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Q: How to prepare for the chinese spring festival?
5 How to prepare for the Chinese spring festival ?
As Chinese new year is coming . People are getting more and more busy with preparing for it. If you are a big fan about the culture thing , maybe this can help you.
Originally, we got several jobs to do :
First of all, shopping for (年(nián)货(huò)) 。including food, candies, couplet ,paper cutting , firework ,lanterns, red pocket, new cloths(for kids) etc.
Second , cleaning . Cleaning is very important before 30 th (the last day of lunar calendar),which symbolizes sweeping out the things old ,unlucky or unhappy , and ready to embrace a brand new year. Third : get the big dinner(年(nián)夜(yè)饭(fàn)) ready
Four: paste the couplets and the paper cuttings on the door or window .Meanwhile hang the lanterns as well.
Fifth : get the red pocket 红(hóng)包(bāo) ready (which is big thing )
So are you ready for it ?
Oh,By the way ,things you are not supposed to do during the spring festival
1 You are forbidden to clean on 1 th, Jan Chinese lunar calendar .Otherwise , you may got blame .
2 Bad words ,unlucky words are not welcome ,either.
3 Don’t cry ,specially on 1 st ,Jan lunar calendar .
It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
You would cry too if it happened to you
lol.Red_Fox:
Brenda Li! I mean Lee! 
(Now you got me singing that loopy song over and over again in my head! Thanks, bro.)
Scandinavian:
I'm more a Lesley Gore kind of man, but hey, each person is different (although the sound of those two women is pretty identical)
I would also advise to loose a few kilos *before* the festival, exercising a lot and under-feeding yourself the 30 days before ^^
brother1818:
I actually usually lose weight during CNY because I get to lazy to eat and just order food.
Fireworks are banned where I live.
Does that mean bad luck for the new year if I can't do loads of banging?
Scandinavian:
You have to get your banging done some other way. But, I live in a city where fireworks are banned. I also live on a street where honking is prohibited. I also think there are laws against public urination, loud noise etc. You get the drift.
ScotsAlan:
They are serious about the ban here now Scan. There are "no banging" notices everywhere. I daresay there will still be people banging, but I expect they will be banging on their roofs and not in the street.
Nice one, 7. But you forgot ear plugs on your shopping list! 
Chinese New Year is a bit of a let down though. If you want to have fun I mean.
Have a family meal of 5 traditional dishes, younger people go to flower market, go home and sleep. And of course, give out loads of money to show how successful you are.
Meanwhile, the twenty nine year olds without a marriage partner wallow in their dormitories too scared to go home. It's a cruel time for Chinese who are not seen as traditionally successful.
I said to my wife tonight that I would like to go to her hometown this CNY........ NOOOOO she said. It's boring...... and too expensive. Don't get me wrong, we are not mean and we help the family financially without hesitation throughout the year. But it seems that everyone comes out of the woodwork at her hometown at CNY time, and all expect some sort of cash payment.
I prefer the Scottish new year. Get drunk, make phone calls and forgive and forget. Tak a cup o kind and all that. Rebuild broken bridges and think to the future.
My guide to CNY is much simpler.
1. Pick a place, any place outside of China
2. Book your airfare/hotels in advance
3. Go there and be merry
andy74rc:
Exactly what I'm going to do. In my case:
1) Italy
2) tickets bought 2 months ago
3) flying on Jan 25 night, and back on Feb 9.
During Chunjie, get on the trains and busses, and go nuts. Huddle up with all the other people on the trains and just enjoy it. Seriously. I seriously enjoyed it. I miss it so much!!!
It's just an amazing experience. You can talk to people from every walk of life, get to know them, learn about their hopes, dreams, aspirations, etc... and you'll see they're just like everyone else in the world. No different than you and me.
Im super excited for spring festival. Drive to the wife's farmer town. Booked 3 nights at the sheraton. ( If you have ever slept in a country side house.... well no one has ever slept, its impossible). In her family the older people give the younger people. So i always get a few thousand. Have some family dinners. ( Her family doesnt eat wierd shit, im the luckiest guy ever) Get drunk and light firecrackers and lose said money on mah jong, then right when its boring go home and enjoy my ghost town of shenzhen.
I've had 3 previous CNY here and the only thing I see that happens is people make jiaozi and watch TV.
Many of the usual eating haunts close so eating food becomes even more problematical.
This year I'll be in Yunnan and hope something goes on down there. At least I know there are bars down there so I plan to drink some beer, have some conversation and make love.
