A Very Happy New Year of the Tiger.

Xin Nian Kuai Le(Mandarin)! Kung Hei Fat Choy(Cantonese) means Happy New year. Yes, it is Chinese New year time in the Middle Kingdom and everything around the city of Five Rams(Guangzhou) have adorned a vibrant red and gold tinge. This is the time of for grand celebrations, spending time with family and loved ones and a time for sharing good cheer. It is certainly the most beautiful time to be in this wonderful country in the land of the Dragon.

The Chinese celebrate the Chinese New Year (will be referred as CNY henceforth) as if there is no tomorrow. Supermarkets and wayside stores go equally bersek promoting their wares and buyers go totally over the top in a buying frenzy. One wonders if there was ever a recession in this kingdom in the recent times. I was in a queue for one whole hour at a leading dept store in Guangzhou awaiting my turn to get to the payment counter! There are simply a billion and a few million more people! And people just want to buy!!.

Wayside stores have beautiful Chinese lanterns in Red and gold and a zillion other hanging stuff in red and gold for people to indulge in and share with fellow revelers. Shopping season never really ends in China but becomes a feverish frenzied peak just before CNY. This is the time of the year when the Chinese are ringing in the year of the tiger. This time around and supposed to be a good year compared to the last year which was the year of the rat. Last year was bad indeed for most people across the globe and hope it is the opposite this year. People have started believing so and that is quite evident in the way they spend!

This is also the time for the Great Chinese People Movement. The large industrial cities that drive the world’s second largest economy houses people from all over the Middle Kingdom to feed its assembly lines. This mammoth human population travels back to their home towns in remote parts of China just before the CNY thus jamming all means of transportation across the country for weeks. This is probably the worse time to travel in China and the worst time to get caught amidst this travel frenzy if one lands up in China during this time. The picture posted is an example of the Guanzghou Railway station during the time of the CNY last year.

Everything in China comes to a total standstill well before CNY and the wheels start grinding again a few weeks past the CNY. Then once it picks up speed, it roars through the year, hurtling away towards infinity till it is time for the next big break later during the year in October for the Moon festival (which I will post in a different post later). During this time, the roads have less people as the city empties out with the residents travelling back to their hometowns to spend the New Year with their families. Offices are almost empty with just a few skeleton staff pretending to keep the business going and not having to shutdown completely lest clients start worrying of a closure.

I will miss this CNY this year which I enjoyed and celeberated with my Chinese colleagues and friends in Guangzhou for the last two years. I will be away from the Middle kingdom, but my soul will remain here and welcome the Chinese New year of the Tiger with renewed vigour, hope and expectations.This is the year of the tiger and I have a feeling that it sure will be a tiger of a year.