Jingkids has been an essential family resource for Beijing international families since 2006. And just as kids grow up in the blink of an eye, Beijing has grown and changed almost beyond recognition in that time. In Throwback Thursday we usually jump in the time machine, traveling through our 15 year-strong blog archives for your reading pleasure, but today we offer a reflection from one of our teen correspondents on how the second Chinese New Year in Covid times made her holidays sweeter.
This has been the second Chinese New Year we celebrated in the shadow of Covid-19. With new restrictions imposed regarding dining in public and other gatherings, we were all a little discouraged at first. But the unexpected silver lining is that Chinese people have returned to the traditional way of celebration, back before fancy restaurants, temple fairs (庙会 miào huì), and traveling became popular.
“Bai Nian Le! (拜年了!)” — I’m sure the phrase has been ringing in everyone’s ear for the past two weeks. Although the meaning behind is “Happy new year”, the literal translation is “I’m paying you a visit this new year”. This idea of paying a visit has become the new trend this year as more and more families returned to paying friends and relatives home visits like the Chinese traditionally do.
Ever since New Year’s Eve (除⼣ chú xì), my family’s schedule has been bombarded with home visits. This is the first time in four years that my family’s been able to celebrate the holiday together in China. Having experienced the frustrations of being separated during Chinese New Year, my parents welcomed a friend whose family is outside of Beijing to join the reunion.
New Year’s Eve was my mom’s absolute favorite day. Before the supermarket opened for the day, she waited outside the gate so she could bring home the freshest vegetables and meat. For the entire afternoon, she buried herself in cooking the grand Reunion Feast (年夜饭 nián yè fàn) as we refer to it. There was fish, salad, clams, and inevitably, dumplings. But of course, before the scrumptious dinner, we replaced the Fu (福 “luck”) and couplet on our door. When we ripped last year’s off, we found our door coated with glue and remains from the previous years, an awful mess but proof of our long-lasting tradition. This became my favorite part of all the home visits: admiring the diverse Fu designs that differed from door to door. My family strictly upholds the tradition of staying at home on the first day of the new year (⼤年初 ⼀ dà nián chū yī). We’re also rather superstitious about not cleaning the house on this day, particularly with a broomstick, because it’s considered sweeping the good luck away. This time is reserved for family and rest, nothing else.
After the first day of the new year is when the home visits come flooding in. My mom invited a group of friends over to play card games. Everyone brought a small plate of something to piece together lunch and from midday to almost 10 pm, they played round after round, completely losing track of time.
Chinese New Year is often seen as the ultimate time for shopping, even more so than Double Eleven sometimes. My family is no exception. Other than stocking up our fridge, we purchased a projector and a massive screen, transforming our living room into a cinema. This was a longtime dream of my mom’s. For months she’s looked forward to watching the annual Spring Festival Gala (春晚 chūn wǎn) via a projector. With this new asset in our apartment, other families have stayed over until 2 am watching comedy movies while actual cinemas were all sold out.
I remember when our guests left, my parents exclaimed: that’s the spirit of Chinese New Year! And they’re right. In my opinion, it’s a time of simplicity. It’s a time for throwing worries out the window and welcoming laughter with open arms. The only complication is the gift-giving cycle: stacks of Hongbaos and boxes of fresh fruit with golden oxen printed on the cases. No one ever shows up at a home visit empty-handed, that’s the rule. But even this trouble melts when we’re knocking on the newly-applied Fu of a friend or relative’s door. The past year of frustration is replaced by a smile as we greet each other with three simple words: Bai Nian Le.
KEEP READING: A Feast of Flavors: Mother-Daughter Bonding Time at East Hotel’s Int’l Brunch
Images: Pexels
