic beverages and great view of the middle of Beijing. I was done rocking hard while trying to nurse my ear, but one of our mates from Seoul, a Korean American with a eat anything drink anything attitude, unexpectedely downs a half a bottle of baijiu (Chinese rice wine and possibly one of the strongest and most putrid drinks in the world). Clearly, he had to be nursed for the rest of the night.

All in all, we ate well, we played with fire, and since none of us could celebrate Spring Festival in a traditional family setting, we had no choice but celebrate Chinese New Years in typical Western way.... party!!!