Hey everybody,
Recently, we had our family day in Zhuhai. What’s that you may ask? Well, it is a day where we meet up with the Zhuhai host families – including their children ā in the park. We wanted to spend time with them and get to know them better. Also, there were some families who have not yet hosted a foreigner and were interested to learn more.
We were very lucky as we had perfect weather; the sun was shining and it was around 30Ā°C. Maybe even a little too warm for what was waiting for usā¦
First of all we brought all the stuff we needed to the park and marked a big circle on the grass with flour, hung up our IC-flag and put the bottles of water we brought in the shadow. Some visitors of the park stopped wondering what we might be up to, some also took pictures.
While waiting for the families we watched some children and men flying kites. We invited some boys who came by to try out their English skills and join our gathering. And then the first families showed up and the fun began. The children were aged between 3 and 14 but all of them were happy to play some games with us. We played āDuck, Duck, Gooseā, some other tag-games and animal guessing. I didnāt know that children could run so fast! Unbelievable! We all had a lot of fun and the day ended too fast.
We finished by sitting on blankets on the grass talking with some of the older children about our home countries, hobbies and languages. That was really nice. We were able to communicate well and the children made a lot of effort to speak English.
After that sunny day full of running I was very thankful for a cool shower in the evening and we ate some dumplings, prepared using the flour we didn’t use for the lines in the park. They were really tasty thanks to our cook Li!
See you and åč§ļ¼
Gianna aka Gini aka ååØ
Apply now for an internship and join us in Zhuhai, Qingdao or Chendgu.
Now, I will tell you something about the Spring Festival I know and grew up with, and how to celebrate Spring Festival in my family. The blog is a long one, please be patient~~^_^
ā¢The origin of Spring Festival
Itās said that āNian 幓ā was a horrific monster in ancient China. It always destroyed everything and even hurt people. People found out, that the monster was afraid of the red cloth people put on their doors, so it has become a tradition to have something red (Spring Festival couplets and Fu character ē¦) on the doors and walls. Nian is also afraid of fireworks and firecrackers, thatās why Chinese people love to make a lot of noise during the Spring Festival time.
ā¢The importance of Spring Festival in China
Spring Festival is the most important festival during the whole year, almost everyone goes back home to celebrate Spring Festival with their family, even people who work in Hainan Province and their hometown is in Heilongjiang Province go back home (Hainan is in the southwest of China, Heilongjiang Province is in the northeast of China).
The traffic during the whole month is horrible, itās difficult to get a ticket to go back home (because everyone wants to go back home), if you get a ticket, you are lucky, but if you take a train to somewhere, you will find sometimes you canāt get a place and you will have to stand on the train. We call it āChun1yun4 ę„čæā, it is a word we use to describe the passenger transport during the period of Spring Festival.
ā¢Prepare for Spring Festival
-āLa Yueā āč
(la4)ę(yue4)ā
āLa Yueā is the last month on Chinese lunar calendar in one year. When āLa Yueā starts, Chinese people start to prepare everything for the Spring Festival.
The Spring Festival is only one day on a calendar, but for Chinese people, it isnāt only one day, it always refers to the whole Spring Festival period.
– Cleaning: Chinese people clean the house everywhere; wash all the window curtains, bed sheets and dirty clothes before Spring Festival.
– Buy enough food for the whole month: Including all kinds of meat, vegetables, fruits, snacks, nuts, sweets and āmantou é¦å¤“ā (Chinese bread). If you are in China now, you will find that the traffic jam is worse on the weekends than weekdays, there are so many people in supermarkets and shopping malls, you may believe everything is for free! (Because everyone buys a lot of stuff!)
– Wear new clothes: On Spring Festival, people wear new clothes, even underwear and socks are all new. As mentioned in the blog written by my charming colleague Sunny āpeople will wear red coloured underwear and socks as if the coming year would be their year. By the way, the next year is the year of the snakeļ¼ā
When I was a child, I was always very happy to wear new clothes on Spring Festival, I would keep the new clothes my mother bought for me in winter to wear until the Spring Festival. But now, I donāt mind if I wear new clothes on Spring Festival, because I have grown up and I can buy new clothes anytime I want.
ā¢Spring Festival Eve
– Sacrifice
There is a tradition that the family makes sacrifices to forefathers of the family during the period of the Spring Festival. Itās very solemn. Prepare a table with incense, candles, some dishes, fruits and cakes.
In my family, if we decide to make sacrifices, we will prepare it very carefully, because it displays the respect we have for our family ancestors.
-āDinner on Spring Festival Eveā,ā幓(nian2)å¤(ye4)é„(fan4)ā
On the Spring Festival Eve, all family members get together cooking, making dumplings, watching TV (more than 99.99% families in China watch the Spring Festival Gala on CCTV). The dinner on Spring Festival Eve is the most important meal in one year for every family. Some families also put several coins (washed with boiling water) into dumplings, if you eat a dumpling with a coin, it means you will be lucky and will make more money in the new year!
My mom always prepares at least 10 dishes for the dinner every year, even though there are only us three(my parents and me) celebrating together on the eve. After dinner, we will eat dumplings at midnight. When the dumplings are cooked, we will set off firecrackers at the same moment.
ā¢āRed envelopeā,āēŗ¢(hong2)å
(bao1)ā
Children are all very happy during the period of Spring Festival, because they can get red envelopes from older family members on Spring Festival, they all become ārich menā!
I got red envelopes from my parents, grandparents and some other elder family members every year until I graduated from college. I will give red envelopes to my nephews from this Spring Festival onā¦
ā¢āHappy Spring Festivalā,āę(bai4)幓(nian2)ā
Say āGuo4 nian2 hao3ā(it means happy Chinese new year) with fist and palm salute to people you know or you donāt know but you want to ask for help if you stay in China during the period of the Spring Festival, they will be very happy. People will visit each other to say āguo4 nian2 hao3ā to wish each other good luck and make more money in the new year!
ā¢āGoing back to motherās homeā,āå(hui2)åØ(niang2)家(jia1)ā
Itās a tradition in China that the daughters who have married could not celebrate the Spring Festival with their own parents, they celebrate the Spring Festival with their husbandās family. So the second day (in some areas in China, it is the first day) after Spring Festival is the date for the daughters who have married to back home to celebrate with their own parents, also with husbands and kids, they always take a lot of gifts. And the parents of the daughters will entertain them as well. But now, because most of Chinese families have only one child, people donāt mind to celebrate with other families and friends.
Although my mom goes to visit my grandmother every two days, she prepares a lot of gifts for my grandmother on this day as well. My grandmother also gets up early in the morning to prepare the dinner for us.
ā¢How Chinese people spend Spring Festival holiday
We get a 7-days holiday during the Spring Festival. Do you want to know how Chinese people spend their holidays? Most of families celebrate together at home and meet friends, some people go out to travel with families, normally, people in north China prefer to travel to some warm places, because the winter is cold, they want to enjoy the holiday with only wearing a T-shirt.
I meet some friends and go shopping during the holiday, because thereās a big discount after Spring Festival! I am always busy during the holiday, there are too many friends and relatives to meet, too many things I want to do.
by Amber
Celebrate Spring Festival in China! Send us your application for a homestay and be with a Chinese family on Spring Festival Eve.