Traditional New Year celebrations in Shenzhen

Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

BEIJING, Jan.22 -- Money is tight, so with the

Chinese New Year holidays approaching, how can you get the most entertainment at

the least cost? Joining traditional Chinese New Year celebrations is your best

bet.

In Shenzhen, there is a lot more to traditional

celebrations than just lion dances and firecrackers, although these two

venerable traditions are integral and highly visible.

We've put our heads together and come up with a list

of things costing little that still give you a sense of traditional New Year

delight and will keep the whole family entertained.

Taste a basin of goodies:

big basin dish

On Feb. 9, the Chinese Lantern Festival, Shixia

neighborhood community in Futian District, will prepare an outdoor dinner party

with the traditional Cantonese dish called the big basin dish (dapencai). Since

ancient times, the people in Guangdong coastal areas have followed the custom of

eating big basin dish on the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of

the first lunar month.

The dish consists of 15 courses, prepared with a big

wok heated with firewood. As to what the actual ingredients are, there are no

hard and fast rules. The Cantonese are known to serve the basin with expensive

seafood like abalone, scallops, dried oysters, mushrooms, duck, chicken meat and

ham. Other versions could include ginseng, dried eel, fish maw, prawns and bean

curd.

The main difficulty preparing this dish is not in the

cooking, but in the presentation. Every ingredient has to be layered and stacked

properly. Chicken and duck meat are usually placed on the top, implying that

birds return to the nests. Those in the know, however, will scour the bottom

where the gravy trickles over the ingredients.

It's said that dapencai was invented when Mongol

troops invaded the central China about 1,000 years ago. To feed the fleeing

emperor who escaped to Guangdong, the locals collected all their best food

available. After cooking it, they put it in wooden washing basins because there

wasn't a bowl big enough for the army, coining the term pencai (vegetables in a

basin).

Dapencai is associated with events that unite the

entire community. It is a symbol of cohesion, indicating everyone who eats from

the common dish are equals.

Best of all, the basin meal can be eaten over several

days. Sometimes the more it's simmered, the tastier it becomes as the

ingredients blend together absorbing the rich flavors.

Enjoy the fish lantern

dance

From Jan. 26 to Feb. 9, the Yantian Neighborhood

Community will celebrate the New Year by performing the fish lantern dance. The

dance, originating in the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the early Qing

Dynasty (1644-1912), was introduced to Shenzhen in the 18th century. It was

usually staged at night during traditional Chinese festivals to celebrate the

fishing catch and to pray for future good luck.

The dance is related to the ancient sea culture

worship in the coastal regions of Guangdong and Fujian provinces. Shenzhen's

seafaring past can also be traced to sculptures and temples honoring Matsu, the

heavenly empress who protects fishermen.

Dancers hold candle-lit lanterns in the shape of sea

carp, shrimp, turtles and crabs as they dance traditional steps based on Chinese

martial arts. Traditional Chinese instruments blare out their ancient music,

highlighting the fishermen's courage in overcoming natural dangers and

pirates.

Even with the protection of Matsu, the fish lantern

dance was a dying tradition, but since 2003 the city government has allocated

funds for the dance, and many young people in Yantian District have become

dancers performing it.

Take in Nan'ao grass

dragon dance

On the night of Jan. 27, the second day of the Lunar

New Year, residents in Nan'ao in Longgang District will perform the grass dragon

dance, which has a history of more than 300 years.

Legend has it that Matsu, the goddess of the sea,

told people in Nan'ao that waving a grass-made dragon during the second night of

the lunar year would bring favorable weather for harvesting. Since then, the

fishermen of Nan'ao have been fashioning grass into the shape of a dragon every

lunar year.

While dancing with the grass dragon, they also set

off fireworks. The grass dragon is then ignited and burnt to ashes to ensure a

calm sea and a good harvest of fish and shrimp in the coming year.

Nowadays, the grass dragon dance is a traditional

Spring Festival folk ritual among Nan'ao residents. The grass comes from the

mountain in Nan'ao, cut on the second day of the Lunar New Year.

Celebrate Kaiding

Festival in Shekou

On Feb. 7, the more than 750 families from Yu'er

community in Shekou will celebrate the Kaiding Festival, an outdoor community

party that dates back to the Yuan Dynasty.

The Kaiding fest was originally meant to celebrate

the birth of boys (ding in Chinese) and was attended only by males in the past.

Today, baby girls are also included in the celebration as the concept of gender

equality has become widely accepted.

During the festival, village residents prepare a dish

called kaidingcha, made from a variety of ingredients, including shrimp, squid,

scallops, chicken, sausage, peanuts and vegetables.

Each household prepares around 100 bowls of

kaidingcha on this day to treat friends, relatives and, sometimes, curious

visitors.

Residents from Yu'er community believe that the more

people they entertain with kaidingcha during the festival, the more prosperity

they will enjoy in the coming lunar New Year. On the other hand, those who eat

more bowls of kaidingcha will be blessed as well.

This year's Chinese Lunar New Year falls on Jan. 26.

The festival in China is like Christmas in the West.

In essence, the Chinese New Year means spending time

with family, giving gifts and all important food feasts.

For local Chinese, New Year festivities usually last

15 days.

(Source: Shenzhen

Daily)