Expats mark Spring Festival the traditional way

Spring Festival traditions in China have changed over the years, with some sticking to the old ways of marking the holiday, and many embracing new ways of celebrating.

For the country's expat community, the festival is simply a chance to rest and unwind, with most knowing little about the customs and history of China's most important festival.

But this year, one lucky group of foreigners got to experience what Spring Festival is really all about, visiting the city's Boston International School and spending time with students on Jan 16, as part of a Discover WND event.

The group arrived at the school ready for an exciting day of learning how to make paper cuttings, sugar figurines, and spring couplets –– all New Year traditions, with experts on hand to guide them.

Ru Xiankang, a paper cutting expert, talked the group through the delicate process of cutting their own designs, patiently helping those struggling and ensuring everyone was able to show off something at the end of the process.

The group also benefited from the expertise of Wu Xiaoqun, an expert craftsperson skilled at blowing sugar figurines. She demonstrated making the different shapes of the zodiac animals using melted malt sugar, with the students excitedly telling her their zodiac signs.

While the children were naturally excited by the prospect of sugar, the expats and some of the school's teachers learned how to write the Chinese character "fu (福)" on their own Spring Festival couplets. Couplets with the "fu" character are a must for families during the holiday period.

A couplet is a couple of lines of poetry bearing an auspicious meaning or wishes written in calligraphy on two rolls of red paper. Before Spring Festival, every family hangs a pair of couplets on both sides of their front door.

The group appeared touched by the things they had experienced during their trip to the school, with many comparing it to festival traditions in their home countries.

"I enjoyed the event today. The calligraphers kindly wrote Spring Festival couplets for me that I will put on the wall when I'm back home," said Toko, a Japanese woman in the group.

Yan Chunchen said that the event had impressed her family a lot because they had only moved back from the United States a few years ago.

"This was the first time me and my son had tried making our own Spring Festival couplets", she said. "In America, we celebrated in small groups with other Chinese-Americans, enjoying restaurant meals or making dumplings at home. But back in China, we get to enjoy the national festive atmosphere", Yan said.

Unsurprisingly, some in the group talked about feeling homesick at this time of year.

"It has never been easy being here during the New Year, but this year I was able to come to Boston International School and enjoy a few Spring Festival activities along with some excellent company", said Nadya Febriani, an Indonesian woman.

While most expats will probably not be in China forever, this group can at least say they have experienced a traditional Chinese Spring Festival.