China Segment

And so it comes again, the beginning of a new Chinese lunar calendar. And with it, fresh gales from the North, as if Siberia itself was bearing down on us here in Shanghai. 春节, Spring Festival, is a misnomer in my opinion. Every year it’s unspeakably cold for this region, and though [...]

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Beijing is going to have a massive celebratory march/extravaganza through Tiananmen Square tomorrow. It happens every October 1st, which is the date that Mao proclaimed the Peoples’ Republic of China. The holiday is a week-long event that most people use to travel. It is called ‘National Day’, the equivalent of Independence Day [...]

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So of course I should be celebrating, and I remembered this year, but Canada Day just isn’t quite the same when you’re overseas. And few of my friends in Shanghai are Canadian. Almost all are (shivers) United States of American. They diligently poke fun of the day when we quietly walked away [...]

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Lantern Festival is the traditional end to the 2 weeks of Lunar New Year festivities in China. These days, the official holiday is only a week, so for most people the Lantern Festival is a bit of an afterthought. Here at China Segment, we fully believe in promoting all holidays (except the lame [...]

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Aside from harsh liquors and odd foods, some old-fashioned Chinese drink my wife calls 糖水 (tǎngshuǐ), literally ’sugar water’. While that is a fairly lame name, it is accurate. The drink is merely boiled water, a generous amount of sugar, and a few Chinese dates. Chinese dates (红枣 hǒngzăo) are not bad, [...]

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The other day I was talking to a friend here. She’s not going home for Spring Festival. She can’t afford it.
It’s not the train ticket that she can’t afford, or the time off work - every business pretty much shuts down over the break, save for restaurants and hotels. She can’t afford [...]

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Literally millions of people in large cities like Shanghai and Beijing are going back to their home towns for Chinese New Year (otherwise known as Spring Festival 春节 chūnjíe). Some of them are seasonal workers, but many of them moved here years ago, got married and have a kid, but the requirement to go [...]

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I’m pumped about my 2009 calendar. It’s a combo of the traditional Chinese lunar calendar and the Gregorian calendar. There’s a lot of color and though it was produced with a kind of corporate art with ads, any corporate material is minimal and the only odd part is the recipes for dishes that [...]

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I’m not sure why the Western All Souls Day and Halloween are way back in the middle of fall, but the winter solstice, being the longest day of the year, seems to be a better day for the dearly departed to haunt us. The Chinese believe that on this day, you should go home [...]

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Well it looks like I’m gettin’ off my duff this year and going to a true ex-pat apartment that’s being house-sat by a friend for a real Christmas dinner. We’re roasting lamb, vegetables and potatoes as the main feature. Birds (as in turkeys) are hard to come by here, and we’re dealing with [...]

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