A couple of weeks ago it was Chinese New Year, which meant we all got a
week off work. The official year this year is Year of the Goat, or Sheep
(no-one can seem to agree).
Things I learnt about Chinese New Year:
1.
The start of
Chinese New Year marks what has been called the ‘biggest annual mass migration
in the world.’ Approximately 2.8 billion people leave China’s cities and head
anywhere else, either home to be with their families, or on holiday somewhere.
Shanghai Daily reported that on the last day of the holiday, over 9.4 million
rail trips were made, as well as 73.6 million road journeys. To put that in
perspective, it’s like everyone in the UK (including London’s population
doubled) hitting the UK’s roads all on one day.
2.
It’s loud.
Fireworks and firecrackers are said to ward off evil spirits, so firecrackers
at 7am are the norm for a week. That was fun.
3.
There are
different spirits/gods/themes for each day. For example the fifth day is the ‘Day
of Wealth’
4.
Red is worn
and used everywhere to bring good luck and prosperity
5.
Traditional
red paper lanterns and decorations adorn houses for the same reason and to ward
off spirits
6.
Cash is
king. No-one gives gifts, actually they give Hongbaos which are little red
envelopes stuffed with cash
7.
Burning
incense is the thing to do when you visit temple at Chinese New Year. The smell
is still in my clothes
8.
Shanghai is
super quiet. This year more so as it normally has lots of lantern festivals and
New Year events, but they were all cancelled due to the stampede which killed
over 30 people on the Bund on New Year’s Eve. But even
without that, the shops are shut, the streets are empty and you can actually
get a cab.
9.
Air pollution
gets worse due to the amount of firecrackers and incense being burnt!
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