Happy Lunar New Year! Monday, 31 January, marks the beginning of the Year of the Tiger. To help us celebrate, five students from our partner university, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) in China, have shared how they celebrate lunar new year.
Li Haimeng is from Shandong studying for the BSc(Eng) e-Commerce Engineering with Law.
"My name is Hamals, I now live in Qingdao, Shandong province. Qingdao is a city in north China. Before the Spring Festival, we will clean the house, clean the windows and paste paper-cuts on them.
"In the Spring Festival, we usually go back to my grandparents' house and make dumplings and have the New Year's Eve dinner together."
Shi Jiawei is from Shanxi and studying for the BSc(Eng) Internet of Things.
"As a Shanxi girl, when Spring Festival comes,it is the happiest time of the year for me. On the 24th or 25th day of the 12th month, we begin to clean our house which meaning to sweep away the unpleasant year,with a new clean home to welcome the New Year.At the same time,we will tear off the old paper-cuts and put on new ones.Spring Festival couplets should be pasted between the 28th and 30th days of the 12th lunar month,From 5 am to 6 am on the first day of the first lunar month, we will set off firecrackers in our courtyards.In addition, after the New Year worship, people in the village will go to pick up the god of wealth, which means that money is rolling in.Of course, this year is no exception."
Yang Mingye is from Heilongjiang and is studying for the BSc(Eng) Telecommunications Engineering with Management.
"During the Spring Festival，my uncles and aunts will prepare a big New Year's Eve dinner together at home. In their spare time, the elders would sit in front of the TV and watch the gala. In addition, grandma or grandpa would give children red envelopes filled with money. After the New Year's Eve dinner, the family will play mahjong or poker until two or three o 'clock before going to bed. This is the Spring Festival in our family, which is also the first day of the lunar calendar."
Tong Yan is from Sichuan studying for the BSc(Eng) e-Commerce Engineering with Law."I’m Tong Yan, a 20-year-old girl comes from Chengdu, Sichuan. As the most important festival-Spring Festival is coming, I’d like to introduce some customs in my hometown. We usually do a cleaning before the Spring Festival. I suppose that it’s a sense of ceremony. On the New Year’s Eve, we will have a big dinner which symbolize the reunion. And after that, we’ll watch the Spring Festival Gala together. On the first day of the lunar new year, we usually eat Tangyuan or dumplings."
Ouyang Wenzhuo is from Hubei and studying for the BSc(Eng) Internet of Things."Welcome Chinese New Year in Wuhan. It has been 2 years since the coronavirus broke out in Wuhan, I still remember all the people stayed where they were and could not make it to their reunion dinner. But this year is totally different. Everyone can go on the street with family to celebrate. For me, apart from traditional activities like paying a New Year’s visit, my friends and I plan to go to the Oct Eco Wetland Park. As you can see in the picture, I think it’s the best place to see my friends who I haven’t seen for a long time."