Our First Chinese New Year

We arrived in China just in time to experience an authentic Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is a lunar holiday, so that date changes each year. This year it fell on February 3. What I didn't know until now is that while New Year's Day is on February 3, the celebration spans a two-week period called Chun Jie (Spring Festival).

Beijing Opera performer applying makeup
on a student.

For the holiday, the kids were out of school for two weeks. The week prior to their break was similar to the week before Christmas break in the U.S. They had "China Week", and on each day there was a different special activity. They saw the local Beijing Opera perform, made Chinese paper crafts, prepared jiao zi (dumplings), and presented a performance to the parents.

Morgan's Chinese class performed a song called "Praise the Lord" entirely in Mandarin. It filled me for two reasons. First, as I listened to these children sing praises to our Lord and Savior, I was reminded that He is indeed here in China. Second, I saw sparkle in my baby girl's eyes. One of her biggest concerns with moving here was that she would have to give up the performing that she loves so much. She looked so at home on that little stage in China. I beamed.

  

Christian's class presented the finale performance, "Happy New Year" (in Mandarin, of course). He doesn't live for the stage like his sister, but he doesn't fear it either. He fit right in.

Traditional gifts during Chinese New Year:
Red envelope with money and gold wrapped
chocolate coins.

I spent that week preparing for our third move in 4 weeks (our apartment was ready) and trying to get up to speed on local customs and etiquette during Chun Jie. I wanted to be sure we used appropriate greetings, gave appropriate gifts, and took full advantage of any opportunities to experience local celebrations. Farell's associates at work helped us with the greetings. Internet research helped us with the gifts.

However, I didn't get quite what I expected in local celebrations department. When I asked Chinese associates, "What do you do for Chinese New Year?", without hesitation they each answered, "EAT!" Here in China, the New Year is all about food and family. The country shuts down. There is little traffic, few stores (if any) are open, and manufacturing, distribution, and shipping are non-existent. So, if there was a huge festival with one of those long colorful dragons carried by six men in Shenyang, no one told us about it. We stayed in with our family, following the expressed tradition.

What we did experience, however, were fireworks. For 350 days of the year, fireworks are illegal in Shenyang. During the 15 days of Chun Jie, they make up for lost time. The explosions begin no later than 7:00 am and end...well, if they end, it's some time after I finally fall asleep. Personal fireworks here are equivalent to what one would expect to see at a professional fireworks display elsewhere. We had spectacular shows coming from literally just under our apartment windows.  For several hours, every boom jolted us on our feet and to the nearest window. Imagine four kids (two little, two big) running from window to window trying to catch the best view. We even prepared to go out onto Morgan's balcony for the "perfect" video footage. An inconveniently timed blast just below us was a little too close for comfort. We hurried...okay, screamed and ran back inside. The view from inside the window suddenly became sufficient.

After hours of non-stop explosions, our excitement waned. We closed the curtains and tried focus on normal activities - baths, a little reading, then settle into bed. It was difficult to tune out the noise, but we did our best. Christian actually fell asleep, but it was not for long. It takes him to best explain the atmosphere here at midnight. To use Christian's words, it felt like we should all "duck for cover". No description truly seems sufficient to capture the experience. The view was breathtaking; the noise, nerve-racking. We think we finally got to sleep around 2 a.m.

I can't share this story without mentioning the unfortunate aftermath we discovered the next day. The five-star Dynasty Wanxin hotel which is within view from our apartment had burned down. The cause was fireworks. It was reportedly the tallest building in Shenyang. Thankfully, there were no fatalities.

 We are still in the midst of Chun Jie, and we still see and hear fireworks periodically each day. What we've experienced living in the midst of it all is something we'll never forget. I think everyone should experience it at least once. For us, once is enough. Next year, we'll join all of the other experienced expats and take a trip to another exotic land.