Tianjinchronicles: Chinese New Year / Spring Festival (very long)

Chinese New Year’s Eve Celebration

We went with Monkey last night to spend the evening with her family in a celebration of Spring Festival / Chinese New Year. With her father driving, Monkey picked us up at 6:15 on the Evening of Feb 6 to go to their home to have dinner and then partake of the Spring Festival festivities. Just getting to their home was interesting. Monkey referred to where she lived as “my community” several times before we went to her home but I didn’t realize that what she was talking about was literally a walled community with buildings more or less surrounding a central area where people parked their bikes and cars. To call it a central area is a little too organized. I think there are several groups of buildings with several playgrounds and parking areas within the walled area. The buildings are apartment buildings, 6 floors high with no elevators. Some buildings are newer than others.

The Apartments
We went to Monkey’s father’s parents’ apartment first in the same community, about a 4 minute walk from hers. Monkey’s grandparents live on the third floor which is accessible by stairs that run up the outside of the apartments and are enclosed by a wall with windows that open to the outside. Monkey and her parents live on the 6th floor. The stairs in that building are located inside the building as we are used to. Light switches are located on each floor which illuminate the stairwell for that floor but are not on all the time. They are on a timer which shuts off a few minutes after it is turned on. Monkey’s Grandparents apartment is smaller than ours. Really there is no living room, just a very small kitchen, a very, very small bathroom, a dining area and 2 bedrooms, one of which doubled as a sitting room – maybe a total of 500 square feet. The sitting area has a windowed porch with sliding glass doors like our apt on one wall.
It’s really very cozy for 2 people but quickly felt crowded with the number of people there last night (7). I can’t imagine living there my whole life – and really they haven’t, these are probably luxurious accommodations compared to what they had prior to 1976.
Monkey’s parent’s apartment is newer than the grandparents and a little larger. It has an entry way, living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and 2 bedrooms. The bathroom is much bigger than her grandparents, both having the “western-style stool”; the kitchen is out where our little balcony area is in our apartment and is not heated. It is nice, though, stainless steel double sink, nice built in cupboards, very clean, but very small. The floor is the large tiles like in our apt. Monkey’s parent’s home is furnished with really neat stuff. It appears that every item in the living room has been chosen with great care for its artistic qualities. Some items are functional but all are artistic – except the TV and stereo. I took several pictures of the inside of their apartment because I was so impressed with the fine quality and detail of many of the items. They have some very valuable artwork which has been handed down from generation to generation. Monkey’s bedroom is extremely neat and ordered. Both bedrooms have beautiful satiny bedspreads and elegant drapes. There is a desk in Monkey’s room with her laptop, a book shelf with doors and a row of books also across the front of her desk. She shared some gifts that were given to her, an illustrated children’s story book in Chinese and English that she said helped her very much in learning English. An ostrich egg painted by an artist that her father gave her. She did not have a closet but a small wardrobe and chest of drawers. The floor in the living room and bedrooms is wood paneled, very nice. Their apartment is probably about the size of ours. One thing that struck me was the absolute lack of fear or concern that Monkey showed going from one apartment building to the other. In a city of 11,000,000, people are not afraid to go out at night, there is no random violence, city streets are not well lit and people ride bikes among the traffic with no headlights and yet there are no random acts of violence. One thing I noticed is that the Chinese people are very patriotic. They love their country, they are extremely proud that the Olympics are going to be held here in August and they are extremely proud of the progress that is being made in the city of Tianjin. This is not forced; it is very real and tangible.
We had the evening meal at Monkey’s grandparent’s home and then went with Monkey to spend the evening leading up to midnight at her apartment. We were at her apartment from 8:30 or so until 10:30 when we went out to drive around the city and see various sites. About 10:00 PM I got very tired and had trouble staying awake – a combination of the food and the hour I’m sure. Linda never really got tired the whole evening until we got home. I went through a sleepy period and then got a second wind and wound up being wide awake when we got home – stayed up ‘til almost 2:00 AM.

The Meal
When we arrived at her grandparents’ home the table was laden with many dishes of food. There will be pictures.
I’m going to let Linda describe the food, that’s more her strength. Here goes: When we first arrived, the grandparents handed us hard chewy chocolate candy (not dark but good) covered in gold cellophane in the shape of a money pot. The food was on a side table close to the kitchen in many bowls ready to be cooked. We sat for awhile and did the video and were offered orange juice or water. We both took the water which was hot. They did not offer tea. When the food was ready, we all sat around the table and had a toast. They offered wine, beer or alcohol. We declined but took some juice from juju berries – very good. Monkey made us all wait while she followed tradition by offering her parents and grandparents good wishes for the next year. We each were given bowls like what soup is served in at Chinese restaurants. They hold the bowls in their hands, there was no room on the table anyway! The order to eat the food was first the lamb shishkabobs, then pork marinated in garlic, soy sauce and other things. James said they were great. After that the salads and seafood dishes. Everyone either ate out of the serving bowl or took portions into their bowls. Food eventually got mixed in the bowl but it was really good anyway. There was a carrot (not our carrot but tasted like it only green) salad, shredded with jelly fish, shredded red cabbage with some fish, tofu with jellied chewy something that was good, marinated peanuts, bamboo shoots and other veggies, kind of like 3 bean salad, snow peas and garlic, red, green, and yellow peppers with squid. Jim liked the squid, not the jellyfish. The next thing to be eaten was the boiled chicken dipped in a sauce of soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. You just took a hunk and tore it off. Then the dumplings. They kept bringing bowls and bowls of them. Monkey’s mom spent most of the time in the kitchen cooking only to sit to eat after we were all done. We ate those until we were ready to burst, at least Jim and I. Monkey talked most of the time about traditions, etc and that we should relax and that her parents and grandparents were not eating much because they were nervous. The meal usually lasts several hours and people sit and talk about concerns, good and bad things. We just ate until we were full and were done. Woops! The dessert which we ate right before the fireworks was a plate with a fish shape made with rice and candies around it. See picture. The tan ones had a chewy, doughy texture with chocolate like filling. The white ones were made with rice and had crunchy ends and layers of a creamy like stuff and jelly layers. They were good. I did not like the others. We liked all of the food except Jim didn’t like all the fish. Monkey’s mom prepared all of this. Her dad and grandma also helped with the dumplings, though. But one of the things we did after we had been there for an hour or so – during which time Monkey video taped a greeting from us to all of you – was make dumplings. These are traditional Chinese dumplings made with rice flour, egg and water for the dough and filled with a vegetable and pork mixture and then folded and pressed together. They traditionally make half with meat and half vegetarian which worked our well for me. Linda is the blue! We watched them roll out the dough and then tried it ourselves and found it to be harder than it looked. They take a small amount of dough and roll it out into a circle about 3 inches in diameter, then add filling with chop sticks of course from a big bowl, then fold the dough in half and press the sides together to form a tight seal. These are then boiled so the seams must be tight or the contents will leak out into the water. This part was also harder than it looked. Monkey’s grandmother had a very deft touch with both the rolling of the dough and the making of the dumplings. They are a lot like pot-stickers in American Chinese restaurants. These are dipped in a sauce whose primary ingredient is soy sauce and eaten. I ate way too many. So did I. One thing I found out is that it is very difficult for me to eat dumplings with chop sticks. Cooked dumplings are slippery little devils and I haven’t figured out how to get a grip on them yet. I love sticky rice because its easy to eat and its easier for me to get other things on my chopsticks to eat with it. We both dropped our chopsticks once and had to have them replaced.

Afterwards
After eating we Linda and I hung out with Monkey at her apartment for a couple of hours. She showed Linda a bunch of stuff and I mostly hung out in the living room watching the TV presentation of the buildup to New Year and taking pictures of things in their apartment. The TV was on the whole time at both places to watch the celebration that was planned for 6 months. About 10:30 Monkey’s dad called and said we should come over and he’d take us to see some sites in Tianjin close to where they live. Actually, I think Monkey called him to come get us. The first place we went was the Olympic Soccer Stadium. Monkey had her dad stop on the street by a walk leading up to it and we three walked up to it and about ¼ of the way around it. It’s a really magnificent structure in the shape of a water drop. Up close, it is absolutely immense. Even walking around the smoke in the air from all the fireworks kind of shrouded the building and its surroundings in a fog. From the street the outline of the stadium was pretty dim. Smoke was thick in the air everywhere and the noise was deafening at times. There were also explosions of color in the air as fireworks of all kinds were shot up from all different directions. We actually couldn’t believe when she wanted to get out and walk around this place. It was cold and windy out and we were stuffed but it turned out fun anyway. There were a couple of kids that rode by on their bikes when we were out there, unbelievable! After walking around the stadium, we went to the museum of science where there was another fireworks display that was concentrated in one place. All the pictures of fireworks I got were taken there because the battery on the camera ran out while I was photographing there. Then we went back to Monkey’s community for the family celebration of New Year. As the clock counted down to midnight we donned our coats, hats and shoes once more and headed outside. Monkey’s father had a couple of bags of fireworks, nothing too big. He had two long packages of lady fingers, much longer than we get in the states and much bigger lady fingers. He strung them both together and lit one end. It was the loudest longest string of continuous explosions I have ever been close to. Then he lit the two starburst kind of fireworks, and then we lit sparklers and twirled them around until they went out. The sparklers were about 2 feet long. Everybody did those, even the parents and grandfather. Monkey told us that the Chinese like loud fireworks because this frightens the ghosts and evils spirits away for the coming year.
While driving home it was again amazing how much smoke there was in the air. The whole city was shrouded in a thick haze of smoke. Monkey’s parents were so gracious when they dropped us off. Her mother invited us to come back to their house again. She said through Monkey that this was the first time that foreigners had come to their house. Monkey said we are the first foreigners she has guided. It amazes me because of how well she is doing. She is a great teacher. She has lent us a LeHom video (a famous New York born child of Chinese parents who has returned as a great vocal and instrumental artist) to watch and is taking us shopping tomorrow and wants to come to our apartment and cook – she knows how to make sushi. We will compare it to what we make and let you know. We have noted seaweed wraps in the store. She also has friends all over so if we want to travel she will hook us up with her friends. When we left we were given several packages of store bought dumplings that we are unsure of the contents. They went to the freezer until we can ask her. We brought a card of greeting which they liked but are unsure as of yet what the custom is for guests. That is more homework. We hope this is not too long for you. There is so much to share it is unbelievable!
We love you.