Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009
CHENGDU, Jan. 25 (Chinese media) -- With red lanterns
hanging from the eaves, the bangs of firecrackers outside, and tables of
delicious food, Chinese people, including millions of quake survivors, observed
the Lunar New Year eve in the traditional way.
In the prefab of quake survivor Hu Suqiong, a dozen
family members gathered at the table on which were traditional local foods such
as preserved ham and sausage.
"I really had not expected that I could celebrate the
Spring Festival with everyone in such a good prefab room," Hu's husband Chen
Ziyi toasted Sunday noon's "reunion" (tuanyuan in Chinese) meal", which take
place among Chinese families on the Lunar New Year's Eve.
The "Qinjian Family" prefab housing area where Hu
Suqiong lives near the downtown of Dujiangyan City has 120,000 people.
Dujiangyang was a worst-hit area in Sichuan Province in last May's devastating
earthquake which left more than 80,000 people dead or missing.
"I feel rather satisfied and
thank all those who have helped me," Chen said.
Four girls rehearse for a show
celebrating the Spring Festival in Pengzhou, a quake-hit city of southwest
China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 25, 2009. Quake zone residents in west
China had made their own ways to welcome the Spring Festival, or the
Chinese Lunar New Year. (Chinese media/Wang Jianhua)
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Spring Festival, which falls on Monday, is the most
important holiday for Chinese. People meet relatives and eat dumplings and
various delicious food. They set off firecrackers to scare off evil spirits.
For Chinese, the year 2008 was both a painful year
and a proud year in which the 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12 in Sichuan
caused huge casualties and damage, and the successful Olympic Games in August
made China a focus in the world.
In Longxi Village,
Wenchuan County in Sichuan, the quake epicenter, 37-year-old Chen Shixue kept his
simple temporary housewarm with an electric heater.
Locals select Spring Festival
couplets at Kangxian County in Longnan, a quake-hit city of northwest
China's Gansu Province, Jan. 25, 2009. Quake zone residents in west
China had made their own ways to welcome the Spring Festival, or the
Chinese Lunar New Year. (Chinese media/Ma Ning)
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Chen said the government offered construction
materials and each family 2,000 yuan to help build the wind and rain-proof
houses made of plastic cloth, straw beddings and wood boards.
Some 90 out of 96 families in the village lost their
homes in the quake. They built the temporary houses to live through the winter
as their new permanent housing has not yet been completed.
Before the winter came, the
government also gave his family seven quilts and an electric carpet to keep warm
in the winter, according to Chen.
Locals perform folk dances celebrating
the Spring Festival in Pengzhou, a quake-hit city of southwest China's
Sichuan Province, Jan. 25, 2009. Quake zone residents in west China had
made their own ways to welcome the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar
New Year. (Chinese media/Wang Jianhua)
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Up until now, 560,000 rural households in Sichuan
have completed the construction of their new permanent housing, accounting for
44 percent of the total number. Another half a million rural families have yet
to complete their new housing, according to the Sichuan government.
The Sichuan provincial government has said it will
try to ensure all quake-affected residents move to new permanent houses in the
new year.
"Grandma, please bless our whole family with a safe
new year," another villager Chen Zhihua said before the tomb of her grandma as
she mourned her on Sunday.
The 32-year-old woman, an ethnic Qiang, said none of
her relatives died in the quake but she lost her house. "We had had too much
fear with the tremors last year; to pray the safety of our whole family is the
best wish for the new year."
In Lueyang County, Shaanxi Province, about 200,000
residents were affected by the Sichuan quake.
Zhang Yueyin, in Guozhenjie Village, Lueyang, moved
to her new house and replaced an old black and white TV with a color one.
"With a government subsidy of 30,000 yuan and 20,000
yuan of bank loan, I built the new house," said Zhang. The villager said her
husband would go to find work in cities shortly after the Spring Festival so as
to return the loans as early as possible.
A man sticks a paper-cut of Chinese
character of "Fu", meaning "good fortune", onto the window at a cafe to
celebrate the Spring Festival in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet
Autonomous Region, Jan. 25, 2009. (Chinese media/Purbu Zhaxi)
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SPECIAL NEW YEAR GREETINGS
On Sunday, more than ten Tibetan residents in
traditional costume in Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, came to Yi
Qibing's barber shop to express New Year greetings.
Yi's shop was looted in last March riots in Lhasa. He
rebuilt it under the help and support from government and ethnic Tibetan
residents.
"It is the Tibetan residents who helped me when my
shop was in difficulties," said Yi, an ethnic Han.
The Tibetans and Yi's family and shop staff held a
dinner together to celebrate the Lunar New Year's eve.
Spring Festival celebrations take various forms in
different places. In the capital Beijing, dozens of temple fairs featuring
cultural activities and folk customs shows began on Sunday.
Chinese President Hu Jintao (C) talks with revolutionary veterans, their descendants,
and local work models in Jinggangshan City, east China's Jiangxi Province,
Jan. 24, 2009, ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, China's most important
holiday for family gatherings. (Chinese media/Ju Peng)
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LEADER'S
VISIT
Ahead of the Lunar New Year, President Hu Jintao
visited the eastern province of Jiangxi on Saturday and Sunday, calling on
revolutionary veterans, model workers and farmers.
Hu said currently the Party and all ethnic groups
in China were striving to maintain a steady and relatively fast economic
development and build a well-off society.
Chinese President Hu Jintao (C) grinds soybean to make bean
curd as he visits a farmer named Wu Jianzhong and his
family in a village of Xiaping Township, east China's Jiangxi Province,
Jan. 25, 2009, ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, China's most important
holiday for family gatherings. (Chinese media/Ju Peng)
Photo Gallery
The country should learn from the people in
Jinggangshan, a revolutionary base of the Communist Party of China, in dealing
with the difficult situation, and turn the current challenges into opportunities
for the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Hu said when
visiting Jinggangshan, a famous revolutionary base where Mao Zedong led the Red
Army to fight against his enemies during wartime.
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