CHINESE NEW YEAR
I went to China specifically for the Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year is the longest and most important holiday in China. The start of the New Year is on the first day of the first month on the lunar calendar. When I went, this past year it was on February 10th and lasted until February 25th, 2013, which is the darkest day of the first lunar month.
When I first got there, I was surprised in how much time and effort was put into the decorations in shops, houses and streets. There were poems written on red paper, and every place seen had been cleaned. I went to one of my friend’s house that I met in college named Feng. On New Year’s Eve, called Shousui in China, we stayed up late to watch the CCTV New Year gala to wait for the New Year to arrive. It’s the first day and everybody wears new clothing articles that are red. Everyone greets each other by saying Gongxi (congratulations) and bowing.
On the second day, we went to Feng’s parents house because the married daughter always goes to their parent’s house on day two. From days 3 to 7, we visited many people, friends and relatives of Feng. With most of the people we visited, it was over mealtime. There were a myriad of different meals served, however we had fish of some sort, Chinese dumplings, spring rolls and Nian Gao (rice cake – type of thing) quite frequently. On the 8th day, Feng and her husband went back to work because it was the official end of the New Year, but I stayed and did some sight seeing. I returned back to Feng’s house on February 25th, the 15th day of the New Year. We watched the Yuanaiao (lantern festival) in the streets of Beijing. I was utterly surprised seeing all of the red lanterns. They were hand painted so delicately with birds, other animals, flowers, zodiac signs and history on them. There had to be thousands in the streets of Beijing. Not to mention, most people carried a lantern also. Then the dragon dance came along. The dragon itself had to be at least 100 feet long. It was made from silk, paper and bamboo. Several young men that dance through the streets held the dragon. The Chinese New Year was a great experience, and much different from anything that I’ve ever done.
In the duration of my stay in China, I went to Shenzhen, Guangdong. There, I walked past a factory manufacturing telecommunication equipment. There I met this dude named Meng, who worked in the telecom production business. He worked at Huawei, as the engineering manager. His average salary is 38,000 RMB, because he has worked for Huawei for 10 years. Meng works in the telecom manufacturing business because it helps grow the infrastructure to support growth in other industries, as well as the modernization of China. Meng ends up paying 7,620 RMB in income taxes, because he has to take his salary minus 3500 and multiply that by 25 and then subtract 1005. {(38000-3500) 25-1005} China’s government type is a communist state, and their current president is Xi Tinping. Recently, 27 people were killed in China due to a mine explosion. After the blast, 81 people were then rescued. This explosion occurred at Taozigov Mine, just outside of Liuzhou city in the Sichuan Province. This explosion occurred because China has the deadliest mines because the procedure, corruption and lax.
Now I am sitting in an airplane in the Shenzeh Airport, going home to Colorado. I just exchanged my 500 RMB for 80 USD.
When I first got there, I was surprised in how much time and effort was put into the decorations in shops, houses and streets. There were poems written on red paper, and every place seen had been cleaned. I went to one of my friend’s house that I met in college named Feng. On New Year’s Eve, called Shousui in China, we stayed up late to watch the CCTV New Year gala to wait for the New Year to arrive. It’s the first day and everybody wears new clothing articles that are red. Everyone greets each other by saying Gongxi (congratulations) and bowing.
On the second day, we went to Feng’s parents house because the married daughter always goes to their parent’s house on day two. From days 3 to 7, we visited many people, friends and relatives of Feng. With most of the people we visited, it was over mealtime. There were a myriad of different meals served, however we had fish of some sort, Chinese dumplings, spring rolls and Nian Gao (rice cake – type of thing) quite frequently. On the 8th day, Feng and her husband went back to work because it was the official end of the New Year, but I stayed and did some sight seeing. I returned back to Feng’s house on February 25th, the 15th day of the New Year. We watched the Yuanaiao (lantern festival) in the streets of Beijing. I was utterly surprised seeing all of the red lanterns. They were hand painted so delicately with birds, other animals, flowers, zodiac signs and history on them. There had to be thousands in the streets of Beijing. Not to mention, most people carried a lantern also. Then the dragon dance came along. The dragon itself had to be at least 100 feet long. It was made from silk, paper and bamboo. Several young men that dance through the streets held the dragon. The Chinese New Year was a great experience, and much different from anything that I’ve ever done.
In the duration of my stay in China, I went to Shenzhen, Guangdong. There, I walked past a factory manufacturing telecommunication equipment. There I met this dude named Meng, who worked in the telecom production business. He worked at Huawei, as the engineering manager. His average salary is 38,000 RMB, because he has worked for Huawei for 10 years. Meng works in the telecom manufacturing business because it helps grow the infrastructure to support growth in other industries, as well as the modernization of China. Meng ends up paying 7,620 RMB in income taxes, because he has to take his salary minus 3500 and multiply that by 25 and then subtract 1005. {(38000-3500) 25-1005} China’s government type is a communist state, and their current president is Xi Tinping. Recently, 27 people were killed in China due to a mine explosion. After the blast, 81 people were then rescued. This explosion occurred at Taozigov Mine, just outside of Liuzhou city in the Sichuan Province. This explosion occurred because China has the deadliest mines because the procedure, corruption and lax.
Now I am sitting in an airplane in the Shenzeh Airport, going home to Colorado. I just exchanged my 500 RMB for 80 USD.