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When the plum blossoms begin to fade, spring has arrived with the peach blossoms. We drove into the countryside to a village hosting the peach blossom festival. The peach is the symbol of long life. According to Taoist legend, the gods ate peaches to achieve immortality. Peach blossoms and fruit are prevalent in Chinese art. What a lovely day we enjoyed in the orchards!

桃花 táo huā – peach flower

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梅花 Méi huā (may whah) – plum blossom; literally, beautiful flower.

We painted plum blossoms in art class. Mr. Chen shared a Chinese couplet meaning “Ask the plum blossom when Spring comes”. The plum blossom is the flower symbolizing winter because they are the first to bloom. The five petals of the plum bring five blessings. So Fred and I went to Century Park to find the plum blossoms. We agree, they are beautiful!

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The Spring Festival begins with the Chinese Lunar New Year and runs two weeks, ending with the Lantern Festival. We celebrated at Yu Garden along with several million of our closet neighbors. The plazas were decorated with brightly lit, colorful ‘balloon-like’ animatronic creatures. Of course, the dragon was the favorite display. Overhead, hundreds of elaborate lanterns formed a canopy against the night sky. The crowd was intimidating, and at one point, I was caught in a human eddy which swirled me backwards and Fred forwards at an alarming speed. But all was well in the end, and it was a beautiful sight.

Happy New Year! xīn nián kuài lè (shin ne-en ku why lur)

Chinese New Year is the most auspicious of holidays and they know how to celebrate. You have never seen fireworks like this!  Some of the customs for celebrating the New Year include:

• First, clean the house to sweep out any bad luck.
• Windows and doors are decorated with red symbols for good fortune.
• Red envelopes (Hong Bau) with money are given to children by their parents and also as tips/bonus to employees and service folks.
• A whole fish must be served, but the last bit not eaten, which foretells that the family will have a prosperous year in which there is always food left over.

While strolling through the park on a warm Saturday morning, we hear birds chattering and notice the bamboo cages hanging in the trees.  At first, I thought this must be a kind of zoo placed by the city for our enjoyment. Our guide points out the group of elder men nearby, drinking tea from canteens, smoking and playing a game. The birds are their pets! They take them to the park in the cages and hang them in the trees to show them off to each other.  I think I can hear them, “My bird can speak from the gods… my bird has blue shiny feathers and has lived 100 years already… my bird fathered one thousand thousand sons…”