Well, it's here. The place is swarming with tigers.
Actually nothing is swarming at all. No one has stepped put of their doors today, as is normal. Chinese New Year's Day is very much a stay at home day. China has closed down. All the shops are closed - it reminds me of a Sunday in Scotland 50 years ago, when everything closed - shops, pubs, restaurants, cinemas, everything; even the local parks were locked up.
Tomorrow, they'll start creeping back.
In the meantime, I was slightly taken to task for suggesting that 粽子 (zòng zi - sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves) are a New Year Food. Friends from Hunan, Xi'an, Beijing and Shanghai all told me that 粽子 are only for Mid-Autumn Festival and therefore I was wrong.
No. I. Wasn't.
True, they are not traditional in most of China, but here in Guangxi they are very popular at CNY among some of the ethic minorities, including the Dong, Yao and Miao peoples. They are also de rigeur in neighbouring Vietnam during Tết Nguyên Đán, the Vietnamese equivalent of CNY.
So, instead of being surrounded by tigers I'm surrounded by discarded bamboo leaves which I can't throw out. One of the New Year customs is that no garbage can be disposed of and no sweeping can be done on the 1st day of the year, else you will sweep away all your year's good luck! Wouldn't want that, would we!
