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Q: What is your opinion of Spring Festival (Chinese New Year)?
Do you regard CNY in positive terms i.e. the festivities, time with the family etc., or do you regard CNY in a negative light e.g. overcrowded public transport, long queues, constant noise, businesses closing etc.?
I look to the positives, I'm the bastard child of Dick Van Dyke and Doris Day, I jump out of bed each day singing "You gotta aaaaaaccentuate the positives, and eeeeeeeeeliminate the negatives....." Seriously, everyone f***ing hates me. But yeah, CNY, I love it. Didn't use to give a shit the first 6 years here but now I've got kids I get right into the spirit of it, you know? Play sparklers, throw fireworks at them, set fire to their beds, dad stuff. CNY is a giggle.
expatlife26:
yeah that makes sense...once you have kids it becomes really fun to show them a good holiday! I did my first Christmas at home in a couple years this year and it was fun to get with my family and have a tree and presents and stuff.
As a single guy CNY doesn't mean anything to me of course, but it's nice having the city clear out for a while.
Have a good CNY with your family, Martian
Nothing beats setting fire to a bucket of fake money outside your door , filling the place with smoke and causing a little damage at the same time. Funny they don't pray/look for better life but for more money - gotta love China
does make the area quiet and almost civil
I like it a lot. I am not blind to the negatives, but I still say look at what they do,,,,, give 90% +/- of the working people a nice, long holiday. Now, I don't know if it happens in most countries or not,,, but it happens here. Yeah, I know the opposite argument that they spend the bulk of their lives slaving to the Machine,,, could be true,, I dunno. But,, I do know that they get this nice, long holiday, and with all it's downside due to the massive (over?) population, I still view it as a net positive for them.
I think it's weird and cool the way Asians go to the dead folks tombs(?) and burn joss(?) paper. I first experienced that with the ex down in Isan. I think it's pretty cool.
most Western places these days, when your dead, you're forgotten. which seems pretty shitty in some ways, but also appeals to my practical (German heritage) side.
All in all, pretty hard to knock a 3-week paid holiday. besides,, I friggin' love firecrackers!
the only thing negative for me is it seems that everything is deliberately marked up in price during this time and and signs call it a sale, in the west, the retailers actually do mark down and have good deals for the christmas season, its like they know cultural peer pressure and social norms are going to make you buy, so they price it higher with this "isn't your family worth" bull---t to get you to spend money, i get all the gifts 2 months early to avoid this gouging, the good news is a couple of days after the new year, the prices are really good, nobody wants to haul all the extra crap back to the warehouses. a good wine from chili 150 to 200 a bottle before the holiday, last year after holiday 3 for a 100.
