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Q: Spring Festival vs Christmas; how do they compare?
So.....Spring Festival or Christmas, which is better? Who would win in a fight, Santa or Captain Red Bag? Hmm? You don't know Captain Red Bag? He's the spirit of Spring Festival, all Chinese kids know the Captain! If you are good he will come round and give you loads of cash, stocks, bonds, insurance certificates, health care vouchers and cheap legal advice, and if you are bad he will throttle you in your sleep and make it look like an accident. It's a magical time indeed.
Ok, i'm obviously talking nonsense, but what is your take on China's answer to Christmas? What do you think of red bags versus presents, chicken and dumplings versus turkey and cranberry sauce, fireworks and red posters hanging beside the front door versus Christmas trees and red stockings hanging beside your bed? As the celebration of Christmas becomes more and more popular in China will the celebration of Spring Festival become less so?
Nothing compares to Christmas.....not even spring festival!
the celebration of Christmas is just business behavior.Chinese do not truly celebrate Christmas, Nothing compares to spring festival for Chinese. We do not eat turkey and cranberry sauce. I think the west is not truly celebrate spring festival either. those so-called celebrations happen just because of economic power .
I only celebrated Spring Festival one time in China with my wifes family and I found it to be a bit boring, but maybe that is because I don't understand the TV show and don't like the way they treat fireworks.
During Christmas we have a lot of fun and games in my home country.
Spring festival seems to be only about the money.
Christmas is supposed to be peace for all men. Now please ask the Chinese to be a bit more peaceful at Spring Festival. I would value a bit of sleep!
To me it seems like SPring Festival is stressed. Everyone is trying to cram as much of everything into those days, and for some the financial strain is high. In the west, Christmas is more relaxed, people have plenty of vacation days throughout the year, in my home country we have 6 weeks + maybe 10 public holidays, so for this reason during Christmas, there is no need for being stressed about relaxing, but it is possible to relax.
Personally I do not understand going from one end of the country to the other, to sit and watch TV. If we did that for Christmas in my family, I would just stay home and "call in" via Skype. I am sure Spring Festival was a lot better in older days, before the traveling nightmare and the uncontrolled gift-giving.
Hongbao vs. Gift giving: Push
Christmas decorations vs. Spring Festival decorations: Push
Christmas songs vs. Fire works and fire crackers: Advantage Christmas
New Year's Gala vs Christmas themed movies or TV shows: Advantage Christmas
Turkey vs. Dumplings: Advantage Christmas
Burnt offerings for dead relatives vs Going to Mass Once a Year: Advantage Chinese New Year
There we have it. Christmas wins by a final score of 3 to 1.
Scandinavian:
you must be joking. Maybe dumplings do not compete well with the overall xmas dinner, but turkey is just a sad dry bird, what a waste of gas/electricity. give me some tender juicy duck roast please, and after eating that who needs xmas themed tv
mattsm84:
I'd agree if we were talking oven turkey only, but here versatility is the key. Further, we're talking about Christmas and Chinese New Year, conspicuous consumption is clearly desirable. If you've got a smoker or a deep fryer, growing up we had both, then there is simply no comparison in terms of flavor. Plus, you can, and should, eat turkey for days in soups, sandwiches, stews, and salads, and will improve as the flavor settles into the meat. Dumplings on the other hand, you can boil them, steam them or fry them, but they all end up tasting pretty much the same and can only be kept for about 18 hours.
There really is no comparing the actual events of each holiday. First of all, they are not equal in any way in my opinion. The stress of traveling during the Chinese spring festival is beyond compare for sure. I have read others say that the Spring Festival is actually somewhat boring and I tend to agree.
As Scandinavian said,"Personally I do not understand going from one end of the country to the other, to sit and watch TV." This is puzzling to me as well.
Does any of you live in South China? How do they spend spring festival holidays? As a north people, I just sit there to watch CCTV1 show at 29th' night in lunar calender.
Scandinavian:
here in Zhuhai it looks to be the same, although half the people travel north so it's a ghost town.
