When I go to Kentucky Fried Chicken is China and Taiwan, I'm usually asked, "Do you want fries with that?" However, it appears that KFC customers in China can also get a handsome delivery boy with their value meals, according to Digital Journal.
During the Lantern Festival, young children carry small candlelit lanterns and take walks with their families. Colorful lanterns, typically red, are hung outside the home and many cities including Taipei and Nanjing host Lantern Festivals with elaborate lantern displays. A fun pastime is solving riddles that are written on lanterns. In Pingxi, Taiwan thousands of lanterns bearing handwritten messages and wishes are simultaneously launched into the night sky during the annual Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival.
During my trip to Beijing last week, my friends couldn't seem to stop using their phones to send voice and text messages. I asked what app they were using and they introduced me to Wei Xin, one of the best apps for iPhone and Android I have come across.
Wei Xin is a free app in English or Chinese that allows users to send and receive instant text and voice messages for free and includes a bunch of other interactive features. Wei Xin was created by Tencent, the company behind China's popular QQ messaging service. While I have just started using Wei Xin, I must admit it can be quite addictive. Learn about Wei Xin and where you can download it for free.
Ever wonder what happens to unwanted Chinese New Year gifts? Brokers in China are buying up Chinese New Year gifts that recipients don't want and selling them at deep discounts to revelers who need gifts for Chinese New Year, which ends Sunday. I guess it's not the thought that counts after-all.
Re-gifting - the fine art of giving away a present that has been given to you - is apparently popular in China or at least getting a bargain is on those obligatory Chinese New Year's gifts that must be doled out when visiting relatives and friends. While most Chinese give red envelopes in lieu of gifts, it is good etiquette to bring a small gift, like an orange tree, liquor, or food, when visiting friends and family during Chinese New Year.
Chinese New Year revelers continue to celebrate the New Year with copious amounts of fireworks which continue to light up the (surprising) clear skies over Beijing. Since arriving in China's capital on Wednesday, I have heard and seen fireworks going off for most of the day and night.
In addition to launching fireworks, many Chinese are attending temple fairs, which are held at temples in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan during the first week of Chinese New Year.
At Dongyue Temple in Beijing, hundreds of people gathered Friday to eat snacks like yangrou chuar (spicy grilled lamb on skewers), nian gao (a light yellow, spongy New Year's cake made from rice), and tanghulu (candied strawberries, tomatoes, and other fruits on skewers), buy New Year's decorations and trinkets, and watch lion and dragon dances. Some worshippers also paid their respects to their ancestors at the temple.
No matter what you are doing to celebrate Chinese New Year, I hope your Year of the Dragon is off to a great start.
A video of a Mainland Chinese girl being scolded by locals for eating noodles on a Hong Kong subway train last week has gone viral, bringing attention to mounting cultural tensions between Mainlanders and Hong Kongers.
The incident highlights what some say is a growing culture clash between Mainland Chinese and residents of Hong Kong, a former British colony that was returned to China in 1997. Comments by a controversial Peking University professor have only intensified the tensions, according to the Taipei Times.
The Year of the Dragon is officially here. Revelers in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan ushered in the Chinese New Year with dumplings, fireworks, and rounds of mahjong. Chinese New Year Eve kicks off 14 days of revelry, which concludes with the Lantern Festival February 5. Learn how to wish your friends a 'Happy New Year' in Chinese.
With four days left until Chinese New Year, it's time to clean up your home and office. Thursday is the day to thoroughly clean every nook and cranny. Be sure to finish your cleaning with a good sweeping because sweeping and cleaning are among the activities to be avoided during Chinese New Year. Be sure to sweep toward the front door to ensure more luck in the New Year.
Once everything is clean, it's time to decorate with Chūnlián (春聯), spring couplets with auspicious words, and other decorations like mini firecrackers and gold ingots.
Chinese New Year is fast approaching and there are many activities that need to be done before Chinese New Year's Eve. Today is the day to go to the flower market and buy flowers for the upcoming two-week holiday. In Hong Kong, children who are doing poorly in school are taken to walk around the flower market. Through the practice of Mai Lan, it is believed the children will no longer be lazy and work harder in the New Year. Flowers are bought to not only decorate the home but to help unmarried people find lovers or welcome prosperity in the New Year.
Taoist priests perform the ritual of making sacrifices to the kitchen god at Town's God Temple on Jan. 18, 2009 in Xian, Shaanxi Province, China. Getty Images
There are a trio of important pre-Chinese New Year activities to do this week to prepare for Chinese New Year, which begins Jan. 23. Families across China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are sitting down to dinner tonight and thanking the kitchen god. The dinner an annual tradition in which nian gao, a sticky red bean and lotus cake is served to the god.
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