Chinese New Year 101 and the Events / Behind the Scene of 2010's Celebration

Happy New Year! Whooo 2010! But if you have a chinese co-worker or friend, they will soon have their own new year to celebrate.

Chinese new year is like Christmas, July 4th and New Year celebration all wrap into one super holiday for Chinese people. There will be a lot of office parties hosted by chinese people, a ton of fireworks and dragon dancing in chinatown and you will be seeing the color red many times. Unlike the standard Roman calendar, the Chinese New Year changes every year and it depends on the Chinese calendar. It occurs during the month of January, February or March. This year, 2010, will occur on February 14th and it will be the year of the Tiger.

What to Expect
Typically, most American Chinese workers who can afford to take days off will take a mini vacation. If you work at a Chinese business, it is almost expected to have a day or two days off. Most Chinese workers working in a non-Chinese business will take a sick/vacation day. Since this year will occur on a weekend, Chinese people will be off on the 12th or 15th of february or even both days. If you do international business to China or Hong Kong, prepare ahead or have patience. It is standard that people in china take as much as two weeks off to celebrate Chinese new year.

Red envelopes
It is customary for a married and older coworker( 35 +) to hand out red envelopes to their unmarried and youngeer co worker ( under 30). The red envelopes is like a blessing so you may have good fortunes for the new year. They usually contain 1,2 or 5 dollars and sometimes 10 dollars if it is a small work environment. When you receive the envelopes, it is also customary to say thank you and happy Chinese new year. You could try saying it in chinese "Gong Hey Fat Choy." (Try pronouncing it like you would in english)

Chinese speaking people will continue further by wishing good health, good tranquility, and various other 4 syllable phrases. You can try "Son Hey keen Hong." This means good health for the new year. In my own experience, this is the one time of the year that I do not mind people butchering the language to wish someone happy new year. The attempt means alot to me.

Office Party
This is the time of year where there will be a lot of Chinese new year parties. There is going to be a lot of chinese people smiling, being friendly and saying "Gong Hey Fat Choy" over and over and over. This is usually the time where you see chinese people pull out all stops to celebrate. The bigger the chinese company, the more expensive the decoration gets, more guests/employees/clients, more tables and amazing food. Stuff like abalone, shark fin soup, expensive mushrooms, lobster/crab/shrimp, geoducks, dried scallops and even some stuff I have no clue what they are but it is definitely very good and/or very expensive.

For the non-Chinese people, it is true that Chinese people will eat any part of an animal. However, it is quite different when it is Chinese New Year. You should definitely try everything at least once because the food are usually a delicacy and you will probably not experience it again until next Chinese New Year. Don't be afraid to ask what it is but usually Chinese people only know the Chinese name of the food and can barely translate it into English.

Relative/Family Party
For your traditional Chinese new party, it is usually a enormous gathering of chinese people. The bigger the party, the more red envelopes you will be getting ( assuming you are not marry and under 30 yrs old). You should also memorized "Gong Hey Fat Choy" because "Thank You and Smile" is not enough when they hand you a red envelope(s). You will see a lot of red decorations around the house so there is no need to compliment on it. It would be better if you offer to help with something as Chinese new year home dinners are usually home cooked. My parents usually spent 6+ hrs cooking and preparing if they are hosting and the same goes for my relatives too.

Interesting Facts
Before Chinese New Year, many Chinese People will clean everything as much as possible. The reason is that cleaning anything including your hair and body on Chinese New Year would represent brushing/washing off the "Good Fortunes" for the New Year. It is unlikely for Chinese people to wash their hair. They might take a super quick shower if needed.

During Chinese New year, the elder folks becomes super powerful. The older you are, the more influences and what you think is right will always be right. During the other days, Chinese people still respect their elders but Chinese new year is like having an iron grip on everything.

Besides red envelopes, there will be massive trading of fruits and I mean cases of fruit. Chinese people will be buying crazy amount of fruits to give away, especially oranges and pears.

This is the time where the family members massively gossip about everything, especially if they have not seen each other for months or years. The gossip and bickering are truly insane as they talk about literally everything; including themselves and especially, if another family member did not come or could not make it. The noise level is probably on par with a Sunday afternoon lunch at a Chinese restaurant.

All Chinese restaurants will be packed guarentee unless the restaurant is really horrible. Even then, I am sure it will have business. Reservations are already booked months in advance. The quick eats like roast pork, roast duck, soy chicken( the stuff they showcase/hang in the windows) will be completely gone. In fact, there has been more than one occasion where I had to reserve in advance how much of each do I want.