After 16 years, I have finally arrived back at Shijiazhuang for a Chinese New Year celebration with my grandmother and the rest of my extended family. To be honest, I was really nervous. I haven't been back for so long that I barely remember what traditions are relevant for Chinese New Year, especially since all the changes China has undergone in the past 2 decades since I have been away. When I left China, it was quite poor and still firmly fell into the developing country catagory; now, China is an economic superpower and a symbol of new wealth for the rest of the world. Of course, all the traditions would have changed as well.
When I arrived the night before, it was so exciting. Everyone as chatting; remembering their old days. Arranging the menu for the lunch the eve of was a big deal. The number of dishes must be even, but can't be 14 because it's unlucky. Everyone decide don 16 because it's even and it's a lucky number. There must be the right amount of fish, meat, cold dishes, warm dishes, types of dishes.
After that, I checked out the automatic shuffling Mah-Jong machine that my uncle bought. I managed to play with my three uncles and even won a few hundred RMB. Beginner's luck I'm sure and I'm probably going to lose it back the next evening. However, it is definitely much more interesting than cards. Just the table itself is amazing.
When we woke up, the first thing was my family went to my grandfather's tomb to burn paper and pay our respects. Only the sons were allowed to go. The daughters and sons-in-law were expected to stay home and cook the 16 dishes that was ordered the night before. Then, lunch was an intense affair with too much food. Everyone was chatty and excited that we came back for the holidays. After the the afternoon nap, everyone gathered around to make dumplings from scratch. Actually, everyone was delightfully surprised on how good I was at making dumplings (my parents and I did it almost every new year to celebrate by ourselves). Dumplings from scratch are the most delicious dumplings you'll ever had. We had leek and pork dumplings and lamb and cabbage dumplings. This is why I am so skeptic of dumpings in restaurants. Really no restuarant can compare with the Guo family dumpling enterprise.
Evening activities involved setting off all sorts of firecrackers. All my uncles (40 and 50 year old men) seemed like teenagers setting off firecracker and firecracker. Throughout the evening, there was alwasy firecrackers and fireworks in the background. Not a minute goes by without something going off in the neighborhood. Then, promptly at 8PM, the Chinese New Year Eve Celebration Broadcast comes on live on every channel in China and the entire family gather around for the 5 hour telecast. It's a mix of songs, dances, and stand-up comedies. Unfortunately, I have no idea who the new celebraties are and what the cultural jokes meant so it was actually a quite boring event for me. The obvious comedies I get, but the skillful ones, especially the ones that uses cultural references and word tricks are quite over my head.
On Chinese New Year, there's nothing really to do given everything is pretty much closed or closed early. With nothing to do, my entire family would gather around to talk about the old village stories. Really lots of interesting stories from the country-side in China. First of all, it seems that none of my father's sibiling knew that they had a half-sibling still in the countryside. Today was the first time my father told them after knowing for 20 years. My aunt and uncle were dumbfounded.
Then, I was told that in the village days, lots of domestic violence happened. If a guy beats the wife, it's told that the wife's brothers have the right to go make the husband's life total hell, including beating him up. (This is instead of police presence I guess?). Also, I was told that if the son does not perform the proper filial piety for his parents, the uncles have the right to beat him up too. However, the wife does belong to the husband's family and is expected to serve the husband and his parents dutifully.
In the village days, for Chinese New Year Eve and day, the sons would return with his family while the daughters would be with her husband's family. On the Second day of the New Year, the daughters would return to the family to pay her respects. Red packets are expected on the Chinese New Year for those younger than college-age. Even I have to give packets now that my cousin has a son. My first time giving red packets. Man, I feel old now.
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