China’s Christmas: The Chinese New Year (Part 1)

There are many holidays and festivals throughout the year in China. Chinese people do celebrate a few holidays, such as Labor Day, Valentine’s Day, and Children’s Day, etc., with the rest of the world. However, we also have some traditional festivals that showcase the uniqueness of Chinese culture. For example, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Tomb Sweeping Day all have historical meanings. Nevertheless, none of them except Chinese New Year can lay claim to the title of “China’s Christmas”.

Chinese New Year is the most important holiday for Chinese people. We have a huge population, and hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people work far away from their families during most of the year. The New Year celebration is often the only opportunity for many to meet with their parents, children, and other relatives. This situation is even more critical to workers who receive a minimum wage by performing less respected jobs. As train tickets sell out extremely quickly each year in the run-up to the New Year, many of them are left unable to reunite with their families. Therefore, we highly value this rare opportunity for family members to get together and it should be done no matter what the cost or inconvenience. 

What seems somewhat interesting, yet, strange about the Chinese New Year is that the date varies every year. The New Year, more commonly called the Spring Festival by Chinese people, is the very first day of each year on the lunar calendar. This method of recording time is mainly used by Chinese farmers to calculate when to plant and harvest crops, and it is also employed to figure out the dates of some traditional Chinese festivals. In essence then, the Chinese New Year is very similar to Christmas--both are the grandest of holidays--although the latter always falls a fixed date.

Hi Xiaobin! Another well-written post!  With a bit more practice, your proper use of articles will occur naturally. Even I, myself, was laughing since when I was adding them, I was thinking to myself, "Wait! Didn't I just take these out in the sentences beforehand?"  Outside of one rather long sentence (which I made into two!), your composition is excellent! Once you learn the smaller details of the language, I've little doubt of you being very proficient in the English language (and probably even better than I am!). I once saw a documentary about the difficulties of returning home for the holiday there and it was rather eye-opening! Anyway, late here (in fact, already Christmas!), so I will look at Part 2 later. I hope that this helps you. J. p.s. Apologies in advance for any mistakes as, yes, I have been drinking alcoholic beverages! (*_^)