Ball State University's Winter Break ended more than a month ago, but in China its equivalent has just begun. The Spring Festival, commonly known as Chinese New Year in the U.S., occurs Sunday and will set off the Year of the Pig. Unlike their friends and relatives back home, Chinese students at Ball State don't get a vacation and must spend China's most important holiday away from their families.
Instead, the Chinese Students & Scholars Association will sponsor a three-day celebration, beginning Friday. The celebration will include performances, movies and, of course, lots of food.
Still, graduate student Wang Yuli said she missed home during the holidays.
"A lot of my friends in China ask, 'Will you come back home?'" she said. She said she has to tell them she cannot return.
The Spring Festival marks the beginning of the year on the Chinese lunar calendar, starting the night of the new moon and ending the night of the full moon, 15 days later. For this reason, the new year falls on a different date from year to year. The festival also signifies the beginning of the planting season and the period when the weather starts getting warmer. It corresponds with ancient European fertility festivals such as the Celtic festival of Imbolc and the Roman festival of Lupercalia, from which Valentine's Day originated.
The month-long Spring Festival Break began Feb. 3, marking the start of the Chun Yun, meaning "Spring Travel," the period when millions of people returning to their hometowns make it notoriously difficult to get bus, train and airline tickets.
"It's horrible," Wang said. "I have two cousins who study in Beijing, so every time they come back to Chengdu, it's very difficult to buy a ticket."
Chengdu, Wang's hometown, lies in southwest China's Sichuan province. Beijing, the capital, is 942 miles away in the northeast.
"Many young families just bring all their family members," Yang Yikun, president of the Chinese Students & Scholars Association, said. "Other people just sometimes travel to the south of China to enjoy the warmer weather."
Older people prefer to stay at home, Yang said, because they wish to see their children and grandchildren. Wang said the festival serves as an annual family reunion.
"It's very important for all the relatives to get together," said. "It's very important for the beginning of the year."
The meal is one of the most important parts of the holiday. Saturday evening, Chinese will get together with their extended families for a large dinner. In the south of China, the meal will include fish. Fish symbolizes wealth and good luck in the coming year because the word for fish, "yu" is homonymous with and carries the same tone as the word for "more," Wang said.
"We usually eat dumplings," Yang said.
Yang comes from Xi'an, in northwest China's Shaanxi province. Unlike southerners, people in northern China eat dumplings, which carry the same symbolic value as fish because of their resemblance to Chinese gold ingots.
Throughout China, however, grandparents and parents will give children red envelopes, called "hongbao," containing money. Like the fish and dumplings, the hongbao also signify wealth and good luck in the coming year.
At midnight, families will have a second meal to mark the New Year, while Chinese cities will fill with the sounds of firecrackers all night long for the next 15 days.
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