Goodbye Year of the Pig, hello Year of the Rat. Celebrations will be in full swing across China on the night of February 6th as the new year is ushered in and the Spring Festival begins.Beijing's parks are a focal point of these celebrations and tens of thousands of people will visit them every day for several weeks strolling around, enjoying the decorations, eating, drinking and playing games at the fairground hawker stands that will be set up.
Ditan Park, in the centre of town, is one of the city's prettiest parks. It was built in the 1500s as the Temple of Earth and at its centre is the square, moated altar that was used for the emperor's sacrifices. It hosts one of Beijing's best temple fairs during Spring Festival but we strolled along its nearly empty paths this weekend to watch the decorations going up. Thousands of red lanterns are used to decorate the park and gangs of fearless workers scrambled up the tall trees to place them.
'Year of the Rat' doesn't sound nearly as cuddly or friendly as Year of the Pig. But in Mandarin the word for rat and for mouse are the same - 鼠 (shǔ ) and, I guess, we have a better image of mice (Jerry) than rats (Pied Piper)
Posts
