Xi Story: Celebrating traditional new year with the people

BEIJING -- Red lanterns swayed above doorways, their vibrant tassels dancing in the biting winter breeze. Inside the modest village homes, the warmth of friendship and tradition crackled like a well-tended hearth as families opened their doors to an unexpected guest: President Xi Jinping.

Xi traveled to Liaoning province in Northeast China last week, where he joined ordinary people in the traditions that define Spring Festival, the country's most important holiday. He mingled with residents who were writing Spring Festival couplets, weaving intricate Chinese knots, and performing the spirited Yangge dance. Like millions across the country at this time of year, Xi threw himself into customs that have been cherished by generations.

Given its rich heritage, Spring Festival — the social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of the traditional new year — was acknowledged by UNESCO in December with its inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

This year is not the first time that Xi has headed to the grassroots to join Spring Festival celebrations. Indeed, his pre-festival inspections have become a tradition in their own right, and provide a glimpse into the vibrant, diverse customs of the Chinese people.

DECORATION OF HOMES

Much like the people in the West who decorate their houses for Christmas, Chinese families prepare for Spring Festival by cleaning and adorning their homes. The color red, symbolizing joy, enthusiasm and energy, fills every corner.

When Xi stopped by a traditional courtyard house in Beijing in the lead-up to the Spring Festival in 2019, he found the atrium bustling with neighbors who had come seeking Spring Festival couplets, known as "chunlian," written by septuagenarian Hou Yaming.

People usually hang "chunlian" and the calligraphy "fu" on their gates. "Chunlian" features poetic lines that express good wishes and blessings, while the character "fu", meaning "good fortune," is traditionally handwritten on red, diamond-shaped paper.

Lanterns hung under the eaves, red paper-cuttings adorned the windows, and the air was filled with festive cheer. Xi joined in by picking up a large "fu" written in golden ink and pasting it on a door himself. "May everyone here always be happy."

NEW YEAR GOODIES

Ahead of Spring Festival, people typically stock up on food, gifts, new clothes, and firecrackers. In 2015, these preparations were particularly meaningful for Xi as he returned to Liangjiahe, a village in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, where he had spent seven transformative years working the land as a young man.

For him, this visit was a heartfelt homecoming to the place that shaped his life and values.

That year, Xi brought with him a bounty of new year essentials including flour, rice, oil, meat products, and Spring Festival couplets and paintings. As he handed out his gifts, his thoughts returned to the immense care and love he had received during his time living and working in the village.

"I will never forget Liangjiahe," he said, "the villagers here, and the people in the old revolutionary base." Xi's gifts to the villagers are not mere common new year goodies, but rather a symbol of the bonds between him and the people.

FESTIVE FOODS

Homemade dishes and treats are a hallmark of Spring Festival, embodying family prosperity, good fortune and reunion. The variety of festive foods highlights the diversity of Chinese culture.

During a visit to another family in Beijing in 2019, Xi joined them in making fennel jiaozi (dumplings). "My family prefers the fennel filling too," he shared as he deftly encased the filling with the dough into shapes resembling ancient silver ingots. "I haven't made them in years due to my schedule, but you see — the more I make, the better I get at it. As is life."

For the people of Shenshan, a mountainous village in East China's Jiangxi province, the season is marked by the busy preparation of glutinous rice cakes known as ciba.

Xi had the opportunity to try his hand at making this local speciality in the run-up to the Spring Festival in 2016. After joining villagers in pounding the rice with a mallet for a while, Xi joked that doing so for 10 minutes each day could be a good workout.

CELEBRATIONS

Spring Festival is a celebration brimming with joy and energy. Temple fairs, much like carnivals, offer a cornucopia of traditional snacks, toys and entertainment. Streets and squares come alive as stilt walkers, dragon dances and lion dances captivate onlookers.

As Xi departed from a recently renovated residential community in Shenyang, Liaoning, on Thursday, residents performed a local Yangge dance in a unique goodbye gesture.

Yangge dance is believed to have originated in the ancient fields, with farmers singing to ease the strain of their toil. Today, people perform it in both villages and towns to express their joy and hope for a better life.

Dressed in richly-colored costume, residents of the Chang'an apartment complex danced with red fans in hand, moving to the lively rhythms of gongs, drums, and suona horns.

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

Family reunion lies at the heart of Spring Festival. Each year, hundreds of millions of travelers hit the road around this time to celebrate the occasion with their families, a phenomenon known as chunyun, the largest annual migration of people on the planet.

Ahead of the Spring Festival in 2013, Xi visited steel bar setter Fan Yong at a temporary home provided by his employer at a subway construction site in Beijing. Fan had chosen to stay and work rather than return home for the festival, and his wife and children joined him in the city.

Xi took stock of their living conditions and spoke highly of the invaluable role migrant workers like Fan play in the country. "It was not easy to make the trip to Beijing. Take some time to explore the city and enjoy a happy reunion," he told the family.

For Xi, a wonderful Spring Festival marks a good start to the new year. "When every household is filled with happiness and people of all ages are celebrating, that is true beauty."