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Watch: Chinese community celebrate New Year in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires: The Chinese community of Buenos Aires on Saturday celebrated the Spring Festival to mark the arrival of the Chinese Lunar New Year.
Chinese Lunar New Year celebration
By
Published : Feb 3, 2019, 2:55 PM IST
Chinese Lunar New Year celebration Thousands of people attended the event, during which dancing dragons paraded through the crowd and other performers showcased Chinese music, dance and martial arts up on stage.
Also Read: Brazil: Flower petals released over site of dam collapse
The year of the pig in the 12-year Chinese astrological cycle starts on Tuesday, waving farewell to the year of the dog.
The Chinese-Argentine community, however, kicked off the celebrations slightly ahead of time.
Also Read: Unknown number of dead and injured in Bolivia mudslide
Chinese Lunar New Year celebration Thousands of people attended the event, during which dancing dragons paraded through the crowd and other performers showcased Chinese music, dance and martial arts up on stage.
Also Read: Brazil: Flower petals released over site of dam collapse
The year of the pig in the 12-year Chinese astrological cycle starts on Tuesday, waving farewell to the year of the dog.
The Chinese-Argentine community, however, kicked off the celebrations slightly ahead of time.
Also Read: Unknown number of dead and injured in Bolivia mudslide
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Pingtan City, Fujian Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Cross-Strait ferry docking at wharf
2. Passengers walking with luggage
3. Various of lounge, passengers queuing
4. Girl making hand gesture
5. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Lau Kwong-Wai, Taiwan passenger (partially overlaid with shots 6-7):
"I bought a TV, a 55-inch curved TV with a thin metal frame. The picture quality is terrific. In the past I brought back some daily necessities like small appliances for my relatives. But now, the mainland is doing so great in this regard, it's a leap-forward pace here (for development), the pace here is so fast that no one can even catch up with it."
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
6. Sticker of Fu (fortune) on window
7. TV set in package
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8. Various of passengers queuing, holding child
9. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zuo Wei, Beijing passenger (partially overlaid with shot 10):
"I'll spend the Spring Festival at my children's home, all four of us together. You don't have to ask your children to come to celebrate the Spring Festival at your home, you may also go where they live. Reunion is the point, it's what Spring Festival and home are all about."
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10. Passengers going through ticket gate
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11. Aerial shot of ferry leaving wharf
12. Passengers on deck
Taichung Port, Taiwan, China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
13. Various of container terminal, passengers boarding ferry
14. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Lee Yung-Chao, Taiwan passenger (starting with shot 13/partially overlaid with shot 15):
"Having been away from our hometown for 40 to 50 years, my father worried that he would not have the chance to ever set foot again in his homeland, he also worried that his offspring could forget where their root is, so he often told us that we are from Fujian, from Pingtan, from a village in Pingtan called Shanli."
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15. Interview of Lee
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Pingtan City, Fujian Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
16. Ferry station
17. Various of Lee's family reunion
18. Lee's family member making tea
19. Lee's family members gathering
20. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Chen Jin-Mei, Taiwan resident (partially overlaid with shot 21):
"Do you know it's bitter to be homesick? It's like starvation, utterly starving! My husband would lose his appetite and get misty eyes when the Spring Festival came. When all other family members sit down for dinner he would prefer to be alone, because he didn't have the appetite."
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21. Various of ferry model, Chen's hands
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22. Various of Lee's young family members handing out red envelopes
23. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Lee Yung-Chao, Taiwan passenger (ending with shot 24):
"Four young people of our next generation have moved to Pingtan, together with their families. Let’s say they have come back to where they are originated. I'm so happy about this. They do love to start a life in Pingtan."
24. Various of passengers
For millions of families across the Taiwan Strait, home is not defined geographically, but by where their loved ones live and where their root is.
Since the 2011 launch of two direct ferry lines connecting Pingtan City in Fujian Province with Taipei and Taichung in Taiwan, the cross-Strait ferry service in Pingtan has seen a non-stop boom with nearly a million people having traveled across the Strait over the past eight years.
The direct ferry service now has become a major means of transportation for families in both Pingtan and the other two Taiwan cities to reunite on special occasions such as Spring Festival.
With the Year of the Pig drawing near, Pingtan ferry station’s passenger lounge has seen a sharp surge in passenger flow.
Every day at 7:00 in the morning, the lounge would be filled with passengers who are waiting for the Taiwan-bound ferries set off at 9:00.
For many Taiwan passengers, bringing New Year gifts from the mainland to their relatives has become a tradition given the popularity of those products made in mainland , especially home appliances, among Taiwan residents.
"I bought a TV, a 55-inch curved TV with a thin metal frame. The picture quality is terrific. In the past I brought back some daily necessities like small appliances for my relatives. But now, the mainland is doing so great in this regard, it's a leap-forward pace here (for development), the pace here is so fast that no one can even catch up with it," said Lau Kwong-Wai, a Taiwan passenger.
Visiting parents’ home is another New Year tradition for the Chinese people. However, Beijing native Zuo Wei and her husband went over the Strait to their Taiwan son-in-law’s for their Spring Festival family reunion.
For the couple, where their loved ones live is where the home is.
"I'll spend the Spring Festival at my children's home, all four of us together. You don't have to ask your children to come to celebrate the Spring Festival at your home, you may also go where they live. Reunion is the point, it's what Spring Festival and home are all about," said Zuo.
"Wherever one lives, one can never forget his or her root" is the family motto for many living in Taiwan.
Lee Yung-Chao’s family is following this motto with actions.
Lee’s father moved from Pingtan to Taichung about half a century ago. Always bearing in mind where the family is originated is a motto Li’s father passed on to him in his younger days.
"Having been away from our hometown for 40 to 50 years, my father worried that he would not have the chance to ever set foot again in his homeland, he also worried that his offspring could forget where their root is, so he often told us that we are from Fujian, from Pingtan, from a village in Pingtan called Shanli," said Lee.
"Do you know it's bitter to be homesick? It's like starvation, utterly starving! My husband would lose his appetite and get misty eyes when the Spring Festival came. When all other family members sit down for dinner he would prefer to be alone, because he didn't have the appetite," said Chen Jin-Mei, Lee’s mother, when recalling her husband’s homesickness.
In the 1990s, Lee’s father shifted his business pivot from Taiwan to the mainland, becoming one of the first group of Taiwan investors in Pingtan.
Today, Li and his two brothers have not only moved their family business from Taichung to Pingtan, but also started a new life in their hometown.
Spending the Lunar New Year in Pingtan bears another layer of meaning for the Lee family, as Lee hopes his children would also move to Pingtan to continue their family business that was created out of nostalgia.
"Four young people of our next generation have moved to Pingtan, together with their families. Let’s say they have come back to where they are originated. I'm so happy about this. They do love to start a life in Pingtan," said Lee.
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