It’s party time in the Middle Kingdom. Well, er, no actually. May 28 brings the calendar around to the yearly Dragon Boat Festival, or duānwǔ jié (端午節).

Many cities in North America celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, or the Tuen Ng Festival, as it’s known in Cantonese. My former Canadian city held dragon boat races each June, in which drunken and out-of-shape businessmen raced big boats on a local river. None of them knew what the races represented, except a reason to be publicly intoxicated, and risk drowning hoping to win a trophy.

Like most folk festivals, the roots of the Dragon Boat Festival are not particularly pleasant. In the days of yor (or China’s Warring States Period), lived Qu Yuan, a government minister with the Chu regime. He was a good man that wanted to maintain Chu’s sovereignty in the face of the Qin dynasty’s advances (Did you see Hero, with Jet Li? Same time period.)

Qu Yuan was cast out of court by jealous and corrupt ministers. Depressed by thinking about the future, he wandered the countryside composing poems from folktales. His works are still considered classics in Chinese literature.

After the Chu capital was captured by Qin forces in 278 BC, Qu Yuan grabbed a rock and walked into a local river to commit suicide, a protest against the excesses and corruption of the new Qin Kingdom.

There a few different stories as to what happened next.

The more heroic version has local villagers racing across the river in their boats, attempting to rescue Qu Yuan. Today’s dragon boat races commemorate the villagers efforts to save the poet.

In an alternate version, the villagers take to their boats, bang drums and throw food into the water to keep the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body. The zongzi, a reed-wrapped rice dumpling, was the food used to prevent aquatic creatures from consuming Qu Yuan’s remains. Zongzi, the traditional festival food, is eaten each year during the celebrations.

Of course, just like Christian holidays (Christmas and Easter’s pagan roots), there is yet a third explanation. Scholars have discovered other festivals in China, celebrating the harvest of winter wheat, held about the same time each year as Qu Yuan’s protest. These agrarian festivals were held in areas that knew nothing of Qu Yuan or his final swim. Researchers speculate that the harvest festivals and Qu Yuan’s legacy merged.

This historic day was made a national holiday a 2008  government revamp of holidays. International Labor Day (May 1) used to be a three day holiday, which was usually extended to five days to stimulate tourism. It was a dandy break, exactly half-way through the school term. This was nixed, and three long weekends, one in April, May, and June were substituted. It’s a lot like Canada and her summer long weekends.

I’m always happy to have a day off, especially when it involves eating dumplings and listening to sad yet heroic old tales.
qu yuan image from: biografiasyvidas.com
dragonboatimage from: chinatownconnection.com
zongzi image from: china.org.cn

Christmas may be shopping craziness in North America, but Chinese New Year is a festival that lasts for 14 days - imagine the shopping that goes into that?

Forget the shopping, imagine the promotion. Companies, big and small, tout their wares as everyone gets ready for the Chinese Lunar New Year.

I was handed a Chinese New Year advertising flyer as I walked home from the gym last week. It made for some interesting reading - allow me to share.

From the top of the flyer. I don’t know if the words cheap and pharmacy should be used in ad copy, or even in the same sentence. Probably a bad translation.

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Oh, good. Twelve centimeter flattened, dried lizards are on sale. There are probably medicinal benefits to the little creature. I’m not well-versed enough in CTM (Chinese Traditional Medicine) to know how they affect your Chi. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problems with alternative medicine.

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Yum! Dried Seahorses, what every Chinese New Year party needs, with a little ranch dip on the side. Better than beef jerky.

Okay, I jest. Again, seahorses are used in CTM (Chinese Traditional Medicine). These I have taken, and again I don’t know the real purpose. The doctor created a special brew of roots, nuts, and seahorses, to cure my asthma. I was skeptical. After choking down the foul mixture for two weeks my asthma was gone. My skepticism, too, was gone.
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This is the sort of post that would cause me to label another China blogger a “douche bag” for his cultural insensitivity. In my defense, I have tried the seahorses, and a number of other “healthy” foods (frog uterus) during my tenure in China. This post is not meant to mock, but to point out the incredible differences in culture. Could you imagine a North American pharmacy having dried seahorses on sale? I won’t speculate on the effects of dog meat in the supermarket’s deli counter.

Advertising is the same all over. Companies, be they American, Chinese, or Bulgarian, flog their products around the holidays. The products are dictated by the local culture. What fun would the world be if we were all the same? Where would the adventure be? And what would travel bloggers blog about?

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There’s no Baby New Year associated with Chinese New Year. Looking into antiquity, Chinese Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival as it is called in China, is based upon a fierce monster, fireworks, and the color red.

The Chinese monster, Nian, linked to Chinese New Year.

Spring Festival has its roots in Chinese mythology. A fearsome creature, the Nian, would appear on the first day of the new year. It would eat crops, livestock, and if really hungry, the occasion stray child.

Villagers didn’t look forward to the yearly appearance of the Nian. Who would? It’s probably the same feeling North Americans get in April as the income tax  deadline approaches. To ward off the evil Nian (from all accounts, a hideous creature that looked like a lion or unicorn) people began leaving food outside their doors. If the Nianster had something to eat perhaps it wouldn’t dine on their children.

This worked, temporarily. The Nian grew bold. A curious thing, the villagers discovered the Nian was frightened by a child dressed in red, and also loud noises. The people started to wear red, paint their window frames, and hang red greeting around their doors. They also hung red lanterns in an attempt to scare away the evil Nian. Villagers organized, to bang gongs and drums to scare away the creature. Fireworks were also used the frighten the beastie.

Did it work? Accounts differ. In one story, the Nian was so startled by the sensory overload caused by the villagers that it fled. The creature went from village to village, being scared away in each. Eventually it grew tired, and was attacked and killed by the people it had tormented for many years.

The Chinese character for Nian, or year.

In another tale, the Nian stopped his raids, knowing that because of well-prepared villagers, his sessions of dining on children were over. It was eventually tamed by a famous Taoist, Hongjunlaozu, and became his mount.

There are some who believe (cue scary music) that the Nian is still alive, in the mountains, waiting for a spring festival without loud noises and red.

The Chinese word for year is Nian, a nod to the creature of yore. New Years is Guo Nian, translated: pass-over Nian, or overcame Nian.

China’s Spring Festival starts on a different date each year. The holiday is based on the lunar calendar, not the Gregorian calendar, and can take place between January 21 and February 20. Most years, the Chinese Lunar New Year takes place during the second new moon after the winter solstice, which the ancient Chinese believed was the start of spring.

Fireworks, lanterns and a ferocious beast: The tale of Chinese New Year. Perhaps, thousands of years from now there will be a similar tale in America about the IRS.

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Canada Post's Year of the Ox Stamp

The Chinese New Year (春节 - Chunjie) will soon be upon us. January 26 will see the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival as it is called in China. 2009 will be the Year of the Ox. The Year of the Rat will end, and not appear again until 2020..

Imagine every western holiday rolled into a week-long semi-hedonistic party. That’s Chinese New Year. Unlike the one day December 31st - January 1st western celebration, the Chinese New Year is traditionally a 14 day celebration. Mainland China has a “Golden Week” holiday, most of the country will be off work for the first week of the festival.

Most of the population of China will travel back to their hometowns and villages to celebrate the holiday. Chunyun (春運 or 春运 or the Spring Festival Travel period), features the world’s largest human migration. Over 2 billion people, Chinese and overseas Chinese, will travel during the forty day period surrounding Chinese New Year. Train, bus, and planes tickets are hard to come by. Standing room seats are sold on trains. My first Spring Festival in China saw me sitting on the floor of a train carriage for six hours until a seat opened up. Yes, uncomfortable, but strangely fun.

It’s not a simple holiday (nothing in China is simple). The preparations are intense, and each day of the festival different tasks must be undertaken. Fireworks, intense cleaning, new clothes, red greetings, lucky money, and special foods all make for extreme prep work

It’s the holiday of holidays. As western children dream of Santa and Christmas, Chinese kids dream of Spring Festival. It’s a staple of conversation for weeks before the event.

Over the coming weeks Asian Ramblings will bring you a blow-by-blow explanation of the holiday: The genesis, the customs, and the culinary delights. Stay tuned. Learn all you need to know about Chinese New Year. Amaze your friends with your profound cultural knowledge.

Xin Nian Kuia Le, or Happy New Year, as they say.

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We all have doubts, those three-in-the-morning pangs that leave us wondering if we are doing the right thing with our lives. Should I? Shouldn’t I? Am I wasting my time? Is there something better?

I am not immune. I love my job, most of the time. Since stepping into management, my time in the classroom, those special joys and frustrations, has given way to budgets, battles, and politics. Save face, lose face, conspiratorial whispers, hard decisions, long hours, and dirty deeds done dirt cheap. Tangled in that web, it’s easy to forget why I’m here.

My students, the 500 primary school 学生 in my charge, celebrated Christmas on December 24. There was a party, with a skit performed by their international teachers, carols, a singing contest, and of course, gifts. I conceived of the concept, although a team carried it to term, and assisted with the delivery. Sometimes it takes a village to “birth a baby.”

I question my life, my career. Is there anyone that doesn’t? But not on Christmas Eve.

The last class of day: Grade 1 students left the large performance room after singing, dancing, and celebrating a holiday they know little about.  They queued before Santa (a 23-year-old, athletic American). He handed them a giant red stocking containing a pencil, a lollipop, and a class photo (most thought the stocking was a hat). I handed the gifts to Santa as he wished each student well.

“Merry Christmas.”

“Happy Holidays.”

“Seasons Greetings.”

“Happy Hanukkah.”

The little girl looked the same as her classmates: An energetic three feet topped with dark hair and eyes, body enclosed in a blue-and-white school uniform.  Her excitement was evident as she neared the front of the line. Santa needed a moment to prepare the little girl’s gift. The stockings were stuck together and took a minute to separate.

She watched, eyes open wide, and danced from foot to foot with anticipation. The longer he took the higher her steps became. Her enthusiasm was palpable. Santa, finally, handed her the folded stocking.  Her face lit up in a supernova smile.

I smiled.

She was happy, that youthful innocent Christmas happiness from the days when Santa is real and the world is still a mystery. She rejoined her friends, laughing.

I have doubts from time to time. Christmas Eve  reconfirmed that I am in the right line of work. My concept, my plan, carried out by a team of amazing people, made one little girl utterly happy.

That’s worth the headaches and sleepless nights.

The Chinese flag, in front of the Zhenhai Tower in Guangzhou, China

Happy Guoqingjie, or National Day, October 1, 2008. For more information on China’s National Day see my post: Happy National Day China