Remembering Chinese New Years: Second New Years, a Second Home

China, I think, grows on me after I return. At first, everytime I come back, there is a terror of throwing myself into a stifling culture with so many people and such a history. And then, with smiles, and curiosity and eagerness, the Chinese people win me over again. Koreans are shy but, generally friendly if you approach them. But they don't put in the effort to approach you the way that Chinese people do. I forgot about the people here who have their children say "Hello" to you and who sing English songs on the subway while casting glances in your direction, and who try out saying "foreigner" in all the different languages they know to see what kind of reaction they can get out of you--or maybe that is just Beijing. But I don't think so. Everywhere I will see young Chinese women who when we catch the other's eye, will smile symultaneously. But I find that it is usually I who is shy and will first turn my eyes away.

I think of the way Koreans celebrate their New Years and the way Chinese celebrate theirs. Korean New Years means that people go home and spend time quietly with their family--eat food together and pray and give offerings to their ancestors. Chinese people, however, love 热闹。 And I really wish there was a way to translate this word, because it is the essence of Chinese celebrations--warm, festive, loud, noisy, almost chaotic, but in a good way. And that is how they celebrate the New Years--explosions, the color red, money for children, lots of people all making dumplings together, parades, traditional dances--of course, they also mostly just spend time at home with family, but unlike neat and carefully organized Korea, they set off fireworks in the streets! And not just little sparklers--Beijing was absolutely brimming with crysanthamums of color bursting in every allyway, every courtyard, every street, raining down ash and bits of fiber on the happy observers below. The fireworks are set off to scare away the bad spirits of the past year and make room for the good, new ones. Apparently, it is thought that the more fireworks you set off, the more good luck you will have. So this year, because of the economic recession, tons of businessmen had boxes full of 20 or more fireworks (that I was told cost thousands of yuan) and set them off, greatly pleasing the rest of us passersby watching below.

I don't know what it is about China, but it is as close to a second home as I may ever find in another country. People are just so friendly. And it isn't just me, who speaks Chinese, who has found this. A number of foreign travelers who I met in Guilin also agreed. One young Irish man told me, he had been told ahead of time that Chinese people were really unfriendly. So he was completely shocked to find that wherever he went, inspite of his inability to speak, everyone offered to help him. They made do with hand gestures and making faces and him pointing to the Chinese on his tickets and them pointing to the place the tickets indicated. They would even walk him all the way to wherever he was supposed to go and then leave without asking for money or even his name. These strangers helped him on every leg of his journey. He says now he's decided that Chinese are the friendliest people he's ever met.

There's a way people look out for you here, so that you never quite feel completely lost. Just a little unsure of the exact place you are, not unsure that there will be friendly, helpful people there to guide you along the way.