Important Chinese festivals for foreigners teaching in China
After foreign teachers come to China, they will inevitably come into contact with some important holidays in China. Here is a brief introduction of some important Chinese festivals for those foriegners who want to teach english in China so that you will have a good time there.
TOP 1: Spring Festival
The status of Spring Festival in the Chinese people is tantamount to Christmas in the eyes of Western foreigners. It is the most important holiday. Foreign teachers had Christmas, which is divided into Christmas Eve and Christmas. Coincidentally, China’s Spring Festival includes New Year’s Eve and New Year. The Spring Festival and Christmas have the same meaning of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new. It is a festival of national joy. If foreign teachers had a Spring Festival in China, they would eat the delicious dumplings during the Spring Festival and hear the sounds of firecrackers (in order to protect the environment, some cities in China prohibit or limit the firing of firecrackers for a long time) and watch many customs like New Year couplets, etc. In addition, foreign teachers will spend the New Year Eve with Chinese friends together. Foreign teachers will also see traditional Chinese programs such as dragon dance and lion dance ,stilts and paddle boarding. It can be said that if the foreign teachers want to enjoy the purest traditional Chinese culture, then to spend a Spring Festival in Chinawill be a very good choice. There was a case before. A foreign teacher found a job in a university and would start in March. He has got the work visa and just need to book the flight. But he insisted that he wanted to come on New Year Eve and asked the school to pick him up at the airport, otherwise, he wouldn’t come. We explained that Spring Festival is the most important festival in China and families from all over the world will come back and spend it together. It’s not impossible for schools to leave their families and pick you up at the airport. If someone asks you to work on Christmans, are you willing? Finally, the teacher understood and decided to come on 1st March. So for those who are going to start teaching in China in March, please avoid coming on or near Spring Festival.
TOP 2: Mid-Autumn Festival
Mid-Autumn Festival in China is a happy day for the family reunion and occupies an extremely important place in the minds of Chinese. The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on August 15 in the Chinese lunar calendar. It is a full moon day. The shape of circle is is a symbol of perfection in the minds of Chinese people, symbolizing a beautiful reunion. It seems that China’s important festivals always have a traditional food for their endorsement. On Mid-Autumn Festival, we can eat moon cakes. In the eyes of foreign teachers, moon cake is a distortion of the pie, but different from pies they eat in the west.
TOP 3: Dragon Boat Festival
China’s Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate a great patriot named Qu Yuan. Dragon Boat Festival is held on the fifth day of May in the Chinese lunar calendar. On that day, foreign teachers will see people rowing their boats on the river. They will eat rice dumplings similar in shape to the pyramid-Zongzi. Of course, there are many other dumplings stuffin and tastes varied. The most traditional stuffing is rice wit dates. According to legend, Qu Yuan jumped into the river and died. people are afraid that the fish and shrimp will eat the body of the patriot, so they put a lot of dumplings to the river feeding fish and shrimp, and row a dragon boat on the river to drive away the fish and shrimp. Foreigners can appreciate the taste of a very traditional festival.
TOP 4: Lantern Festival
Fifteen days after the Spring Festival is the Lantern Festival. Lantern Festival means that the New Year is over. On this day, people will light lanterns and you will eat Tangyuan. Tangyuan is a sweet with a small round rice glutinous, bean,peanut and sesame as fillings.It is usually less than two centimeters in diameter, very sticky.
The above festivals are some of the more grand festivals in China. When these festivals come, people usually enjoy holidays, food and reunion of their loved ones.