Happy Chinese New Year!! 新年快乐！

Two years.

It’s been two years since I celebrated Chinese New Year the right way, surrounded by my Chinese family, gouging my face with the most delicious food from their garden, and lighting firecrackers everywhere. Two dang years. I can’t believe it. I haven’t shared photos of my trip to my friend Wang Hao’s family village for Chinese New Year, and I guess now is the best time to do it? Sounds good.

First, let me clear something up. My friend Wang Hao’s name is pronounced “Wong How”. Just thought you should know so you don’t giggle every time I write the word “Wang”. Chinese family names come first, so “Wang” is actually her family name, or our last name. It means King, so it’s a pretty great family name. Stop giggling.

You see, Chinese New Year is a very special thing, especially for the average Chinese family. My friend’s family live in a small village about 45 minutes outside of Loudi in Hunan Province. They speak a dialect I couldn’t even remotely understand. My friend Wang Hao said that the next town over spoke a different dialect. The linguistic diversity here is fascinating. They call it a dialect, but it might as well be a new language because Mandarin Chinese speakers can listen to it & not understand a thing. I remember hanging out with Wang Hao back in Changsha when I was at University, and students would ask her to speak her dialect because it’s just so dang different.

I remember being so surprised when I realized that even Wang Hao’s name is pronounced differently in her dialect. So the name I called her was completely different than the name her family called her. I tried to pick up a few words of their dialect but it was mighty hard. Her grandmother appreciated my attempts anyway & it gave her a good chuckle. I did learn how to say “delicious”. :P

Oh right, I got a little distracted. Back to why Chinese New Year is so special. Chinese New Year is so incredibly amazing because it is a mass homecoming. For example, Wang Hao’s parents do not live in their hometown. They work in separate cities because there isn’t any opportunity in their village. Their cousins, sisters, and uncles all do the same. Chinese New Year is usually the only opportunity for many working class Chinese to visit home. It is a mass migration from the city to the country. It’s actually the biggest annual human mass migration in the world, and believe me, you do not want to try to buy a train ticket when everyone in China is trying to get home. It’s absolute craziness.

I find this so incredibly inspiring. Instead of simply moving their whole family to a different city, they keep their roots. They keep their family home & their family graveyard. They spend two weeks at Chinese New Year visiting everyone in the village, playing cards until sunrise, and drinking rice wine. It’s awesome.

I feel so incredibly blessed that Wang Hao invited me to celebrate Chinese New Year with her family. It’s one of my fondest memories in China. Chinese culture is one of the most hospitable cultures around & I believe Americans could really learn from them. Wang Hao’s family was so giving & kind to me, and all I did was eat their food & use up their hot water for showers.

One of my favorite memories from the festivities was Hong Bao (or in English, red envelope). During Chinese New Year, the older people will give the young people these small red envelopes with money in them (see photo below for example). Wang Hao’s grandfather was giving out his hong bao to his grandchildren, when he turned to me. I was so surprised, but delighted. He handed me a red envelope.

That’s me & Wang Hao below in case you are curious :) She is one of my best friends!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! 新年快乐！It’s the year of the dragon. Hope you are ready!