Xin Nian Kuai Le!

The lunar new year is arriving and with it Bri and I must prepare today for a bit of isolation.  Most stores will close until Monday when things will slowly start to reopen.  The city won't really be back to life for about a week to ten days.  Our first holiday in Shanghai was the Autumn Festival in 2011.  That is a shorter holiday with less theatrics.  I'm split today between excitement to see the fireworks tonight and anxiety of how Benton will handle them.  We've heard that tonight and Monday night will be the big nights and the sound will resemble artillery fire lasting hours.  Our local friend told me, "Your son was born in China, he is Chinese and will not mind the noises".

At home we think things close down for Thanksgiving and Christmas but it really doesn't compare to Shanghai where there are so many migrant workers.  Many business won't have even have most of their employees.  It will be quite eery the next few days, streets normally packed with traffic will have a lone wandering car, finding a cab will be tough and before we go anywhere we'll have to check to be sure that business is open (most likely, we won't go anywhere :). 

I really like the fact that the city shuts down for so long and people go home.  I'm sure it costs the Chinese economy billions yet it is embraced by the society and their culture.  The only option of things to do is spend time with family and friends.  Sometimes the distractions of other things just get in the way and the limited number of options help people get a better perspective of what is important.  I wish we had something similar in the US. Why break for day? Break for a week!

In case you're interested, Xiao ma heads to Nanjing tonight to see her sisters.  They're only an hour away and she and her family already have tickets.

This is an interesting article discussing the migration home for so many workers.  There is photo journal of one Beijing migrant workers trek home and a video with a really neat graphic of the train system in China.  Hope you enjoy.  Xin nian kuai le! 

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/29/world/asia/china-new-year-migration-mckenzie/index.html?hpt=hp_c1