The Chinese New Year is coming, and the atmosphere of New Year is everywhere in Jiangsu. The ancient customs for New Year are still very alive and vivid in modern life. Come to Jiangsu to experience comprehensively the strong festivity of Chinese New Year.
Walking a Lantern Show
Nanjing Confucius Temple Lantern Show, also known as Qinhuai Lantern Show or Jinling Lantern Show, is a traditional folk custom in Nanjing. A large lantern exhibition is held at Nanjing Confucius Temple every year between the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival, which is one of the most famous lantern shows in China and the Lantern Festival is climax of the lantern show.
The lanterns here are cleverly and colorfully made to tell the ancient fables. Every year, the lanterns shaped like the twelve Chinese zodiac animals are vivid with novel elements such as lotus leaves, fish and flower bud. The red lanterns make the atmosphere more festive while the other lanterns emit a wonderful glow in the night, adding to the festivity for the New Year.
Going to a Fair
Huai'an Qingjiangpu Temple Fair has always been lively. Chen Xuan opening a waterway, boatmen pulling a towrope, practicing the Han rituals and welcoming the god of flowers…the temple fair has a grand opening ceremony and passes down the traditional canal memories vividly while evoking many people’s memories. The temple fair also has a wonderful display of intangible cultural heritage like silk flowers, porcelain carving, wood carving, velvet flowers, eggshell carving and many other Qingjiangpu folk handicrafts which are diverse and vivid to attract people to stay and appreciate.
When speaking of going to the temple fair, people would think of delicious food. Because the joy of going to the temple fair also lies in the dazzling array of local snacks and the variety of local delicacies that give people a real treat and immerse them in the enjoyment of food.
Taste the New Year Foods
As the Chinese New Year approaches, Suzhou people have long been busy preparing the rice cakes and snacks for the Chinese New Year. Rice cakes perhaps are one of the most festive foods for Suzhou people. The cakes retain the most authentic Suzhou taste, like the soft, sticky and sweet food that Suzhou people remember from their childhood. At the Zhouzhuang New Year's Fair, the freshly made crabapple cakes and glutinous rice dumplings sold by elderly men and women are also very popular.
Besides cakes, egg dumplings and smoked fish are also important in the preparation for New Year. Egg dumplings are golden and like a shoe-shaped gold ingot, which is a symbol of wealth and prosperity, so they are a must-have food in Suzhou people's New Year dishes. The smoked fish is often made from local grass carp, which weighs at least six or seven pounds. When the fish is ready, the New Year is round the corner.
