Preparing for Chinese New Year

The Chinese love festivals and one of their most popular festivals is Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year (the lunar new year).

This year the festival is in January - and it is the year of the Ox. I was surprised to see so much celebration for Christmas, and there was much decoration, but by Boxing Day, the decorations were being changed. In fact on Boxing Day in Hangzhou we saw the first of the red lanterns being put up in Hefang St.

In the last couple of ways stores have been transformed and in the supermarkets in particular great displays of food and gift items have appeared. These supermarkets are busy at any time, but as folk buy their stores for the Spring Festival it seems crazy.

Just near the checkouts were huge piles of cartons of items ready to be put on shelves - as soon as the shelves are cleared, they are filled up again.

I heard in the media that sales are up on last year, despite the economic downturn. I suggest the Chinese are going to have a great festival in 2009.