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China news tagged with: holiday (16)

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China Marks “Emancipation” of Tibet With New Holiday

To recognize the 50th anniversary of the PRC’s rule of Tibet and the Dalai Lama’s exile, China has declared March 28th to be a holiday that marks Tibetan emancipation. From Jason Subler of Reuters:

China marked its inaugural Serfs’ Emancipation Day on Saturday with testimonials by Tibetans on the merits of Communist rule, denunciations of the Dalai Lama and vows to crush any attempts at independence.

[...]China declared March 28 as an annual holiday in Tibet earlier this year, marking the date in 1959 when Chinese troops took direct control of the government in Lhasa after being brought in to quell an uprising.

In a carefully choreographed ceremony held on a sprawling public square beneath Lhasa’s Potala Palace, the government projected its message that its rule brought an end to a cruel feudal system and has improved Tibetans’ lives ever since.

Xinhua reports on the gala event to celebrate the first Serfs’ Emancipation Day:

A gala was held Saturday in Beijing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the emancipation of Tibetan serfs. Top political advisor Jia Qinglin and other senior officials watched the performances.

The gala, held in the studio hall of the official CCTV, are mainly songs and dances performed by Tibetan artists expressing their joys and gratitude over the liberation of Tibetan serfs in 1959.

Saturday also marks the first Serfs Emancipation Day, which was endorsed by Tibetan legislators in January this year to commemorate the historic changes that took place in Tibet 50 years ago.

Also on Xinhua, “On Serfs Emancipation Day, celebration, recollection, and wishes from across China.”
» Read more
- March 28, 2009 3:52 PM
Qingming, Grave-sweeping Day

Although Qingming jie is an ancient Chinese holiday to commemorate the dead, it was only last December that the Chinese government made Qingming an official holiday. From China Daily:

People are walking to a cemetery in the west of Beijing on Friday, April 4, 2008. The Chinese traditional Qingming Festival falls on Friday this year, which is the occasion for Chinese people to pay respect to past ancestors by cleaning their graves, presenting offerings of food, and burning joss paper. [Xinhua]

Some 600,000 people visited graveyards in the suburbs of Chinese capital Beijing on Friday, about triple last year’s figure of 189,000, according to official statistics.
On December 16, the State Council (cabinet) revised the nation’s official holiday schedule to add three traditional festivals — Qingming, Duanwu and Zhongqiu — in response to public calls. It also changed the length of other holidays.

The holiday marked on Friday was Qingming, or grave-sweeping day.

The change was intended to allow more people to pay their respects to deceased relatives on what would otherwise be a workday like Friday. No national figures on this year’s tomb visits were immediately available.

A citizen mourns her relative in a cemetery in Guangzhou, capital of southern China’s Guangdong Province, April 4, 2008. The Chinese Qingming Festival, a day two weeks after the vernal equinox, is also called the Tomb-sweeping Day, when Chinese people usually mourn their deceased relatives, pay homage to martyrs and sweep the tombs of the departed. [Xinhua]

» Read more
- April 4, 2008 4:50 PM
Valentine’s Day With Chinese Characteristics.

An article in Beijing’s central state-run English daily reveals just how much the West’s most famous Hallmark holiday means to some in China. From China Daily:

“Nowadays, Valentine’s Day is widely celebrated in China, and divorce on this ‘day of love’ could be hurtful,” the newspaper cited Gao Zhi, a judge at the Xicheng District Court, as saying.

“We didn’t arrange the sessions of any divorce cases on Thursday, which is courtesy, rather than a policy,” said Yu Lihua, a senior female judge in charge of divorces at the Shijingshan District Court.

The reason for the practice, according to Yu, is that the majority of the judges presiding over divorce proceedings are young people who take the Valentine’s Day seriously.

Below are Some photos taken on Valentine’s Day in China, via fengniao.com and Daqi.com:

And in another China Daily article, Chinese fall hard for imported holiday of Valentine’s Day:

In the booming eastern city of Wenzhou, young couples rushing to get married on this special day led a downtown registry office to open 30 minutes early on Thursday morning — and to stop accepting divorce applications for the day.

Even old couples want to try the Western holiday: 60 years into their marriage, a couple in Xi’an in northwestern Shaanxi Province decided they, too, wanted to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

The news was published on a local newspaper on Tuesday and by 6 p.m. on Wednesday, about 1,500 people had put up Internet postings, 90 percent of which voiced support.
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- February 17, 2008 11:27 AM
China Falls For Christmas — Reuters and The Christian Science Monitor

From Seattletimes.com:

It was the week before Christmas, and the crush of shoppers elbowing their way past stalls at the Tian Yi market would have been familiar to holiday gift buyers anywhere.

So would the brightly colored baubles, red and gold bows, and strings of flashing lights from which the crowds were choosing: After all, China manufactures more than 80 percent of the world’s Christmas decorations. [Full Text]

A series of photos about Christmas and Chinese people from Getty Image, Daqituhai, and Shanghaiist:

- Read also China Catches the Christmas Spirit by CBN.com
» Read more
- December 24, 2007 11:05 AM
China Juggles Tombs, Dragon Boats and Marx – Keith Bradsher

Plans are underway to solve the national travel crush that now occurs for the holiday. From the International Herald Tribune:

A Chinese government panel announced plans on Friday to revamp the holiday schedule to re-emphasize traditional festivals at the expense of the Marxist May Day celebration.

The new schedule aims to address the severe overloading of China’s air, rail and road links in the first week of May, when virtually the entire country goes on vacation. But gridlock may remain around the two other major holidays ” essentially a week each ” at the Chinese New Year and in the first week of October. [Full text]
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- November 9, 2007 9:29 PM
Slideshow: Golden Week and Passenger Flow

Oct. 1, 2007, marked the 58th National Day of the People’s Republic of China. Three days ago, one of China’s three annual Golden Weeks began and people crowded railway stations for a variety of reasons – traveling, visiting relatives or friends, etc.

Chinese source here from chinesenewsnet.com
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- October 3, 2007 7:28 PM
Giant Ticket Buying Army

It’s a hassle to buy tickets home before Spring Festival. It’s also a hassle to purchase tickets to return to work. In China, the Spring Festival ticket buyers are called “Gou Piao Da Jun”(Giant Ticket Buying Army/Ë¥≠Á•®Â§ßÂÜõ). China Daily published a photo series of the Gou Piao Da Jun; more from the Sina.com:

Long queue outside Taiyuan train station(Top)

Crowds inside of Xi’an train station(Bottom)

» Read more
- February 23, 2007 10:19 PM
Slideshow: “Chunyun (Êò•Ëøê)” Of Chinese New Year

From China Daily and Wenxuecity:

Migrant workers pack into the railway station to board a train in Fuyang, east China’s Anhui Province January 19, 2007. China’s ‘Chun Yun‘, which means travelling during traditional Chinese Spring Festival, kicked off half a month ahead of the official time between February 3 and March 14, which the Railway Ministry predicted would saw a passenger flow of million. The annual train fare hike during the holiday season was scrapped begining this year. [Link1, Link2]

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- January 27, 2007 4:09 PM
Video: It’s OK to eat Chinese food on Christmas

From Shanghaiist: [Link here]

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- December 24, 2006 11:40 AM
The Not-So-Golden Week That Was

Used to be that the domestic headlines from a “golden week” ended with little besides big, bullish numbers: the record-setting throngs of shoppers at malls, the umteen newlyweds tying the knot at mass weddings, the swelling tides of humanity making homecomings and tourist pilgrimages by plane, train and automobile. More and more, though, local metropolitans are keeping count of the underside to all this indulgence. According to fresh reports on Monday, we can credit this year’s National Day break with a rash of terminated marriages and pregnancies…
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- October 9, 2006 9:22 AM
Photo Series: Snapshots of Golden Week – Xinhua

Photos from Xinhua about how people are enjoying, or not, the National Day holiday, also known as a seven-day golden week, where millions upon millions of Chinese tour the country:

Here, a young man jumps over a rail divider between the two ways of traffic around Guanqian Street (ËßÇÂâçË°ó) in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province.

See half a million crowd elbow each other to view fireworks on the bank of the Yangtze River in Wuhan, and tourists inching ahead and rubbing shoulders on the Tiananmen Square to “enjoy” a holiday.
» Read more
- October 3, 2006 10:44 AM
May First crowds – Netease

Now that the May Day holiday is over, take a look at some photos of the holiday crowds around China (link) (via Virtual China).
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- May 11, 2006 8:26 PM
China’s railways carry 103 mln passengers in 28 days Ôºç Xinhua

From Xinhua – English:

More than 103 million passengers were carried by the country’s railways from Jan. 14 to Feb. 10, reported the Ministry of Railways on Saturday.

Beginning Jan. 29 this year, the Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, is a time for family reunions. The Spring Festival travel rush began on Jan. 14 and will be end on Feb. 11.

About 44.9 million passengers used medium-range or long-distance trains, up 9.3 percent year-on-year.
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- February 11, 2006 6:33 AM
Two billion journeys in China’s own great migration – Clifford Coonan

From The Independent Online:

It’s the biggest movement of human beings on the planet – the mass exodus of Chinese travellers to celebrate Lunar New Year with their loved ones in the heartlands and provinces.

Up to two billion journeys will be undertaken in planes, trains and automobiles in a wave of humanity on the move that dwarfs even the annual Haj pilgrimage. Upwards of 120 million migrant workers, students and new capitalists are travelling home to their families to welcome in the Year of the Dog, and China’s transport infrastructure is bursting at the seams.
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- January 27, 2006 9:35 PM
In Beijing, it’s (boom!) New Year – Jim Yardley

From The International Herald Tribune:

At precisely 12:01 on Sunday morning when the Lunar New Year officially ushers in the Year of the Dog, Li Mingying intends to be cowering in her small apartment several blocks from Tiananmen Square. It is at that moment that 12 years of pent-up pyrotechnic frustration will be unleashed here in the national capital.

“I’m afraid I’ll be injured,” said Li, who is 72. “I’m calling some children and telling them not to buy fireworks.”

Fat chance. This year, Beijing becomes the latest Chinese city to rescind a ban on fireworks during the Lunar New Year, the country’s most revered holiday. The bans were instituted because of concerns about injuries, noise, fire and pollution, but public demand has prompted their repeal.
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- January 27, 2006 10:26 AM