A Different Celebration

Chinese people respond to the call to spend the Spring Festival holiday in situ

- Hu Fan

It was the first time for Yao Qiuxin to spend the Spring Festival in a place other than her home and without the pres-ence of her family. Born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province in east China, Yao has lived in Beijing since 2012 when she became a college student there. Like most Chinese, she would come home for reunion each Spring Festival.

Her decision to stay in Beijing during the Spring Festival this year was made after the government called for people across the country to celebrate the festival where they are to cope with a resurgence of COVID19 cases. The Spring Festival travel rush in China is described as “the greatest annual human migration” by media. To reduce the risk of the epidemic spread, Yao felt obliged to do her part.

Like Yao, many people across the country voluntarily answered the call. A State Council statement released on February 10 said that 48 million more people than last year opted to celebrate the Spring Festival where they were, according to a preliminary survey conducted in 36 big and medium-sized cities.

Gatherings with friends

Though no family member or relative in Beijing to reunite with, Yao wouldn’t spend the holiday without a celebration. For the family reunion dinner, the 26-year-old girl paired with a good friend from Shenyang, Liaoning Province in northeast China, who also stayed in Beijing because of the same reason. It would be convenient for them to order takeaways for the Lunar New Year eve dinner, but they cooked it by themselves so that it would appear more ceremonial.