Anshan, New Year

Well, the most important event of the Chinese Festival Calendar is here and everybody is having a great time. People are moving from, and too, every destination possible in this huge country, (the railway system here is excellent, if not as comfortable as we like) maybe hundreds of millions are moving around during this holiday festival. I have experienced a Chinese New Year in Singapore, but, in this small (by Chinese standards) town of Anshan (3.5 Million approx) it is incredible. The family atmosphere, visitors coming from everywhere, the endless fireworks and food is something to remember and learn from. It is my second Spring Festival in Anshan and it is much warmer this year, two reasons – it is later this year (New Year or The Spring Festival is controlled by the Lunar Calendar) and it is a much warmer winter this year. (They all talk about global warming here all the time, and are worried about the environment). Shopping is crazy at this time of the year, if you can believe it can get any crazier than other times of the year – I hate shopping, but it is very cheap here. But one of the extra events for me has been listening to the New Zealand Cricket Team beat the Australians this year, which has been quite a humiliation for Australia. Internet broadcasts are wonderful and I thank Radio Sport New Zealand for keeping me in touch with sort from New Zealand.