Shanghai Nightlife

Phase of modern life is too commercial to change the way people celebrate the coming Chinese New Year. Shanghai Daily reporters, Ni Bai Xu Yuanjin and identify the changes and analyze how the New Year's Eve tradition of getting lost.


Li Qian reserve a table at a fancy restaurant for five members of his family to celebrate New Year's Eve at a price of more than 1,500 yuan, or about 228 U.S. dollars. This is the 10th year for the Li family celebrated once a year is outside the home.

But former 61-year-old accountant who was admitted to lose the tradition of New Year celebrations are usually done on a decade ago when his family is still simple, yet rich, and meat can be eaten only on special occasions.

"It can comfortably enjoy a dinner before the new year outdoors. But I always remember the hard times when I was 20-something years where food is hard to come by," said Li, who lives in the port city of Tianjin in northern China.

Li was born in 1949, the year when the People's Republic of China stands. He spent 15 years (1965-1979) in Jiuquan, Gansu Province. "It took me three days and three nights to get home after the train ride from the Jiuquan. And I can only do a reunion with my family in the spring festival once a year. Each evening a new year, we enjoy eating with family," said Li.

Li's father died in 1965 and his mother alone deal with her seven children, including Li. As disclosed Li, meat was rationed, half a kilogram to one person per month. Before the New Year arrives, every family prepares a small chicken, fish, some eggs and rice.

"The most memorable memories at New Year's Eve is the night I ate a snack. I am impatiently waiting for wearing new clothes and new shoes," said Li. On the eve of new year, Li enjoyed dinner at a restaurant with her family including her husband and daughter.
Li has ten years of celebrating Chinese New Year this way. In the 1990s, her husband began operating the company. Now the family income in a month more than 30,000 yuan.

In Beijing, many Chinese families experiencing as experienced Li: enjoy dinner on the eve of the new year outdoors. According to the Trade Commission of Beijing Municipal Government, more than 10,000 dinners already booked in advance for New Year's Eve. The number of visitors is predicted to more than 130,000.