How do young Chinese celebrate Spring Festival?
The Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, has just gone.
As a traditional and the most significant festival for Chinese people worldwide, the forms to celebrate this holiday are never unchanged. Today, it has gradually evolved from an annual family reunion to a time that young Chinese can persue self expression and fulfilment.
Here are some new ways that young Chinese celebrate this traditional festival:
No.1 Winter Olympics make snow sports more popular
The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games coincided with this year's Chinese New Year. To many Chinese, this is the best time to be engaged in winter sports.
In Yunnan, a province lying on China's southern border, people can now enjoy snow sports without traveling to other parts of the country. Meanwhile, parents and children have also shown more enthusiasm for skiing, ice hockey and so forth.
Before the Spring Festival, a group of young ice hockey players aged between 8 and 12 attended a training session under their coach Yang Minran. One father said that his son, Chen Simiao, has an enduring passion for winter sports. Ice hockey allows him to be closer to the ice and snow that he always loves.
No.2 Welcome to new popular travel destinations
What is your first impression of Chongqing? Is it the light rail passing through a residential building? Or the nightscape of surrealist Hongya Cave? And what about Changsha? Will you be lured to this city by its scrumptious local snacks and bubble tea?
Over the past 3 or 4 years, a number of Chinese places have gone viral on social media. Tourists from acoss the country flock to cities like Chongqing and Changsha to try local food, take snapshots before landmarks, and visit one after another bontique shops.
Chinakenken, a local netizen from Changsha, said he had a Spring Festival with traditional and modern elements combined. He volunteered at a temple in the day time, while hanging out with friends to drink at night. "This is how young people in Changsha celebrate their holiday!" Said he.
No.3 More fun brought by online socials
An international gala and cultural exchange event held by the Yunnan Provincial Government was staged online during the Spring Festival.
Chinese New Year dishes from across Yunnan, such as Modeng baba (a local flatbread of Kunming) and Chuxiong's lamb hotpot, were introduced to audiences worldwide via 60 different short videos.
Li Huiye, a Malaysian Chinese, loves Modeng baba and Shuifu burning noodles (a snack from Zhaotong city in northeast Yunnan) in particular. "I prepare New Year's Eve dinner with my family every year. Thanks to these videos, I made a Modeng baba myself this year and shared it with my family."
No.4 “Script murder”, a must-play game for holiday
Li Yuexuan is young man from Tianjin but stayed in Kunming during the Spring Festival. He went to the Yunnan Provincial Museum with his friends on the morning of February 5 to join the most popular role-play game in China at the moment called "script murder" (jubensha).
In this 2-hour game, Li and his friends played roles of detectives to observe, find clues as well as collect evidences. The mystery was eventally solved by them after analysis, discussion and collaborative work.
After the game, Li said: "I've never thought I can play script murder in a museum. It is an incredible experience. I've learned knowldege about the collections and their stories behind. I hope I can play this game again!"
No.5 Pre-cooked cuisines "liberate" you from kitchen
“This year, I just want to try something new from other provinces!” Said young man, regarding to his New Year's Eve dinner. "Instead of taking time to prepare food myself, I decide to buy pre-cooked dishes online this year, so I can start eating quickly."
Since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, more people have decided to enjoy cooked or pre-cooked food being delivered to their homes from restaurants. Statistics from Meituan, China's major shopping platform for consumer products, show that the purchase of pre-cooked food for New Year's Eve dinner increased by 1590% in January.
Online shopping and delivery services have brought cuisines of restaurants to the dinner tables of Chinese families. With less time being spent in kitchens, family reunions are now more enjoyable.
No.6 A craze for China's domestic brands
Compared to foreign ones, many young Chinese consumers have shown a greater interest to domestic brands of China in recent years, from clothes to hats and shoes, and from mobile phones to laptops...
Meanwhile, domestic appliances manufactured by Chinese companies are gaining popularity than ever before. According to one report of Kuaishou, a mainstream video-sharing app, the consumption of domestic appliances soared by 2678.2% during this year's Spring Festival.
Floor scrubber, robotic vacuum cleaner and dish washer are the three items that young Chinese craze for the most.
Airfryer, sandwich maker, skin beauty instrument and oral irrigator have also been purchased by tens of thousands of young consumers. Zhao Xiaonan, a young girl from Beijing, bought a sandwich maker for herself. "It looks pretty, and the sandwiches that come out of it taste just delicious. Love it!" She said.
Trans-editing by Wang Jingzhong, Mo Yingyi and Yang Xuan; photographs from Xinhua, China News Service and The Paper
