Spring Festival Break: Pt 9. Chinese New Year

Chengdu. Capital of Sichuan province. Right up there in the middle of China and where we spent our Chinese New Year. The city itself was ok but we didn't get the chance to explore much. Again it also looked better in the dark, especially in the central town square where there was a huge water display set to music in the evening. That was great fun, especially as one of the water jets wasn't adjusted quite right and sprayed itself directly upon a group of people stood right in front of us. Wish I'd got that on camera. We stayed in two hostels in the city, the Loft - which was pretty damn flash for a youth hostel - and Dragontown.

The best thing about Dragontown was that there was a street-bar right outside. On the first night we went there for a beer and ended up sharing a table with a group of Chinese students. They were all drinking wine so assuming they were uni students I asked where they were from and what they studied. They revealed themselves to be Senior 2 grade high school students, the same as my very own students back in Lanshan. When I told them this they immediately began to call me 'teacher' and it stuck for the rest of my stay. They were good kids, and we kept in touch and met up again a few days later. Wish my kids were as free to chat with as them.

On New Year's Eve, we visited the big Buddhist Wenshu monastery. After some killer food in a vegetarian restaurant (including several dishes of 'mock meat' - tofu in sheep's clothing - what's the point?) and a look at a special market outside, we went inside and joined the masses. It was full of Chinese coming to pray for the New Year. We were given free incense sticks to light and hold in our hands as we bowed three times to whichever image/statue took our fancy before throwing them into a big bronze pot in the centre of the courtyard. Most Chinese prayed to every idol
there, but I paid my respects just once. I didn't want to make a mockery of it - it's not my religion after all.

I liked this place because we were the only tourists there and it was full of genuine worshippers, extending to whole halls full of yellow-robed monks knelt chanting in unison. I'm sure I wasn't supposed to take a picture, but everyone was watching and a Chinese guy was egging me on, so I turned off my flash and took a quick shot through the railings. It was a quite mesmerising sight.

Having decided to leave, we stopped off to stock up on snacks before returning to the hostel for a short nap in readiness for the New Year festivities.

We really shouldn't have bothered. Turns out we slept through all the celebrations and come 8pm when we ventured out to a few of the designated 'special event' areas, we were told that it was all over and that everyone had gone home! We walked for hours trying to find something going on, but with no luck whatsoever. We couldn't even find any fireworks going off as they had been banned within the city following a particularly explosive time last year.

When all my students had told me that they would spend the New Year at home watching TV, they weren't joking! It turns out that China as a nation goes home and sits infront of the TV set to watch a special variety show until midnight (if they haven't already gone to bed by then that is).

So we also went home, back to the hostel, where we bought a beer each and sat in the courtyard with our snacks to have our own private party. Come midnight there were a few bangs and whistles, but nothing special.

So I was sat there, with my beer and sunflower seeds, thinking the Chinese New Year was just a little anticlimactic to be honest. It's a family occasion, and here, far away from my own family, it meant nothing much at all. I was feeling that pretty strongly at that moment when quite unexpectedly, my family called to wish me a Happy New Year. Timing... They may not be alternative vegetarian buddhist backpackers, but they're alright.