As many people know, we are about to enter the Chinese year of the Tiger. New Years Eve is tomorrow and the official public holiday starts tomorrow and finishes next Friday.
Spring Festival (so called because it heralds the start of Spring and the Lunar New Year) is the biggest and most important holiday in China. Traditionally it is time when families will get together and of course eat. In fact, this time of year is the biggest mass migration on the planet with somewhere in the region of 250 million people on the move throughout China. Plane tickets are in short supply and train and buses are packed as people head back home for the holidays. People have been traveling early to avoid the rush and all week Beijing has been getting quieter as people leave for home.
On New Years Eve families get together to eat and the main food eaten is jiao zi or dumplings (a bit like ravioli). They can be filled with just about anything but usually they contain pork and spring onion or cabbage. The whole family will help make them and will spend all afternoon and into the evening mincing meat and filling these dumplings. Once made they are dropped into boiling water to cook for a few minutes. They are eaten hot dipped in dark vinegar mixed with garlic or ginger. Left overs are usually fried up the next day and are known as guo tie or pot stickers.
This year we will remain in Beijing and will be busy making jioazi come tomorrow night.
A sewing machine is necessary if you want to make clothing for yourself unless your really tiny .___. But given the cost, you would have to commit to a longer term project.