After 4 months of blogging, I had my first enforced break and have been away from my computer for 5 days. I didn’t really miss it much – a few pangs now and then, some minor guilt about people expecting replies to comments, but mostly I just really enjoyed being with my family.

In my last post, I said I wanted to get back to my stated topic, web development. However, before I do so, I am going to take the opportunity to write about our holiday and Chinese hospitality.

For those of you who don’t know, I live in China. There’s a lot I’d like to write about China, so I may come back to this topic in future. I may start a separate blog for my China writings, but for now I’ll include them here.

Chinese National Day Golden Week

October 1st is Chinese National Day and marks the start of a Golden Week holiday. We normally just stay at home during Golden Week holidays because travelling is a nightmare.

It is estimated that 120 million people travelled during this holiday. Trying to book flights / trains / hotels etc is difficult. If you’re successful, you’re in for an uncomfortable experience – people will be crammed into every available space. To top it off, the prices are two to three times higher than normal.

It’s not just travelling that’s a problem. Most of China’s 1.3 billion people are on holiday, so the shops / streets / tourist attractions are jam-packed with people. And I mean jam-packed. All in all, it’s normally better to relax at home and leave travel and tourism for a quieter period.

This holiday we decided to venture out and accept the invitation of a good friend. Fortunately, we weren’t travelling by public transport. We were travelling by private car and enjoying some famous Chinese hospitality.

Chinese Hospitality

Our friend invited us to spend the holiday with his family. When you receive an invitation such as this, you’ll learn that Chinese hospitality is fantastic, although at times it can be overbearing for Westerners.

They made us feel as though we were part of the family, provided us with accommodation and food, and tried to keep us entertained. One night they even gave up their own bed for us. Our friend’s family is quite well off, but I’ve found this kind of hospitality throughout China, regardless of wealth.

So what did we do? Mostly we just relaxed with his family and ate (more on that below). We also went on several outings, including a day in Tianjin.

One night we stayed in the Zhengan Palace Hotel in Grand Epoch City, which is a huge luxury resort. It is truly epic in scale and combines a modern facility with classic Chinese architecture. There’s a golf course and a variety of other sports and activities. Luxury resorts are not really my scene, but it was well worth the look.

For trivia buffs and soccer fans, Real Madrid stayed here in 2005. Michael Owen, David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane feature in the hotel’s pamphlet, in that order. We also saw a German camera crew setting up to shoot a movie, but I have no idea what it’s called.

Banquets, Banquets, Banquets

Everyday, for lunch and dinner, there was a banquet. The food was delicious! If you’ve never tried real Chinese food, I can assure you it is far superior to the food you get in Chinese restaurants in the West. For those not familiar with Chinese dining, each person does not have an individual meal. Instead, many dishes are placed in the centre of the table and you help yourself to a little of everything.

There is a strong drinking culture amongst the men, with toasting throughout the meal. Normally the drink is baijiu (a lethal spirit), although red wine or beer may be used instead. Often the toaster will say ganbei, which literally means dry glass. For some reason, most Chinese think Cheers means the same thing. Either way, you’re expected to drain your glass.

I’ve often heard people complaining about having to drink too much or eat dishes they didn’t like. I fell into this trap myself early on during my time in China. I’ve since learned it’s fine to say no, or that you don’t like something.

With food, the host may pressure you a little more (it’s considered polite for the host to offer), but they will normally accept this. However, there are right ways and wrong ways to say no. Sometimes, it is better to say yes, then just not eat it. Actually saying no can lead to a loss of face for your host. You may find that it’s harder to get the host to accept no when it comes to drinking, as it is considered a courtesy for the host to get you to drink.

For a Westerner being pressured to do something you don’t want to do can be very annoying. We expect that if we say we don’t like something, the host will respect our wishes and not raise it again. At times it takes all my patience to remember that I’m dealing with a different culture here and that the reason they keep asking is that they are being courteous by their standards. If they don’t ask, they don’t care about me.

I’ve lived in China for 3 years in total, but I’m still learning how to deal with this. I think I was a little rude to our hosts at times, but hopefully I made up for it with the arm wrestling competition!

The Final Word

We had a great holiday and enjoyed some great Chinese hospitality. Now, its back to everyday life… If you have had any experience with Chinese hospitality I’d like to hear about your experiences.

As you can see in the photo, the seats are entirely made out of metal (stainless steel from memory), rather than traditional seats with padding.

It was a little uncomfortable to sit on, although given this was in the tropics, the seats were probably cooler than padded seats – it gets pretty damn hot there. Having said that, I’m sure the primary motivation behind the metal seats was more to do with the ease of cleaning.

I’ve been on a lot of buses in China and the vast majority have padded seats very similar to what we have in the West. I’ve only ever seen these buses with metal seats in Guangdong.

You can also notice that in the front half of the bus there’s only one row of seats in each side of the bus and plenty of room to stand. Buses in China can get pretty crowded – although there weren’t many people aboard on the day of the photo.

I was really taken with the countdown display on the traffic lights, showing how many seconds were left before the lights went green. How simple, yet elegant. Why hadn’t I seen this before?

It lets you know exactly how long you have to wait. No sitting there on tenterhooks, waiting for that green light – you can relax a little, which should improve your concentration when you’re actually driving. No being caught out by the light suddenly changing to green – you know exactly when it’s going to happen.

There’s an added benefit: everyone knows how much time they have and, this being China, you get to see all sorts of interesting behavior: people rearranging their load, sending a text message and goodness knows what else.

Of course, this only works with timed traffic lights. Here in Brisbane, the lights have had sensors for 15 years or so: the time a red light shows is variable, so this wouldn’t work. Still, I lived in Denver a year or so before I moved to China and they had a lot of timed traffic lights but no display.

I thought this quite ingenious of the Chinese. Have you seen any other ingenious ‘inventions’ in China?

What’s KTV?

One experience that most newly arrived foreigners in China have in common, is wondering what all the KTV signs represent. These signs can be seen in quantity in any city in China.

Image Source: Alec @ Taiwan (License)

Of course, KTV stands for Karaoke Television (or video karaoke) and the signs indicate the location of KTV Hotels where the Chinese hire small sound proof rooms and sing the night away.

There are approximately 100,000 KTV establishments in China. They range from huge stand alone hotels down to small single room establishments.

Why Is KTV So Popular?

Another question that’s commonly asked by foreigners is why is KTV so popular in China? There are some Westerners who get into KTV, but the majority just don’t understand why it’s so popular.

It seems to be a cultural thing, which extends to other Asian cultures, as it’s popular in most Asian countries. Exactly why this is the case (and why it’s never really taken hold in the West) is anyone’s guess. However, I’ve noticed a couple of things about the Chinese and karaoke:

1. Most Chinese are pretty good singers. Of course, some are better than others (and some are awful), but in general the average Chinese person sings better than the average Westerner. I think this because Chinese is a tonal language. The biggest difficulty that Westerners who learn Chinese face is distinguishing between the tones.
2. The Chinese are very polite when listening to someone who really can’t sing. They’ll applaud enthusiastically. There won’t be any jeering. This may be related to the concept of face, but I think it goes beyond that – I think the Chinese really appreciate someone having a go.

These are just my opinions. If the truth be known, I’ve only very rarely ‘played KTV’ (as the Chinese would say).

The KTV Room

The typical KTV room is maybe the size of a lounge room, with a big couch for people to relax on, a long coffee table for snacks and drinks and of course some karaoke equipment.

The karaoke equipment is made up of the karaoke machine itself (a console where you select the songs), the TV screen and some karaoke microphones. I guess there may be more equipment that you can’t see, to store the videos.

Image Source: ..AikiDude.. (License)

It’s normally fairly dark and people sit around taking turns to sing, while enjoying snacks and drinks. Sometimes there are drinking games (Chinese drinking games are a fascinating, but different story), but mostly it’s just singing and relaxing.

Image Source: Silly Rabbit, Trix are for Kids (License)

Afterwards, there’s almost always a mess (often you can’t see the floor for sunflower seed shells!).

Image Source: MK Media Productions (License)

Karaoke Music

So what do people sing when they ‘play KTV’? Of course, there’s a lot of Chinese pop music and some traditional Chinese ‘folk’ songs, but there’s also a lot of Western music.

The cross section of Western music is quite wide (and somewhat peculiar). You’re unlikely to find the very latest releases, but there are a lot of pop songs: Celine Dion, Witney Houston, West Life, etc. And of course the B52′s:

Image Source: Sam Ose / Olai Skjaervoy (License)

Some of the songs are really old and have passed their used by date in the West. For example, despite their songs being from my childhood, The Carpenters are very popular. Now that’s something I really don’t understand!

In one visit to KTV, the best song I could find was House of the Rising Sun, another very old song, but somewhat cooler than the Carpenters.

The KTV videos are sometimes quite strange. Many are shot just for Karaoke and don’t seem to have any relation to the actual song. For example, you’ll see footage of people windsailing in Australia, while a Chinese pop song plays. Bizarre, but it adds to the experience!

Now, the award for the most bizarre:

Image Source: Sam Ose / Olai Skjaervoy (License)

Yes, that’s Baa Baa Black Sheep, with sheep on the wall and a Chinese actress dressed up as, well I’m not sure what!

Royalties

On a serious note, there has been a storm over royalties in recent years.

Karaoke videos are used in approximately 100,000 KTV parlours across the country and very few of these pay royalties. Of course, most of the establishments will be using pirated Karaoke DVDs in the first place!

In November 2006, a National Copyright Administration notice was issued, requiring that Karaoke operators pay a daily fee of up to 12 yuan for each room, with the fee varying from region to region. According to the People’s Daily:

The royalty in Beijing was set at 11 yuan at the beginning of this year, the second highest in the country compared with the highest 11.1 yuan in Shanghai and the lowest 8.1 yuan in northwestern Gansu Province.

However, there has been resistance to this move:

At present, only about 10 operators out of more than 1,000 Beijing-based karaoke bars paid royalties for the copyrighted audio-video products they used. The figure stood at about 1,000 nationwide, according to the association.

That translates to only 1% of Karaoke establishments paying the royalty fee. Interestingly, the percentage is 1% both in Beijing and throughout China.

As a result, the China Audio-video Copyright Association (CAVCA) has started suing people, starting with 100 KTV operators in Beijing. However, that’s only 10% of KTV establishments in Beijing, meaning that 89% have neither paid or faced legal action.

There’s a long way to go before Beijing is cleaned up, let alone the rest of the country. This issue won’t be going away anytime soon.

The Seedy Side Of KTV

It’s well known that there’s a seedy side to KTV in China. A search for "KTV in China" results mostly in sites discussing the blurred lines between KTV and ‘escort services’ where young women are available for a fee.

For example, one of the top search results is a forum topic on Chinese Savvy discussing sleazy KTV hotels. One poster says:

So, I’ve come to realize there are two types of KTV’s in Beijing: the type you bring your girlfriend to, and the type you don’t.

I know many girls who go to KTV’s with their friends, don’t drink and sing all night. Then I know the guys who go to KTV’s, drink, sing half the time and spend the rest of it talking to a hired girl. And I’m sure additional ‘services’ are available at a cost.

Even Wikipedia’s page on Karaoke Box has a section on Special KTV.

A group of gentlemen patronizing a KTV in China will typically have a group of young women brought into the room from which each man may choose his personal hostess. In Taiwan, these establishments are known as a Special KTV. This "hosting" can range from polite conversation to sexual liaison, depending on the policies and niche of the particular "special KTV" lounge. Sexual recreation can take place in the KTV room itself, a "love hotel", or at the residence of the client.

Although the Wikipedia article is mostly centered on Taiwan, it mentions that it’s the same in mainland:

These Special KTVs are also prevalent in Mainland China, although they are known simply as ‘KTV’. As in Taiwan, the additional services available from the hostesses are officially illegal for sale, though the local police force has very little interest in enforcement of this. KTV establishments in the larger, more prosperous cities in mainland China can be quite large and extremely opulently decorated. Some are detached, multistory buildings employing several hundred staff.

I’ve never been to a ‘Special’ KTV establishment, but I do know an foreigner living in China who paid a KTV girl to quit her job and become his live-in girlfriend instead.

However, despite the amount of press the ‘Special’ KTV hotels get, the vast majority of KTV activities in China are just innocent fun.

Final Thoughts

Love it or hate it, KTV is a big part of entertainment in China. If you ever live in China, you’ll surely be dragged along to KTV at some point. Try to relax and enjoy the experience!

But what really fascinates me is Chunyun, the time around Spring Festival when everyone travels home to their hometown. It’s the largest movement of people in the world. Not surprisingly, it’s well reported in the press. Here are some of the things I’ve picked up about Chunyun 2009.

Chunyun 2009 In Numbers

• Total number of travellers: 2.32 billion
• Number of travellers by bus: 2.07 billion
• Number of travellers by train: 188 million
• Number of travellers by boat: 31 million
• Number of travellers by air: 23.2 million

Figures courtesy of the China Daily.

I guess they must count people on return trips twice when calculating the total numbers of travellers, because this figure is 1 billion higher than the population of China!

It’s no surprise that by far the most popular mode of transport is bus. The network of long distance buses throughout China is quite impressive (until you have to travel on one). It’s cheaper than train, which in turn is cheaper than air travel. It’s also easier to book tickets on a bus than on a train (see below).

The Timing Of Chunyun

As with Chunjie (Spring Festival), the timing of Chunyun changes from year to year, because the date of the Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar, not the Western calendar. According to Wikipedia, Chunyun usually begins 15 days before Chinese New Year’s day and lasts for around 40 days.

In 2009, Chunyun starts on January 11 and finishes on February 19. The peak travel times should be from January 20 to 24 when everyone travels to their hometown, then February 10 to 14 when everyone travels back to their place of residence again.

This year however, the peak travel time has started earlier than expected, largely due to the many migrant workers who have lost their jobs due to global economic recession travelling home earlier than usual.

Getting Train Tickets During Chunyun

This year has highlighted the problem of getting train tickets during Chunyun. Although it’s difficult to arrange any travel during Chunyun, train travel is by far the most difficult to arrange. Being able to book your tickets more than a day or two ahead of travel is rare and the train station (or scalpers) is usually the only source of tickets.

This year, in Guangzhou, you can book tickets 4 to 10 days in advance and by telephone to boot. However, according to the China Daily, Chen Baoshan queued at Guangzhou station for two days to get tickets, while his wife tried calling the hotlines from home to no avail.

In that case, it was just a matter of waiting to finally be able to buy the tickets. In other cases, the all available tickets are snapped up quickly. For example, tickets from Shanghai to Chengdu for the next six days were sold out in 20 minutes.

Due to the frustration, many people turn to the ticket scalpers – but if you do that, you have to worry about whether the ticket is genuine. According to the China Daily, police in Guangzhou busted a gang of fake ticket makers on January 7 and seized about 60,000 fake train tickets.

If you’re travelling during Chunyun, I’d give trains a miss if at all possible!

Final Thoughts

This time last year we were living in China and were supposed to spend Spring Festival with my wife’s family, but couldn’t travel because of the terrible snow storms, which stranded millions of travellers. This year we’re in Australia, so we’ll have a quiet night, eat lots of food and watch some TV.

Wherever you are, have a great Chinese New Year. If you’re braving Chunyun, travel safely.

Image Source: Christmas Pyramid by AugapfelLicense

Christmas Is Big In China

Even though Christmas is not a traditional Chinese festival, there’s a lot of enthusiasm for it. Anyone expecting it to be a non-event will be surprised. Shopping centres will be decked out with Christmas trees and decorations, there’ll be Christmas music in taxis and there’ll be fireworks on Christmas Eve.

The enthusiasm seems to be growing each year, especially amongst the younger generation. In some respects, the Chinese don’t really understand Christmas, especially the religious aspect, but that’s fine – I don’t understand everything about Spring Festival either!

Image Source: Xiangyang market (Shanghai) during Christmas by Marc van der ChijsLicense

Christmas Equals Christmas Eve

The biggest difference about spending Christmas in China is that Christmas Day is a non-event – it’s all about Christmas Eve. People fill the streets on Christmas Eve, meet with friends, have a Christmas meal, set off fireworks, etc. In the morning, it’s back to work.

This is not a new phenomenon. When my parents visited Hong Kong in 1981, they couldn’t move because there were so many people on the streets on Christmas Eve. When they came down for breakfast on Christmas Day, the staff asked “Did you have a nice Christmas”. Christmas was over.

Of course, Christmas Day is not a public holiday in China, which may go some way to explain this.

Christmas Not A Public Holiday In China

Although it’s not a public holiday in China, foreign teachers (ie Westerner’s teaching English in China) often get Christmas Day off. However, it’s by no means guaranteed, as the school will almost certainly be open with students and Chinese staff in attendance.

For my first Christmas in China in 2002, the foreign teachers were required to work. The foreign teachers were pretty unhappy about this and at the last moment, the school gave us the day off. However, the rest of the school ran as normal, with students having normal lessons with their Chinese teachers.

In 2006 and 2007, Christmas Day was written into the teacher’s contracts as a holiday. However, even in a college where all the teachers were foreigners, the students still didn’t get the day off – they had to sit in class and have ‘self study’. In 2007, I actually volunteered to work on Christmas Day to catch up some classes – my students were sitting there anyway.

Christmas In TEFL Schools

If you’re teaching English in China, you can expect your students to be enthusiastic about Christmas. As well as being a good topic for classes, there’ll almost certainly be a Christmas Concert. At least, there’s been a concert for all three of my Chinese Christmases.

The content of the concerts are mixed: traditional Chinese songs, dancing, Christmas Carols, Kung Fu demonstrations, even Karaoke.

One thing you can be certain of is that the foreign teachers will have to get up and sing. The performance is normally adhoc and truly awful compared to the performances of the students, who have spent hours practising their acts, but the students still applaud enthusiastically. You get marks for the effort!

Foreign Teachers singing during Christmas Concert, OUC, Langfang 2007

Two Santa’s Are Better Than One

One of the things that the Chinese don’t quite get is that there’s only one Santa Claus. It’s fine to have a Santa in two different shopping centres, but  not fine to have two Santa’s together. In China, they take the approach of the more, the merrier! Why limit yourself to one Santa when you can have two.

Photo by John Wotherspoon - Christmas in Good World Shopping Centre Zhaoqing

The photo above was taken in Zhaoqing at Christmas 2002 and as you can see there are two Santas! I’m one of them, though I’m not sure which one is me anymore. Here’s the close up.

Photo by John Wotherspoon - Me as Santa, Zhaoqing 2002

Buying Christmas Cards In China

I recently read an article, titled Christmas wraps up another year of surprises, by Patrick Whiteley, an expat living in China. Although it’s more about the changing perceptions of China, one thing he said gave me a smile:

I know there are a few weeks before we all tear into another year, but when I start buying Christmas presents, and posting them back home (as we all must do now)

In 2002, I was living in Zhaoqing, a small city in Guangdong province. There were plenty of Christmas decorations for sale, but it was impossible to find a Christmas card. Although I looked long and hard, in the end I decided it was a good excuse not to send Christmas cards! Unfortunately these days it’s much easier to buy Christmas cards in China.

Almost As Good As Christmas At Home

Although nothing can replace Christmas at home with the family, those expecting Christmas in China to be a non-event will likely be surprised. I know I was! All of my Christmases in China have been great, partly because of the shared experience with other expats, partly because of the enthusiasm of my students and partly because Christmas in China can be a little surreal at times.

Final Thoughts

I’ll leave it there for now. If you’ve spent Christmas in China, please share your experiences in the comments. Have a Happy Christmas wherever you are!

Keep in mind the following when reading my answers:

• This is based on living in Oriental University City, Langfang, Hebei
• I left China about 6 months ago, so the prices may be slightly out of date

Oriental University City, Langfang

I should also explain a little about OUC, which stands for Oriental University City (pinyin: yīng huā dà xué chéng):

OUC is a combined campus of about 30 universities on the outskirts of Langfang. It’s right next to the JingJinTang Expressway from Beijing (50Km away) to Tianjin (60Km away).

When I arrived in February 2006, there were about 80,000 students resident on the campus, but that number would have grown since then.

It’s about the size of a large suburb in Australia or US and is self-contained with a half a dozen supermarkets, a couple of hundred restaurants, several hotels, a small hospital and a 90 hole golf course.

How Much Does It Cost To Live In China?

Here are my answers to questions posed on the forum:

• Accommodation prices: For a decent sized, furnished, two bedroom apartment – 2000 yuan to 2500 yuan per month
• Transportation fares:
  • Anywhere on campus: 1 yuan for a trolley, 5 yuan for a taxi.
  • To Langfang (25 to 40 minutes away): 2 yuan for a bus, 20 yuan to 30 yuan for a taxi.
  • To Beijing (one to two hours away): 12 yuan for the slow bus, 16 yuan for the fast bus, 130 yuan for a taxi.
• Food prices: You’d probably spend 1000 yuan per month at the supermarket. You could spend less if you wanted to, but equally you spend quite a but more if you really splurge on the expensive Western items.
• Electricity and water: On average we probably spent about 300 yuan per month.
• Internet: 750 yuan per year for cable Internet
• Mobile phone: depends on call frequency but maybe 100 yuan to 200 yuan per month for medium usage locally (not International, use Skype for that!).
• Decent traditional restaurant: 20 yuan to 30 yuan for the nice dishes.
• Beer or coffee: 12 yuan to 20 yuan.

I can’t answer the questions about medical insurance, education and cinema costs, because I didn’t need to spend any money on those items.

All up, I found that you could live reasonably comfortably on about 5000 yuan per month (or 3000 yuan if the rent is paid for you, which is quite common). You could definitely do it cheaper if you had to – China is a cheap place to live although prices are rising.

Do you live in China? How much does it cost you to live there? Let me know in the comments!

This is another post I wrote a little while ago and haven’t posted until now.

China’s Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu) occurs on 5th May on the Lunar calendar. This year, that equates to 8th June.

As the name of the Festival indicates, it’s famous for Dragon Boat racing! People also eat zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves) and drink baijiu (Chinese wine) during this holiday.

Origins Of The Dragon Boat Festival

There are many stories about the origins of the Dragon Boat Festival. I’ve heard some first-hand and read others on the Internet, but all agree that the day commemorates Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet and minister several thousand years ago.

Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo river in Hunan. The reasons given for this act vary, from story to story, but all agree that drowning was the method.

It’s said that the local people threw zongzi into the river to feed the fish, so they wouldn’t eat Qu Yuan’s body, and paddled their ‘dragon boats’ out to scare the fish away. The Dragon Boat Festival recreates this.

Dragon Boat Festival Now A Public Holiday

This is the first year, in recent times, where the Dragon Boat Festival has been awarded the status of national public holiday.

Because there hadn’t been a day off, the festival had been losing it’s importance in modern Chinese life. Most people had to work over the festival and didn’t have time to celebrate it properly.

The China People’s Daily carries an article discussing this (and the origins of the Dragon Boat Festival). It highlights this through the story of a young Beijing office worker:

She only learned about the festival from school textbooks and in her more than 20 years of life, she never celebrated such an occasion except by eating zongzi bought from the supermarket.

But this year, she made the zongzi together with her friends. “We have time this year due to the holiday,” she said.

It also discusses the decision to make the day a national holiday:

On Dec. 16, the State Council, China’s Cabinet, revised the nation’s official holiday schedule to add three traditional festivals — “Tomb-Sweeping Day,” “Dragon Boat Festival” and “Mid-Autumn Festival” — in response to public demand. It also changed the length of other holidays.

What this doesn’t say is that the real reason for the change in holiday dates is to avoid the chaos created by the Golden Week holidays. The May and October Golden Weeks no longer exist. Chunyun will still exist around Spring Festivals – there’s no way that can be removed.

When they were looking at how they could rearrange the Golden Week holidays, the obvious choice was to move the days to the traditional festivals.

For foreigners working in China, this does mean you get a smattering of days off, sometimes in mid-week, instead of a week off, but it’s an excellent chance to experience occasions such as the Dragon Boat Festival.

In any case, the week off was complicated by the fact that there were only 3 holiday days. Chinese workers were expected to work on Saturday and Sunday to make up the two days. In some cases, I’ve had to work the Saturday and Sunday, in other cases I didn’t have to work, but was docked two days pay. I’ve even been given the extra two days off as paid holidays!

All in all, I think this is a good move, which will promote these festivals, which were slowly fading in the face of modernisation.

Zongzi

Zongzi are pyramid shaped glutinous rice dumplings, wrapped in bamboo leaves. They contain different fillings: everything from pork to bean paste. I like zongzi, but not too often – I’m not a huge fan of glutinous rice. They’re very filling, perhaps too much so. Glutinous rice is very heavy food.

While reading about the Dragon Boat Festival, I came across an article from The China People’s Daily that has more information about Zongzi:

Southerners generally wrap them in bamboo leaves, while northerners use reeds. They are generally pyramid shaped, but sometimes molded into rectangles.

It goes on to talk more about the fillings:

Fillings also vary. People from North China typically stuff their dumplings with glutinous rice and Chinese jujube, while those from South China cram theirs with pork and mashed red beans.

It also mentions that certain areas specialise in certain types of zongzi:

Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, for example, makes the best zongzi with fresh pork stuffing, while Shanghai is famous for ham-stuffed zongzi.

I haven’t tried either of these, but I used to live in Zhaoqing (Guangdong) which is also famous for it’s zongzi:

A special food is only available here called “guo zheng zong” , a kind of Zongzi which is made of meat ,green bean,and glutinous rice. My advice is to devour one before you leave.

It’s my belief that they actually use lotus leaf in Zhaoqing, but I can’t be certain of that. They’re certainly common, cheap and delicious and available all year round, not just during the Dragon Boat Festival.

If you ever travel to China, make sure you try the zongzi.

I’ve never been a big fan of Valentine’s Day and not just because I couldn’t find anyone to share it with! I’ve always seen it as a fabricated ‘commercial’ celebration – more about making money than about lovers.

Living here in China, I should be able to escape such Western customs, right? Wrong! Valentine’s Day is big here in China, especially amongst the youngsters, who seem to soak up anything Western.

This is highlighted by a story on the People’s Daily Online titled Chinese fall hard for imported holiday of Val’s Day. A quote from the article:

Pictures of young couples in Mao suits, holding the little red book with quotations from the paramount leader and carefully keeping each other at arm’s length, were the stereotypical images of China as a land without romance.

Thirty years later, the stereotype is no more. Young Chinese spend lavishly on roses, chocolates and candlelight dinners with their sweethearts.

Signs of Valentine’s Day are everywhere here. My students asked me what I was buying my wife. There are signs in shop windows, roses for sale, etc. When we went shopping, we were given free roses with our purchases!

It’s interesting to see such enthusiasm for Western celebrations here. Christmas is another holiday that’s big here (although they do it a little differently), but that’s another story for another time.

With Valentine’s Day, what really caught my eye were several side stories.

Mistress Day

Interestingly, Valentine’s Day used to be translated as Mistress Day!

until the 1980s, love was not a topic for open discussion among the Chinese, who translated "Valentine’s Day" into "Lover’s Day" or even "Mistress’ Day", with a mixed feeling of curiosity about this Western novelty and a disdain for public exposure of private life.

I think the article is saying this translation is due to disdain of Western ways. However, it goes on to briefly mention the rise of keeping mistresses in China, since the opening up of the economy and the increase in corruption.

I find that many Chinese people are quick to believe the worst about Westerners, especially about issues related to sex. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if infidelity was as bad, if not worse, in China than it is in the West. It’s just they don’t talk about it in China.

Businessmen are expected to go out drinking with their colleagues and potential business partners here. It’s part of doing business in China. They often end up in Karaoke’s parlors. I’m sure it’s mostly innocent, but it’s fairly well known that in some of these places there are young girls who make their living ‘entertaining’ such businessmen.

When it comes to actually keeping a mistress, ie giving them an apartment, paying them a salary etc, I think that’s probably much more common in China than in the West. Of course all of this is just speculation on my behalf. I’d be interested in hearing from anyone who has any evidence!

Speaking of evidence, it seems that the use of private detectives is also on the rise.

In several cities, private detectives (whose work remains illegal in China), are asked by desperate housewives to tail husbands who shopped and dined with mistresses over the holiday.

So there is also a dark side to Valentine’s Day in China.

Public Intimacy In China

The story also mentions that intimacy in public was a no-no in the past.

Thirty years ago, no Chinese couple would show the least intimacy in public and even holding hands was taboo.

China is a country undergoing rapid change in many respects and public intimacy is one them.

The Chinese are still very reserved compared to the West, but I’ve noticed a real change over the last six years. When I first arrived in China in 2002, you may have seen a few people holding hands, but that was all. Now, I see youngsters openly hugging and kissing in public.

I often wonder what the older folk, who grew up in the ‘keeping each other at arm’s length‘ days make of it all.

Renting A Valentine

To show how important Valentine’s Day has become to young people in China, here’s another story about a college student who advertised for a Valentine.

"A boy or girl student is wanted for Valentine’s Day: 20 yuan (about 2.67 U.S. dollars) per hour for a movie, two yuan (nearly 0.3 dollar) for a hug and five yuan (nearly 0.7 dollar) for a kiss."

The male student doesn’t seem to be fussy about whether his valentine is male or female. He just doesn’t want to spend Valentine’s Day alone.

I’m not quite sure they’ve got the right idea about Valentine’s Day! But then maybe it’s just because the Chinese sometimes see things differently. The story goes on to discuss the issue of renting girlfriends to take home to meet your parents.

Xia Xueluan, professor of sociology at Peking University said, "it’s understandable to rent a girlfriend to comfort parents. But it’s inappropriate to rent a lover for Valentine’s Day. It will only degrade social conduct."

Understandable to rent a girlfriend to comfort parents? In the West, that only happens in the movies. Like I said, sometimes the Chinese see things differently. Making parents happy is very important in China and there seems to be greater pressure by parents to find a nice person to marry. Still…

Anyway, I’ll leave you with a quote regarding a boy who did rent a girlfriend for Valentine’s Day:

"At first there was a little embarrassment. But an hour later we got familiar and everything went well," he said. They had dinner and went to watch a movie. "It felt much better than staying at home lonely," he said. But he wouldn’t say whether he got to kiss the girl before the night was over.

That’s all for this Valentines Day in China…

Spring Festival, or Chunjie as it is called here, has begun! Tonight is Chinese New Year’s Eve. I thought I’d write a little bit about what happens in China during the Spring Festival.

Chunyun

Chunyun started around a week ago. This is the time around Spring Festival, when people travel home to spend Spring Festival with their families. Hundreds of millions of people are on the move during this period.

This year has seen exceptionally bad weather wreak havoc with Chunyun travel: Around 6 million people were stranded at train stations around the country – 800,000 at Guangzhou alone.

My thoughts go out to those people who have been stranded during this time. I hope they make it home safely and in time for New Year’s Eve.

Spring Festival Customs

Bear in mind that different parts of China have different customs, but some of the common elements that are part of Spring Festival are:

Fire Crackers: People set fire crackers off to frighten away evil spirits. They set off fireworks as well, for fun, but a long string of fire crackers is used to keep the evil spirits away for the next year. If you live in China, expect to hear whooshes and bangs for a week or so, either side of New Year’s Eve.

Eating: A big family reunion dinner is normally held on New Years Eve. Fish is commonly eaten, as are dumplings (Jiaozi). This meal is normally held at the family home. As well as this meal, there will be many others on the days leading up to, and after, New Year’s Eve.

Visiting Friends and Relatives: People will visit their friends and relatives, taking gifts such as tea, alchohol, breakfast cereal, fruit, etc, done up in gift packages. The host will normally have tea, fruit and nuts ready for the visitors and basically they will sit around and chat for hours. Various people will pop in, seemingly at random, then it’s your turn to go visiting.

Lucky Money: People who are not yet married can expect to receive little red envelopes filled with lucky money. The amount of money can range from 10 yuan to 1000 yuan or more, depending on the closeness of the relationship and the affluence of the giver. Once you’re married, it’s your turn to do the giving, although your children will then receive lucky money from other people.

Cleansing: In the days leading up to New Year’s Eve, people will clean their houses thoroughly, so they can start the new year fresh and clean. People decorate their homes with posters and phrases which are thought to bring good luck. New clothes are bought for children. Basically, all of this is to ensure a fresh start to the new year, which is thought to be lucky.

New Year’s Eve TV: On New Year’s Eve, CCTV broadcasts a TV program which is watched by hundreds of millions of people. It is basically a variety act, with singing and dancing, comedy acts, etc. Expect acts representing all 56 of China’s ethnic nationalities. This will be on in most households.

What I’ll Be Doing This Spring Festival

We were supposed to spend this Spring Festival with family, but the terrible weather meant we couldn’t travel. So we’ll be having a quiet one in front of the TV, eating lots of food and watching fireworks out the window.

Final Thoughts

This is just Spring Festival, from my point of view. If you want to find out more about Spring Festival, there are hundreds of sites on the Internet. Wikipedia’s Chinese New Year page is probably a good place to start.

Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, Happy Chinese New Year! Or as they say here, Xin nian kuai le (新年快乐)!