Yuan Xiao in Shanghai

Weather: Cloudy + Windy
Mood: Tired, but Happy

The traditional Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days beginning from the first day of first lunar month. And on the 15th day, it is named Yuan Xiao, which denotes the first day of the year with a full moon. In the past, this day resembled Valentine’s Day when the young men and women would go out into the streets, look at the lanterns, solve the lantern riddles and, enjoy a rare chance to mingle freely with one another.

This year, the family came back to Shanghai earlier than practiced, and got the opportunity to celebrate Yuan Xiao Festival with the rest of the Singaporeans at a dinner function organized by SSBA-SCS in Regent Hotel. Overall, the 10-course dinner was nice enough with Lohei Yusheng, a Chines New Year good-luck dish invented by Singaporeans, being served as the first course. The organizers went round to every table to encourage each to put up a performance, but as usual, being low-profiled Singaporeans, we preferred to be the laid-back observers. Therefore, we ended with free singing performance by several members who no doubt are enthusiastic karaoke goers. (Picture Above: My little girl presenting rose as token of appreciation to one of the member performers.)

Overall, it was a pleasant evening when my hubby and I could catch up on lives in Shanghai with the rest of the Singaporeans. The night finished early at 9pm, and on our way home, we were delighted to catch lots of mini fireworks.

I think celebrating Chinese New Year in China could be quite fun since the spirit of celebration lasted 15 days rather than the short 3 public holidays. Perhaps we might want to try to stay back in China to celebrate Chinese New Year with the locals one of these years. 


Quote from Kids, “Mummy, can we go play outside…..”
..... my dear children could not keep still. Once they finished their rice, they would request to run around. *sigh*