China’s National Holiday
Posted October 27th, 2009 by Robert
Much like America celebrates the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, China celebrates the CCP’s liberation in October. But unlike the USA, China is given a full eight days to celebrate. Wouldn’t that be nice to have every year? The first day of holiday is October 1, and it ends on October 8. (The universities hold classes on the Saturday-before and the Sunday-after the holiday to help make up for the lost class time, but the holiday is definitely worth it.)
In addition to the national holiday, Mid-Autumn Festival took place on October 3rd. Since it is based on the Lunar Calendar, the date shifts each year. Chinese people often return to their homes and exchange Yue Bing, or Moon-Cakes. The variety of flavors is amazing from red-bean paste to egg-yolk, but my favorite is coconut.
For my vacation, I rode an overnight train to Wuhan, and then a bus from Wuhan to Hanchuan and stayed with a family there. Don’t worry if you can’t find Hanchuan on a map: even many Chinese people don’t know where it is, because it is a tiny city of only 1 million.
I was welcomed very hospitably and had a great time. We walked by the river and watched a few lanterns float into the sky. We watched the Beijing parade on TV, followed by musical performances from around the country. After the main holiday events, we went to a KTV (Karaoke) and sang the rest of the night.
