11-- Chinese Spring Festival


On January 31st, we decided to have an early supper because we expected to see some fireworks later. I had just put on some dumplings and was heating up some soup, when the doorbell rang. It was Mr Su. He had come to tell us that within a half hour the fireworks would start and they would go for at least half an hour. He also started to tell us a little more about what would happen the following day, and not much later the fireworks began. I quickly went to the kitchen to turn off the dumplings, but forgot about the soup, which burnt to the pot. We're lucky we didn't have our own little fireworks at home.

Now, we have seen fireworks at home, at the Stampede, etc. But this was way different. It wasn't staged and professionally put on. Everyone in the entire county (or country) had bought up enough fireworks to create a lightshow of their own. We watched from the back window first and then later from the front. It seems there was fireworks going off everywhere in the county and for miles around. The entire horizon was exploding in front of our eyes. There were rockets and bombs, flares and starbursts, firecrackers, you name it, of all sizes and colours for 360 degrees around us. This went on for about 2 or 3 hours. Mr Su stayed for the duration and we talked to him and he told us different things. It seems that in the bigger cities the fireworks are not as prominent, as the regulations are stricter. Apparently there is a restriction in Huimin city as well, but obviously, just like the traffic rules, no one seems to pay attention to it. It was quite a show, almost like being in a warzone.

The noise subsided for a couple of hours, and at about 11:30 it started all over again. Again it went on for several hours. Apparently every family invests at least Y100 on fireworks. I'm not sure how much that buys you, but I would bet they spent even more than that. I think I should buy some shares in the fireworks factory.

We watched the TV show which, Mr Su had told us, started at 8:00 and went to 12:30. There was entertainment by the best Chinese performers. Singing, dancing, playlets and skits, acrobatics, all very entertaining. They did a 10 second count down and then wrapped up the show with the less known young artists for the young crowd.

The Chinese tradition is that people will get up very early the next morning and go visit the older people in the buildings around them to pay their respects. We didn't get up too early, and missed the first ring of the doorbell (didn't get dressed quick enough). About nine o'clock, Mr Su rang the doorbell again, and we talked for a while. We needed about a half hour to finish our breakfast and get ready and we would come to meet him.

Once we were ready, we went downstairs to find that Mr Liu and his wife were there. They had wanted to come and see us, but needed Mr Su as a translator, since Mr Zhang was with his family. We visited there for a while, eating watermelon seeds and peanuts. Then we all went to visit the older neighbours. We would go into the apartments and be told to sit on the couch. This usually has doilies or some sort of cloth on it so as not to get the couch dirty. We were always offered nuts, seeds or candies. Some poured us tea. Fruit is also abundant on the tables. We would visit for a few minutes and wish them happy new year. Then on to the next neighbour.

Some of the apartments were quite plain. The ones on the main floor usually have only a concrete floor, no covering. That makes it easy for cleaning, but does make it quite dark and cold looking. Some people don't have bathrooms, they have to use the outhouse out back. But they all have warm, friendly hospitality and their homes are clean and comfortable.

One gentleman expressed deep, intense love for the Canadians because of Dr. Bethune. He is such a hero with the Chinese people, they will never forget him. It's a really special feeling to be Canadian with that kind of reception. We get treated with so much respect, we don't always feel we deserve it.

We even went into Mr and Mrs Liu's apartment. To my surprise it was on the ground floor, but it did have green and white floor tiles and a bathroom with a western toilet. They told us that because of the language problem they couldn't invite us over prior to now. We said we understood. Most people told us the same thing. They would see us outside and say hello, but they couldn't say more than that to us, so they really couldn't do what neighbours like to do here.

One of the old men used to be a Kung Fu teacher and is apparently in charge of Kung Fu in Huimin. He offered to teach us Tai Chi, and I responded that we really would love to learn. I think that will happen now.

After we had visited all the old people in the building, we went back home. Mr Su said that the next day he would take us to see some other people.

The next morning Mr Su came around nine o'clock to tell us that we would go to visit some friends of his who were local artists. We were going to ride our bikes, but mine needed some tire repairs. Mr Su tried to repair them, but finally decided to let me use his wife's bike. We went to one of the homes close to the back gate of the school. This is where we were introduced to Mr Li. What a neat guy, a real artist.

He decided to show us how Chinese painting is done. He laid out his paper, which is a silk fiber paper, on top of the thick felt cloth table covering. Then he put a paperweight at the top of the paper and brought out his paints. They use waterbased paints here, and the colour mixing is done on the brush. The first strokes he did was to show us the different degrees of black they use. Then he mixed some colour, red, green and another colour, on one brush and did four strokes to make a flower. It's really amazing. The silk paper allows just the right amount of bleeding, so it holds the shapes together nicely.

Then we looked at all the work he had done. Mr Su had told us that this man paints every day. His work is hanging all over the house. We were also told that the paper is mounted on the large silk hangings after the paint is dry. It's also a very special process, and takes years of practice. There was a group of the four seasons. They were gorgeous. There were other kinds of scenery and buddhas, you name it. Really good work.

We had tea with them and we were told that he would do a painting for us. He asked if we wanted mountain scenery or flowers and we couldn't make up our minds. So he said he would do both. Later in the day we remembered our favourite, seagulls, so Dick asked Mr Su if we could have him do a painting of that. Mr Su said he would pass on the message. Hope we don't end up with three paintings.

After that we got back on our bikes and headed for the No. 1 Middle School. Mr Su told us that ten years ago he was headmaster there. When we got on the grounds, he showed us the statue in the centre of the square and said he had written the passage on it. So I had to take his picture by it. This man is full of surprises.

We walked past the school buildings to the apartments and went into the apartment of another artist friend of Mr Su's. His name is Mr Liu (they didn't have much imagination when they were picking surnames, I think). Anyway, this was another ex-teacher, like Mr Li. Mr Su used to live next door to him in this very building. So, they have a very good relationship, of course.

First we were shown the painting Mr Liu had done. It was awesome! A strong man kneeling in front of an old woman in some sort of embrace. We were told this depicted a famous story from 108 heroes. The guy (forgot his name) was very strong and for some reason needed to move his mother away from her home. He carried her on his back and started up the mountain. After some time, the mother was thirsty, so he put her down under a tree and went to find her some water. When he got back, his mother was gone and only a pile of bones remained. It seems a tiger had eaten her. Now the son was obsessed with killing the tiger and at some point found himself in a cave and when the tiger backed itself into the cave, he speared it. Apparently he killed quite a number of tigers. I'm not sure if I got it all right, but you get the idea.

Then we looked at Mr Liu's root art. He finds pieces of roots and carves them into shapes. I told him I've always been interested in wood carving, and he said that root art is not the same. I told him I understood that the shape is already there, you just have to bring it out. He showed us the dragon piece on top of the cabinet, which had won him third prize in a national competition. He even brought out the certificate he got for that We looked at a number of other pieces and then saw one on the right. From my perspective it was a hideous creature, sort of like a pig. But then, when you looked at the other side, it was a perfect head of a bull. He called this one "Tragedy in Spain" because he doesn't like the bullfights. I told him I shared that sentiment.

The pieces in the living room were also interesting. A large piece that looked like a large vase or pot was actually a hollow piece of root that he just polished up. The old man in the corner was a root he had found in the school yard. People had walked on it for years, and then he dug it up and brought out a long beard and carved a Chinese face. I believe he called this one "The Beard of Longevity" or something like that. What a great visit we had with this gentleman too, who starts every sentence with a great big grin.

We talked about all sorts of things, and then he showed us the brushes he uses for his painting. The handles are bamboo and the bristles can be anything from goat to cow to pig. Then he showed us a very special one, made of baby hair. Chinese baby, of course. So many neat things to see and learn about.

After this long visit, we started on our way home, but we made a stop. The road along the canal had some history to it, and before we had gone to Mr Liu's place, Mr Su had told us that this is where the old town gate used to be. There were actually two gates, the first one on the south side of the canal, and the one on the north side was part of the wall. Dick had figured the wall would have to be there, because of the canal, or moat, being in that location.

Now we rode our bikes on the north side of the canal, but we crossed a bridge to the south side. There is a tuberculosis hospital there, and some of the buildings would be of interest to us. These were built by the Germans over a hundred years ago. They are all vacant now, but some were still in use for patients up until a few years ago. There is a new Chinese building on the site now, but these old buildings will remain and hopefully be restored. They utilized the typical gray brick of German style, and the architecture is definitely European. Very different from the local styles. There are not a lot of people in this town who are even aware that these buildings are here. Mr Su also told us that these buildings were used by the Japanese during the war as their headquarters. They are on the south of the canal, so would have been outside the old townsite. Amazing things are all over China.

The next day we had been scheduled to go with Mr Liu (headmaster) to visit his father in law. We were to be ready by 8:30 and we were. But I had finally been able to make a phone call home, so I was on the phone when Henry came to the door. He said that we should come to his parents' home. I was a little emotional because of the phone call, so when we got into the car, the cell phone came out and was handed to me. Mr Zhang was asking if everything was alright because I had been crying. I said yes, everything was OK and explained what happened, and handed the phone back to Mr Liu.

We drove out to the countryside and took some little path in between haystacks. We stopped on a rough little road and it seems we were at a graveyard. We were asked to stay in the car (through Henry) and they all got out of the car. They were going to Mr Liu's mother's grave.

The graves are small hills. I'm not sure how they tell which grave it is, although some of them do appear to be marked. We watched from the car as they walked over the field and slipped in between two of the small hills. Then we saw the smoke from the paper that Mrs Liu had been holding during the trip. This is to provide more resouces (it's like money) to the loved one in the spirit world. Then, after the paper was all burnt up, they set off some fireworks. It seems that they set them off to invite the ancestors to come be with them during the festivities. This way they will be able to find their way back to the families. I would have liked to take pictures, but Mr Liu didn't want me to. That's something we know we have to respect in this country.

After the fireworks were done, they came back to the car and we were told that this village was where Mr Liu was born. We drove around some haystacks, and stopped the car. We were going to visit his uncle. We walked on the path and noticed some deep pits out in front of the houses. Didn't know what they were for until we came to some that had pigs in them. Seems the pigs here get two storey condos. One fat pig was sleeping upstairs in one of them. In the next one there were two smaller pigs. They were upstairs at first, but then took the stairs down to the feeding area. It was amazingly without any smell.

We continued to walk on the path around the houses and pig condo's. I noticed how neat and tidy everything was. They keep the paths clean, no garbage laying around. Everything natural is recycled, and of course food is easy to dispose of: give it to the pigs.

We came to the uncle's house, and he greeted us. We went inside and sat down and visited for a short while. Then it was time to go on to the next village.

This was the village where Mrs Liu grew up. They obviously must have met in school. We parked the car and walked down the narrow laneways which were also very clean and tidy. Through the gate and into the courtyard which had a brick floor. The waterwell was in the centre of the courtyard. We were escorted into the house, also with a brick floor, and met the in-laws. Mrs Liu looks just like her mother. We got the royal reception again, sat down on the couch and were fed nuts and candies and fruit. Tea was poured all day long. We visited a good while and met family members and neighbours. I recognized a few faces from school. There was the cook's girlfriend who works in the cafeteria and with whom we had our picture taken along with old Mr Zhang. There was a student from my senior class. One of the grandsons, English name Mike, did the translating for us. He told us he was a PE teacher in the school, for grade 2. I can't say I have ever seen him in the school, but we really don't get to meet all the teachers, just the English teachers. Mike's English was quite good and we had a great visit.

After a couple of hours they decided we were going to go for a walk to the river. The village is close to the Tuhai river and there was a brand new bridge over it. We walked down a path through the farm fields. There were stacks of the cotton plants and corn stalks. We asked what they did with them and apparently the cotton plants are used for firewood. The corn is fodder for the animals of course.

At the end of the farm field we turned right and we could see the brand new bridge. The people were so proud of having a new bridge so close to home, they had to have all sorts of pictures taken on the ledge of the irrigation canal. Then we went underneath. I wasn't ready to attempt the brick steps, so one of the girls took me on another route, under the actual bridge. We ended up at the bottom of the bridge where there was a huge icicle wall that had formed from seepage from the irrigation canal that crosses the river. All the kids, and adults too, had to have pics taken. Then more on top of the bridge. Now we were beginning to feel the cold and it was time to go back.

This whole family, just like all Chinese families we have met, is very close. People touch and hold hands. There is never an unkind word spoken and the kids just don't seem to misbehave. Everyone is kind to each other and quite tolerant of the children. We believe the kids really do learn behaviours from what they experience in the home, because we just haven't seen kids get out of line. Very young ones might throw a temper tantrum, but it's dealt with in a kind manner and usually it's very short lived. We can really learn a lesson from these people about how families should be. They love being together at this time of the year because it doesn't happen all that often. Spring Festival is really about families reuniting and being there for each other.

Once we got back to the house, we were told to sit down because it was lunch time. A little while earlier, when we were at the daughter in law's house, the school cook had come in and gave us his handsome smile. After a lot of the food had arrived on the coffee table, he came into the room and joined the group of men who were eating with us. His face was quite red, so I'm guessing he just came out of the kitchen.

None of the women were eating with us, as a matter of fact, they were only having snack foods. I'm not sure if they were going to have their meal later, but I never saw them eat.

The food was incredible. A lot of meat dishes were served first. Obviously it is a sign of prosperity and a way to show hospitality to the guests. We had chicken and duck, a kind of ham sausage, mutton and large prawns, the list could go on. Vegies also were in abundance. They poured the white "wine" and I had a small sip of it at the first toast, but I expressed how it hit my stomach like a bolt of lightning, so they brought out the red wine, which is quite sweet and probably not really wine at all. I opted for that, and they opened the bottle and served me a large glass of it. That made it easier to get through all the toasting, which included Dr. Bethune, thanks to Dick.

After we had gorged ourselves on all of this food, the dumplings started appearing. Not just one plate, but at least eight or ten of them. We ate as many as we could handle, having had way too many during the past couple of days.

Now completely sated, we visited for a while and then it was time for the family picture out in the courtyard. The usual shuffle to get all the people organized so they all fit into the picture. A number of shots were taken, including one with our camera, of course.

They are always very concerned about our health and never want to tire us out too much. So now it was time to go home so we could rest. It had been quite a day, we got to experience a real Chinese New Year, family style.

They were right, we were tired. We got a good rest, and knew that the next day Mr Su wanted to take us to visit another friend of his, also an artist. But fortunately, the man was busy that day, so we got a rest day amid all the festivities.

The following day we received a phone call from Aaron. He and Melanie wanted to come visit, and Dick said that we hadn't heard about our potential visit with Mr Su and his friend, so we invited them over. They came by bike and brought another friend, a girl who goes to Binzhou university, by the name of Tracey. She had very good English, and obviously had an Australian teacher because she kept saying "ye-eh" with that ozzie accent. Aaron told us that he had seen us on TV. I replied that we had tried to find the newscast, but weren't sure which channel to watch, so we missed it. Then we showed them pictures on the website and then some of K-country. We talked about some of the animals shown on the site, since wild animals are not abundant in this area.

In the midst of our little session, Mr Su rang the doorbell, and apparently we were now expected to go visit his friend. I spent a little more time with our young friends, but then Mr Su explained to Aaron in Chinese that we were going to see someone who plays the Erhu. The kids understood and prepared to go back home. It was a fairly short visit, but a good one nonetheless.

We got our shoes and coats on and I mentioned to Mr Su that I was out of disks for the camera and would like to buy some. He agreed and we got on the bikes (me still on his wife's) and proceeded towards downtown. We stopped at the bookstore to see if they sold disks, but they didn't. Then we went on towards the computer store that we usually go to, but when we got to the corner, we could see the garage door had been closed over their regular doors. They were still on holidays.

So, Mr Su looked for another shop that might help us, and a bit later he spotted another bookstore. He and Dick went inside while I stayed with the bikes. They came out with a partial box, seven disks, but that would see us through for a few days at least. We continued on our bikes and went to visit another Mr Li. We were told to bring the bikes into the courtyard and then walked through the sunroom which was filled with plants and flowers, into the living room, to visit this really interesting man.

The first thing I noticed was the furniture. The sofa was wood, and had carvings on the upright part. It was quite ornate and I fell in love with it right away. He has collections, just like we do. He has old fashioned Chinese tea pots, something I can relate to. Some of his vases are from the Qing dynasty. And then he brought out the Chinese medical books. Apparently he had started out studying medicine as a young man, and he acquired these textbooks that were printed several hundred years ago, but the text dated back over 2000 years. There were some scribbles in the top margins that were apparently noted by the medical students of the ancient doctors, and these were printed as part of the textbooks. What a piece of history we were holding in our hands!

This man was also a painter and a calligrapher. I put one of the newly acquired disks in the camera, but got a format error. Tried all the other disks, same thing. I must not have been very awake at this point, because all I would have had to do was reformat them, but I didn't think of that, so I couldn't take any pictures. A shame, but the Chinese people always come to the rescue. They used their camera and will probably give us copies of the pics.

Mr Li played the Erhu for us. Actually he had two different kinds. The first one is called the jinghu, and it is a lot shorter than the other one. It has a very high pitched tone, very whiney, and this is the instrument used in the Beijing Opera. The other one, a longer necked two string violin, had a much more mellow tone to it, and is an octave lower. He played some short songs, and then proceeded to do some calligraphy for us. Talk about multi-talented!

The calligraphy is done on the same kind of paper as the paintings, and they also use brushes. The brush is held high on the stem, and the artist does not touch the paper. Mr Li took some time to judge placement and spacing, and then proceeded to paint four characters for us. He applied his signature seal and also another one which is a message of good luck or something like that.

Next the other man, a younger one (not sure of the relationship), also did a verse for us, but this one was in a more ancient writing style. It was a famous poem, we were told. Both of these pieces were given to us. Can you imagine a more meaningful gift? We also received one of the mounted pieces of calligraphy that he had done previously. It's just unreal how generous these people are with us. How can we ever repay them?

The following day we decided it was time to look at electronic pianos. Dick hasn't had a chance to practice his music for many months now, and he really needed to have something. We had seen several keyboards in the bookstore, and figured that since the new year had come and gone, the prices might be reduced. We still had the information sheets that Dennis had gotten for us which showed a suggested retail price. This would help us negotiate a deal.

We didn't want to appear too interested, so when we walked into the bookstore, we looked at some other stuff first. Then we went over to the Yamaha model that Dick had spied before and figured would be a good instrument to get. We managed to get one of the staff to plug it in for us so he could play it, and it sounded just like a grand piano. Now we brought out the info sheet and told them we would pay the s.r.p., Y2350, not the Y2600 that was on the ticket. The young man went over to the counter and did some figuring, and came back to tell us we could have it for that price. The stand was another Y40. So, we told them we would come for it tomorrow, because we needed to get some cash from the bank. No plastic here.

On the corner outside the bookstore there was a kite salesman. We decided it was time that Dick had another toy, so we bought a big eagle kite. He tried to fly it when we got home, but it keeps diving to the left and obviously needs to be balanced. But it's quite a work of art, all bamboo construction with printed cloth attached to it. It even has talons that come off if it lands too hard, we discovered.

The following day we made our way to the bank and then paid for the piano. The young man helped us strap it to Dick's bike, and I carried the stand. The only problem is that he had forgotten to pack the power supply in the box, so we had to come back after lunch to get that. It wasn't a problem, though, the girl recognized us and handed it to us without any need to talk.

That afternoon Dick played with his new toy, the piano, and learned a whole bunch of things it can do. It is really an advanced piece of technology and will be a good thing for us to have even at home. And it's much more portable than the grand piano!

Melanie phoned that afternoon to invite us to her family home for lunch the next day and we gladly accepted. She and Aaron came for us with a car in the morning and took us to her home. Small villages seem to surround the actual city of Huimin, and Melanie lives in a village on the east side of the city, actually on the same street as the Western restaurant. While we were in the car, we noticed a lot of firecrackers being set off and Melanie told us that because it is now the eighth day of the new year, the businesses are all opening and this is how they invite their customers. It also helps them wish for better profits this year.

Her family lives in a new building, and their living quarters are upstairs. There are jujube trees in the yard, but of course they're pretty bare right now. Mr Su had told us previously that a building like that would cost Y100,000 to build. I'm kind of thinking now that Mel's dad owns this building and leases the land from the government. The Chinese can't own their own land, they get the use of it for a certain number of years, anywhere from 30 to 70, and this is transferred to the family should the father pass away.

We had a wonderful visit with Mel and Aaron as well as some cousins that came for short visits. The two mothers were in the kitchen cooking up a storm. We were fed nuts and fruit and candy while we were waiting. Lunch was extravagant again, but this time we had a choice of "food" and we picked rice because Dick's stomach hadn't completely settled from all the dumplings of the previous few days.

After lunch we went for a walk to look at the orchard. The trees in the yard next to the house were seven years old, but they might have to be uprooted because the lot is slated for more construction. The actual orchard is about one or two km away. We walked to the intersection at the highway, where there is a new electrical plant under construction. Apparently there will be heat for people's homes generated from this plant. Then we turned right and walked along the highway a bit. The orchard was a couple of properties down. We went onto the land and Melanie told us that the trees are only two years old. Not sure if that's the actual age or if they were transplanted two years ago. These are a special kind of fruit called Winter Jujube. It's a special kind of jujube (or Chinese date) that is specific only to this province, as a matter of fact only two or three counties in this region. It has very high nutritional value and at one time was only for the emperor's consumption. Lowly subjects who ate of it could be punished severely. As usual I took way too many pictures, and we walked back. I was invited to come and see the blossoms in the spring and told Mel that I really wanted to see that.

On the way back we spotted twins and I asked Melanie some questions. We have known for some time that there are government restrictions on family sizes, so she explained it for me. If a family has twins, they are not penalized, it is considered one birth. A family can have two children if the first one is a girl, but there have to be six or seven years between them, unless they are from a small rural village. It explains a lot for me, because I do have students that are brother and sister who are only one or two years apart. I also have students who have two boys in the family, but that may be a situation where both parents are only children. Not sure about that one yet.

Mel's dad gave us one of the boxes that are used for packaging the winter jujubes, and apologized that there wasn't any fruit in it. But I figure the box is going to be easy to take home, the fruit won't. It also had English writing on it, with the nutritional information according to the Beijing Yingyangyuan Research Institute. A healthy little trinket indeed. Melanie did tell me that they don't dry this jujube like the regular ones, which makes them appear and taste like dates. They eat this one fresh. The regular jujube has meat like an apple, so I think these might be more like a crabapple, only they are purpleish red and have one large stone.

Then we were introduced to the newest member of the family. Mel's brother, who lives in the same building with his wife, has a three month old daughter. Her name is Meng Meng (pronounce it mung mung). She was adorable, but didn't think the same about me. I got a few pics of her, but smile she wouldn't.

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