Chinese New Year

Monday marked the first day of the lunar new year.  This is typically the biggest holiday for Chinese people, when people go home to celebrate the new year with their families.  

In Beijing, the city clears out.  Migrant workers, the unskilled workers who come to the cities for jobs in construction, cleaning and in restaurants, return early to the countryside.  As a result, in the weeks before Chinese New Year, the city starts to slow down as the various establishments close.  Office workers leave later, some rushing to finish projects before their work schedules are disrupted by the mandated week-long holiday, and others killing time on their computers, waiting as the new year approaches.  Now, the once 20-million strong  city lies in slumber, and those of us who have stayed behind are amazed at the absence of crowds, the open roads and of the availability of seats on the subway.  

Of course, to say that the city is asleep is slightly misleading.  Chinese New Year is marked by the constant sound of firecrackers.  On the eve itself, fireworks are launched from homes and driveways all over the city.  Then, throughout the week, sporadic bursts of firework displays break through short lived moments of silence, creating, in the city's inhabitants, a tolerance for explosions characteristic of people living in a warzone.  

As the fireworks' echo drains away and evening wearily drags into early morning, the city retires and leaves behind streets strewn with scraps of explosives and red ribbons.  Some  love the way Chinese celebrate the new year, others are annoyed, and some leave as soon as they can.   For me, it always a special time when this country that is changing at such a rapid speed slows down for just a few days.  Happy new year and year of the dragon.