Chinese New Year, Feb 10-15, Joys and Sorrows, Queues and Clothes for Travellers - Be Prepared!

  Time to get out Chinese clothes for Chinese New Year. The year of the dragon, which is lucky. So it the colour red which is the colour of the festival. Expect to see lots of red lanterns. The unmarried are given red packets containing money. Bakds used to give away red packets to contain note money. Now you can give money through an online transaction with a goodwill message. For children as well as unmarrieds. (A bit like Christmas gifts and the hanukah gelt.)

Chinese New Year 2024 starts on February 10th and ends on Feb 15th with the lantern festival. I used to think that this would not affect those who are not Chinese but it does in many ways. You need to think ahead.

Busy Buses, Flights, And Airports

Flights

1 Flights will be busy taking people overseas or within a coutnry to visit families. This means, seats at popular times and days could be unavailable, fully booked, double booked. 

Less choice of seating. 

Airport

Longer queues at airports to check-in. Longer queues for luggage. Longer queues for taxis. Expect lovely decorations at airports. Changi airport in Singapore is particularly good at decorations . While there is a delay for checkin, if you are in a queue, anybody left waiting may be able to take picture of the decorations or selfied with decorations. You may have to queue behind families with children to take a selfie with a giant display. Allow extra time for taking souvenir photos.

Shopping

Shops busy. Festive foods for the fish tossing ceremony, tossing ceremony called lo hei, sell out. If you go shopping really early in the monring at the start of Chineese New Year, you may be given goods or discounts. Look for biscuits with pineapple fillings. And fresh mandarin oranges in fancy boxes.

Free Gifts

Some shops will give customers the traditional pair of Mandarin oranges, which are seasonl, like the Seville oranges which are now on sale in London where my family is making marmalade, the bitter tasting orange jam which wakes you up in the morning, and appeals to those who prefer spicy food, or savoury food, rather than sweet foods.

Busy aisles. Long queues to pay for goods.

Restaurants

Restaurants full. Restaurants serving festive Chinese meals which are more Expensive.

Online Messages

Your inbox will be full of new year greetings.  You must check carefully to find meetings. If you cannot travel or have travelled and have overseas friends, expect to get messages from friends and business. Sometimes you can forward a greeting which does not have a logo, as if it comes from you. If not, just add, I thought you would like to see this.

Meetings

Meetings will be cancelled because people are away from the office travelling. The office may be having staff dinners. 

Clubs

Consider a Chinese meal or Chinese theme. Your Chinese friends will appreciate this and could help. Look online for goods and allow time for delivery.

The Bad News

The bad news is queues. Some shops shut if staff are away travelling or celebrating. Shops stocks of Chinese goods running low, everything running low. 

The Good News

Prices of leftover festive foods are reduced after the festival ends. Clubs deliver goods, like Christmas presents, to members. Neighbours will give home made biscuits, sometimes with the pineapple filling.

The Good News

Fabulous decorations in Chinatowns worldwide. Decorations inside and outside Chinese restaurants.

What you should do

Book flights early. Arrive early at airports and venues. Allow extra time. Shop early to get free goods and empty shops on the first day of Chinese new year. Note closing times.

Look for Chinese goods reduced after the holidays. (And sometimes offers in advance or during the festival.) Send greetings to family and friends and colleagues and club members overseas. 

Look out festive clothes. Wear washable clothes, a washable wrap or scarf, or have some ready in case you attend a food tossing ceremony.

Greetings

 Learn to say a Chinese greeting to reciprocate, or add one to your email.

Chiense Destinations

China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore.  Chinatowns in the USA, Chinese restaurants in New York.  UK, London and Manchester, Canada, Vietnam, Cambodia. 

Chinese Foods

Chinese Decorations

Chinese New Year greeting

 Hanyu Pinyin spelling Gong Xi Fai Cai

Useful Websites

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year

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CHINESE NEW YEAR, Friday 16 Feb 2018, and Yu Sheng Dinners in Singapore

Chinese New Year Dinner with red packets and food in assorted colours.

Problem
I'm already getting invitations to Chinese New Year events. When it is?

Answer
It moves around unlike the general New year fixed for the eve of January 1st. Chinese New Year is also called Lunar New Year and celebrated all over the Far East, China, Singapore. It starts Friday 16 2018. Just time for you to sort out a few cards of emails for friends, clubs and businesses in China, Singapore, Taiwan, and Chinatowns all over the world.

This year in the Chinese zodiac is called the year of the dog.

What to expect?

In Singapore it's a wonderful time of year with orange lanterns everywhere and many people giving you two oranges. People buy them in bulk and they don't even have to be bright oranges. You just keep passing oranges on to other people and quite ropey oranges will do.

Orange lanterns will signal Chinese restaurants, hotels, businesses.


Lion Dances
You hear drumming all over the city as lion dance performers are carried from place to place in the back os trucks with banners.

I'm not to keen on the lion dance noise but I do like the spectacle. Sometimes they throw chocolates. They did that in the Tanglin Club in Singapore last year.

By the way, it's called CNY for short.

Red Packets
The unmarried youngsters are given red packets contained note money. Banks and businesses given out empty packets to customers adversiting the business name on the back. In Singapore I received a red packet from McDonalds with a coupon for money off a meal.

Useful Websites
www.singaporeair.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusheng

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
For more about Yu Sheng dinners see the next post.