Chinese New Year, traditions on the Net
Ellen Whyte
ellenwhyte@lepak.com
This year Chinese New Year falls on Jan. 22, 2004. This week we take a look at websites devoted to this holiday as well as Chinese cooking and culture.
About Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year celebrations take place at the end of January or the beginning of February each year. Although customs vary a little, most people prepare for the holiday by paying off their debts, settling any arguments they may be involved in and buying new clothes. After this the festival starts with dances and rituals that exorcise bad luck and increase the chances of future prosperity.
During the following days everyone visits as many of their friends and relatives as they can. Married couples present red envelopes containing small amounts of cash to children and single adults, while friends give each other gifts such as oranges, cakes and gift baskets. Chinese New Year is also famous for its lavish banquets and fireworks displays.
The Festival of Lanterns marks the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese year. People hang up lanterns, and organize parades where children carry smaller versions. For many this marks the end of the celebration and a return to ordinary business.
Learn more about this wonderful celebration by visiting Web Holidays Chinese New Year pages at http://www.web- holidays.com/lunar. These pages discuss holiday customs around the world and offer lots of crafts, cards, clip-art and other fun stuff. Alternatively, visit the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco website at http://www.c-c-c.org/ and click on Holidays/Festivals for a description of the more common customs, like how to sweep bad luck out of your home.
Why Chinese New Year moves
The traditional Chinese calendar is lunar, based on the cycle of the moon. A year is made up 354 days, consisting of 12 months that have 29 and 30 days alternately. Chinese people associate each month and each year with one of the animals from the Chinese zodiac: the rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, fowl, dog, and pig.
As the Chinese calendar does not march in step with the Gregorian or Western calendar, Chinese New Year sometimes falls toward the end of January and sometimes in the beginning of February. The year of the Monkey starts on Jan. 22, 2004 and ends on Feb. 8, 2005.
If you are curious what the future has in store for you, visit Shelly Wu's Chinese Astrology pages at http://www.chineseastrology.com. This resource has been mentioned in this column before, but I find it's still one of the best sites around. It offers forecasts for 2004 and will let you check back to see if the forecasts for the years 2003, 2002 and 2001 were right.
Chinese Food
Chinese Recipes at http://www.chineserecipes.co.uk is a British portal that has lots of recipes as well as a host of information about Chinese culture, online shops, acupuncture, tai chi and so on. Click on the Recipe icon to visit Chinese Cooking by David Fong, a page that will explain how to make simple dishes like Spring Rolls and Sweet Corn Soup as well as the more complicated Roast Duckling with Pancakes.
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Another, much larger resource is About Chinese Cuisine at http://chinesefood.about.com. Beginners will love the Cooking Basics section that describes the art of steaming and stir-frying, what sort of basic ingredients you should have and how to choose a wok. The rest of the site has hundreds of recipes sorted into categories such as Mooncakes, Low Carb Chinese, Shanghai Cuisine and Soups. The Chinese New Year section is rich with information on how to make baked nian gao, a delicious cake traditionally served during this time, eight treasure rice, longevity noodles and other holiday goodies.
Virtual China
The Great Wall, life size terra cotta figures of warriors and horses, and the Silk Road are just three of the most famous tourist attractions in China today. If you thinking of taking a trip, or would like to see some more of the country without moving from your home, take a look at Travel China at http://www.travelchinaguide.com.
This great guide offers dozens of illustrated articles describing the most popular destinations and attractions. Although this is a large site, the extensive directory makes surfing very simple.
Voice of China at http://www.chinavoc.com is also worth a look as it combines a travel guide with lots of cultural information. Check out major tourist destinations and browse the other sections to discover more about big and small festivals, important events in Chinese history, Chinese writing, the role of the dragon, traditional opera, martial arts like Shaolin Kung Fu and much, much more.
For more information search for the keywords: Chinese New Year, Chinese astrology, Chinese cooking recipes, China travel. Gong Xi Fa Chai!