Happy Year of the Rat !

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If you had mentioned Chinese New Year to me a year ago, about the only thing that would have come to my mind might have been the color red. Now my mind would be dominated by one thought…NOISE! I can’t begin to describe the fireworks we have seen and heard here over the last week. We’re so tired of them that I actually yelled “Shut up!!” out the window at them this evening! I’ve fallen asleep with earplugs in (Anika’s brilliant idea!) two nights this week because the fireworks were roaring all around us. This makes the 4th of July displays in the US look like nothing.

The New Year celebration, also called the Spring Festival, is a 15-day-long event. It starts with New Year’s Eve and ends 15 days later with Lantern Fest. This is the time of year when the Chinese head home to spend the holiday with their families and celebrate with many traditional foods. There’s a lot of symbolism surrounding the New Year traditions. Many of them center around wishes for good luck and prosperity for the coming year.

While Serge was off in Australia on business, the kids and I enjoyed some time in one of the old parts of Shanghai - Yu Yuan Garden. I had trouble finding schedules for any events around the city, so I was thrilled to find that we stumbled upon a traditional dragon dance as we pulled up in the car. We hopped out and had front-row seats. We then wandered through the maze of traditional buildings and found amazing, brightly-colored decorations everywhere. It was really a treat to see!

After Serge returned to town, we enjoyed a day wandering around the Huang Pu river that winds through the center on Shanghai.

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Photos

Anika and Westen at the dragon dance
Here's the dragon dance we stumbled on in the rain near Yu Yuan garden. We were luck to get front row seats! There were drumers playing the beat for the dancers to follow.

Lions dancing...
Lions are part of the traditional dance.

Standing in the rain
Here are the kids standing at the entrance to Yu Yuan. It's very touristy, but still interesting.

Posers!
I had to get in one picture to prove that I was actually there!

There's the RAT!
The rat is standing on a pile of gold coins...good luck wishes for the coming year. You can see Westen and Anika standing to the right...that's a BIG rat!

Standing on the crooked bridge
This is in the center of Yu Yuan. The bridge is crooked to keep the evil spirits away which can only travel in straight lines. It was a gray, dreary day, but not in here!

Lots of "stuff" to buy!
And I thought that all of the junky stuff made in China was exported to Wal-Mart. I guess not!

Yu Yuan
A beautiful view of the roof tops inside Yu Yuan.

Serge approaching soldiers...
Serge wanted a picture with the soldiers that were swarming the riverfront over the New Year holiday. Would they co-operate?

Getting closer...
It's ok guys, don't be shy!

Here we go!
We really didn't know if this was "allowed" or not, but lots of people found it entertaining!

And the soldier plays photographer...
I asked a soldier to take our picture (another no-no ???) Again, this amused lots of people.

Not Chairman Mao
I was corrected...this is not Chairman Mao, but a former major of Shanghai!

Comments

[Kathi McLiverty]

love the blog!!!!
I absolutely love reading about your adventures and seeing the pictures!! Keep them coming!! By the way, I do think that I may be giving up chicken for a while!!! Take care! Kathi

[Tracy Lupone]

Awesome!
Sally, the pictures and comments are wonderful. It is great to find out what is going on half way around the world ... very educational and love all the colors and symbolism! Not missing much here ... cold and rainy as we are approaching spring. Did see some robins today which hopefully means it is right around the corner! Take care ... we miss you!

[Steph]

HAHA LOVE the pictures of Serge they made me laugh out loud :) so good to 'see' all of you :)