Beijing Local Custom Tips by ntm2322

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival celebrated in the Chinese World, no matter in which country, on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. In the Western calendar it usually occurs between the 2nd week of September and the 2nd week of October (in 2007 it was in September 25th but in 2008 it will be in September 14th).

On this day the moon is full and its round shape represents reunion, therefore, this festival is also known as the Festival of Reunion.

In this special day all family members try to get together. If not possible one should at least be outside at night and gaze at the moon, thinking of his family and friends, this way they could still be together.

This is a really good time for children, they are all happy. Their parents carry the bags with the fruits, moon cakes, drinks, etc. and the children carry the beautiful shaped lit lanterns. After founding a nice place and have settled down, people play for a while, chat with each other, tell jokes, sing, etc., and then start munching away and enjoy the full moon.

The Mid-Autumn Festival was originally a harvest festival and on this day people used to eat all kinds of fruits and round moon cakes.

Special foods eaten in the Mid-Autumn Festival include:

- Moon cakes

- Cooked taro

- Edible snails from the taro patches

- Water caltrop (a type of water chestnut resembling black buffalo horns)

- Rice paddies cooked with sweet basil and

- Fruits (apples, oranges, pears, peaches, grapes, pomegranates, melons, pomelos, etc.)

There are several versions about the Mid-Autumn Festival and the origins of the moon cakes; you may read them in the link I provide down here.

Places in Beijing where you can sit and gaze at the moon include:

Shichahai (the oldest water area within Beijing)

Yangtaishan (the Balcony Mountain)

Baiwangshan (situated 3 kilometers to the north of Summer Palace)

Minghui Teahouse (in Dajue Temple with its more than 1000 years old ginko tree)

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Website: http://english.people.com.cn/200409/28/eng20040928_158595.html

The Mid-Autumn Festival was originally a harvest festival and on this day people used to eat all kinds of fruits and round moon cakes. Nowadays the tradition is still well alive. People gather together with family members and friends (this year of 2007 it was in September 25th) at dinner time and then later go out and watch the moon, eat fruits and moon cakes.

Special foods eaten in the Mid-Autumn Festival include:

- Moon cakes

- Cooked taro

- Edible snails from the taro patches

- Water caltrop (a type of water chestnut resembling black buffalo horns)

- Rice paddies cooked with sweet basil and

- Fruits (apples, oranges, pears, peaches, grapes, pomegranates, melons, pomelos, etc.)

There are several versions about the Mid-Autumn Festival and the origins of the moon cakes; you may read them in the link I provide down here.

The traditional moon cakes are made with sweet fillings of

- Nuts (wu3 ren2)

- Mashed red beans (dou4 sha1)

- Lotus-seed paste (lian2 rong2) or

- Chinese dates (zao3 ni2)

- with or without a cooked egg yolk inserted in the middle.

Nowadays, there are all varieties of moon cakes, some of them made with the most exotic fruits like durian or if you like tea you might buy green tea moon cakes. They now also target different kinds of people, like vegetarians, health-conscious folks (like me), diabetes, etc. and now they come for the “big sale” about one month before the festival starts.

Besides buying moon cakes to eat in the Mid-Autumn Festival, people also buy them to offer as presents to friends, family members, clients, etc.

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Website: http://english.people.com.cn/200409/28/eng20040928_158595.html

In Tian’anmen Square, October 1st of the year of 1949 at three o’clock in the afternoon, Chairman Mao Ze Dong declared the founding of the People's Republic of China and the red five-star flag was raised for the first time.

Today, October 1st of 2007, mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau celebrate its 58th anniversary with several activities, including the flag’s raising, marathons, fireworks, etc. And throughout China public places are usually decorated in a tone related to the National Day where red is the predominant color.

In this period the weather is also very nice, so many people who don’t go travel just take the day off to stay at home or go out for outdoor activities.

The National Day holidays are basically one week off for millions of Chinese and during this period they travel domestically and internationally.

It means that if you are planning to catch a few domestic flights in China during the National Day holidays (the week around October 1st) to visit some of the major tourist hot spots in China you should book your tickets and hotel reservations months before your trip.

My best advice: this is one of the best times to visit Beijing because many mainland emigrants working here during this period go back to their countryside/hometowns to visit their families.

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Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Day_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China

The Chinese red envelopes are called hong2 bao1 in Mandarin and are popular gifts for any occasion. They symbolize luck and wealth. In western countries people use presents to mark the occasion, in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau most of the time red envelopes (with money inside, of course) are used.

When offering a red envelope to somebody it must be done with both hands and expressing some wishes at the same time (Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, Congratulations, Good Health, etc.). On the other hand, people who receive the red envelope must receive it with both hands and express his/her gratitude (a simple word of thank you is good enough). Never refuse a red envelope.

When offering a red envelope never put coins like little change or dirty, creased bank bills inside, instead, use “good-looking” bank bills.
How much to give it depends of you and the degree of intimacy you have with the person you want to give the red envelope to.

Many Chinese people use red envelopes in their own houses for good luck, they usually place red envelopes under small tangerines. In this case coins are used instead of bank bills.

Let’s see another example. It is Chinese New Year. If you are a single person you are not supposed to hand out any red envelopes, just sit and wait for them. If you are married you are supposed to carry with you a generous bunch of red envelopes for the whole week to distribute them and expect to receive a few only from your mother-in-law and father-in-law.

In office, it is the same. If you are married you should give red envelopes to your colleagues’ children and if you have a child they will do the same to you. You should also give a red pocket to your single co-workers but once again, because you are married you will receive none.

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Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_envelope

Chinese people have a bunch of good hygienic habits that western people should learn from.

When you are invited to visit a Chinese family you should know that before walking in you should take off your footgear.

They know that in your country you can roam around the whole house with the same foot apparel that you outside and might have stepped on a dog’s piece of ***, so just as a kind of politeness they might tell you, followed by a generous smile, that you don’t need to take them off.

Please, you do insist and take your shoes or sandals off. The hosts will be very happy for your token of respect and they will immediately give you a pair of slippers to put on.

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This festival is one of the most important Chinese festivals and is celebrated on or around December 22 (in 2007 it was on December 22). And this is exactly the time when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest (it actually marks the first day of the Dong1 zhi4 solar term).

The Dong1 zhi4 Festival is also a time for the family to get together, it is a time for family reunion.

In northern China, like Beijing, people eat dumplings on Dong1 zhi4, in the south people eat tang1 yuan2 (balls of glutinous rice flour plain or stuffed with ground peanuts or black sesame seeds plunged into a sweet soup made of water, ginger and rock sugar) which symbolizes reunion.

Regarding the Chinese dumplings (jiaozi) eaten in north of China, they resemble ears. At Dong1 zhi4 Festival parents usually like to tell their children that if they don’t eat dumplings on this day, their ears will be frozen and drop down.

Well, as you must know, temperatures at this time are already below zero, eating hot dumplings warms you up, really.

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According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the first day of the first month of the lunar year is the beginning of the Spring Festival.

In 2008, the Spring Festival begins in February the 7th. It means that February 7th is the first day of the lunar year, the 8th is the second day of the lunar year and so on.

The Spring Festival, commonly called "Chun1 jie2" or “guo4 nian2” (celebrating the New Year) is definitely the most important and “noisiest” (in the good sense) traditional Chinese festival.

There is a story related to this word “nian” (year).

It is said that in ancient times there was a terrible monster called “nian”. Its face was amazingly big, it would eat people as soon as it saw them, and it would harm livestock as soon as it encountered them. As a result God jailed “nian” and allowed him to come out only once a year, more precisely, on the 30th of the twelfth month of the lunar year (it means, in the last day of the lunar year).

However, people discovered that the monster “nian” was afraid of three things

- Red color

- Big noise

- Blaze

Consequently, everybody sticked red papers on the entrances, continuously cracked firecrackers and left the lights lit the whole night. When that monster “nian” came, every household was well illuminated, every door was red and everywhere there was this noise of firecrackers, then “nian” got tremendously frightened and ran away. Since then “nian” never returned again.

And the celebrations of the New Year (xin1 nian2) still have kept these customs just mentioned.

See next tip for “Spring Festival – most important customs”.

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The Chinese like to stick the character “fu2” meaning “happiness”. And if they stick it upside down people will say “fu2 dao4 le”, meaning “happiness arrived”. The character “dao4” means “upside down” and has the same sound as the word “arrive”. In Chinese the character “dao4” also means “arrive”. The character “le” doesn’t mean anything.

In the Spring Festival the Chinese also like to eat jiao3 zi (dumplings) and nian2 gao1 (New Year cake). According to tradition people should eat the jiao3 zi from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. (ban4 ye4 zi3 shi2 chi1) because it is the time when starts the first day of the first month of the lunar year.

The New Year cake (nian2 gao1). “Nian2” means “year” and “gao1” means cake. “Nian2 gao1” is also called “nian2 nian2 gao1”. In Chinese “gao1” also means “high” and “nian2 nian2” means every year. Therefore, “nian2 nian2 gao1”, using the word “high”, it means “one’s life will be better year after year”

“Kai1 men2 bao4 zhu2” (open the door and light firecrackers), this is to say that the first thing to do in the New Year is to open the door and crack firecrackers, because this is the noise that welcomes the New Year.

“Bai4 nian2” (pay a New Year call / wish somebody a Happy New Year). The original meaning was to pay respects and wish Happy New Year to the elders, and the elders in turn would distribute ya1 sui4 qian2 (money inserted in red pockets given as a lunar New Year gifts) to the children. Ya1 sui4 qian2 means lucky money.

It is said that ya1 sui4 qian2 can hold down the evil, therefore, after receiving the ya1 sui4 qian2 the children could enjoy a very peaceful year.

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Handing out ya1 sui4 qian2

Ya1 sui4 qian2 are also called “hong2 bao1” (red pockets) and its distribution is quite interesting.

For instance, if you are married you will receive red pockets only from your father-in-law, mother-in-law, from your parents and eventually from an elder person that is a friend of them. If you have children you may also receive some “lucky money” from you married friends (actually, the ”hong2 bao1” they will give you is for your children, not for you).

You (the married one) should however give “hong2 bao1” to your unmarried friends or to the children of your married friends.

If it happens that you are the boss, a manager, the chef, etc., you may also hand out ”hong2 bao1” to your married and unmarried subordinates (in this case the “money” you receive is meant to be for you).

Well, there are a lot of interesting things related to the Chinese New Year. If you would like to learn more, you may see my next tips.

PHOTOS:

In the first photo you can see the child paying respects to his grandmother by giving her a cup of tea. At the time he hands in the cup he also wishes his grandmother "happy new year", "good health", "good fortune", etc. His grandmother will reply by wishing him good as well and giving him at the same time a "pocket money" (lucky money).

The second photo shows various kinds of "pocket money".

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