CHINESE GIVE YEAR OF THE OX A NOISY WELCOME

[Bianca]

Performers dressed in traditional costume dance
while holding each other during a show celebrating
Chinese New Year at Longtan Park in Beijing,
January 25, 2009.

REUTERS
/David Gray








                                           Chinese give Year of the Ox a noisy welcome







By Ben Blanchard
BEIJING,
Jan. 25, 2009
(Reuters)

— Chinese welcomed the arrival of the Year of the Ox with raucous celebrations on Sunday despite gloom about the economy, setting off firecrackers in the streets and sending fireworks into the sky.

Celebrations were expected to carry on into the early hours of Monday, officially the first day of the Lunar New Year.

But in the commercial capital Shanghai, one person was killed in an explosion near a police station, state-run Xinhua news agency said. The cause was under investigation.

Residents in Beijing braved freezing temperatures to let off brightly colored fireworks, clouds of smoke and a hail of red wrappings from firecrackers covering streets and explosions shaking windows.

"The economic crisis makes no difference. At New Year it's important to set off lots of fireworks," said Lao Xing, a housewife from the Beijing suburb of Pinggu.

Firecrackers are believed to scare off evil spirits and entice the god of wealth to people's doorsteps once New Year's Day arrives, which falls on Monday this year under the Chinese lunar calendar.

Premier Wen Jiabao, who in previous years has spent the holiday with everyone from AIDS patients to coal miners, visited survivors of last May's earthquake in Sichuan that killed more than 80,000 people.

"It's been eight months since the earthquake, and I'm very happy to see how you've all been rebuilding your homes," Wen was paraphrased by the China News Service as telling survivors in Beichuan, the quake's epicenter.

President Hu Jintao went to the old revolutionary base of Jinggangshan in central China to visit heroes of the war that brought the Communists to power in 1949, and visited local villages, state television said.

"I'm extremely pleased to see you becoming more prosperous by the day," Hu told a crowd of cheering villagers.

Earlier, people packed temple fairs and hurried to train and bus stations to get home for the traditional holiday.

[Bianca]

           

            TEMPLE OF THE EARTH
            Beijing, China









TRADITIONAL CULTURE



At Beijing's Temple of the Earth, people crowded into a fair featuring everything from break-dancing to re-enactments of imperial sacrifices.

"I've brought my parents here so they can enjoy a bit of traditional culture. Just like everyone else I hope that life this year will be a little better than last year," said lawyer Angela Zhu, 29, taking her parents around the fair.

"The holiday gives us a chance to escape our ordinary lives and enjoy hope for the future," she added.

The Transport Ministry said more than 63 million trips were made on Saturday as people traveled home for what for some is their only holiday of the year.

Even with the global economic crisis starting to affect the world's most populous country, many chose to take their vacation overseas, helped in part by a strong Chinese currency, state media said.

In Shanghai, demand for holidays to Europe and Australia during the Lunar New Year had soared, although domestic tourism fared less well, Xinhua said.

"The number of people traveling domestically is only a quarter of last year," it quoted travel agent Lu Min as saying.

"This indicates that the economic downturn has not taken its toll on high-income people, but has much affected those on middle or low incomes," Lu said.

(Additional reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison and Lucy Hornby; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Copyright Reuters 2008.


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THE YEAR OF THE OX

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[Bianca]

[Jasmine]

BEIJING — China greeted the arrival Monday of the Year of the Ox with fireworks and celebrations, bidding farewell to a tumultuous 2008 marked by a massive earthquake, the Olympics, and a global economic crisis.

Colorful pyrotechnic displays lit up the midnight sky over Beijing, as firecrackers exploded deep into the early morning hours in the capital.

Officials reported that 46 people were injured from fireworks-related accidents, a 48 percent drop from the previous year, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday. A fleet of 70 ambulances roamed the city overnight on the lookout for emergencies, it said.

The Lunar New Year is China's most important holiday. It is generally the time of the year for lavish spending on elaborate meals with friends and family and exchanges of "hong bao," or red envelopes stuffed with money.

But the country's economic outlook this year has been dampened by the deepening global financial crisis, with China's 2008 annual growth down to a seven-year low of 9 percent. Thousands of factories have closed in China's export-driven southeast and estimates of job losses exceed 2 million.

Communist leaders have worried publicly about rising tensions and possible unrest as laid-off workers stream back to their hometowns. They have promised to create new jobs and are pressing employers to avoid more layoffs.

Despite the gloomy economic forecast for the new year, merchants in the capital reported that fireworks sales were up 28 percent from the previous year, with some 230,000 firework packages sold by Sunday, Xinhua said.

In Hong Kong, tens of thousands also temporarily shrugged off worries about economic woes, filing into the annual Chinese New Year market at Victoria Park late Sunday. Shoppers wandered amid a traditionally eclectic mix of goods ranging from popular New Year's decorations like water lilies to inflatable oxen and furry ox-shaped caps. Small windmills _ which symbolizes a change in fortune _ were reportedly a big seller.

[Jasmine]

Meanwhile, another 20,000 visited the Taoist Wong Tai Sin Temple to light up incense sticks and pray for good luck after a year that saw Hong Kong slip into economic recession and left thousands of locals fretting over the fate of their investments in financial products linked to failed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers.

The economic worries capped off a year that saw the country's leaders juggling one crisis after another, beginning with freak snow storms that paralyzed China's southern transportation system one year ago during Chinese New Year celebrations.

That was followed by deadly riots in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, which prompted a massive security crackdown.

The tone changed after the massive May 12 earthquake in Sichuan left almost 90,000 dead or missing, a disaster that was met with international aid and sympathy.

China's leaders received widespread praise overall for hosting the Beijing Olympics in August themselves, but just weeks afterwards came revelations of a national food safety scandal over tainted milk powder that left at least six babies dead and nearly 300,000 others ill.

_______

Associated Press Writer Min Lee in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

[Jasmine]

Children take a closer look at traditional masks after a religious ritual at a village temple as part of the New Year of the Ox celebration in Hong Kong on January 26, 2009. Millions across Asia are celebrating the arrival of the Year of the Ox which begins on January 26.

[Jasmine]

People play with fireworks to celebrate the Lunar New Year just before midnight in Beijing on January 25, 2009 between the city's ancient Drum (not pictured) and Bell (rear) towers. Millions across Asia are celebrating the Year of the Ox which begins on January 26.

[Jasmine]

Artists dressed in Qing Dynasty costumes take part in a performance to worship heaven and pray for good harvests, at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on January 26, 2009. China gave the Lunar New Year a raucous welcome with parties, feasts and thousands of tonnes of firecrackers, but the mood was far from bullish as the nation ushered in the Year of the Ox.

[Jasmine]

Actors prepare for a performance during Chinese New Year celebrations at the Dongyue Temple Fair on January 26, 2009 in Beijing, China. Millions of Chinese geared up to welcome the Year of the Ox, packing temple fairs, setting off fireworks and firecrackers and hurrying to train and bus stations to get home for the traditional holiday.

[Jasmine]

Chinese burn joss-sticks as they offer prayers at a temple during the first day of Chinese Lunar New Year in Beijing, China, Monday, Jan. 26, 2009. China greeted the arrival Monday of the Year of the Ox with fireworks and celebrations, bidding farewell to 2008 marked by a massive earthquake, the Olympics, and a global economic crisis.

[Jasmine]

Worshippers burn incense sticks as part of the New Year of the Ox celebration in Hong Kong on January 26, 2009. Millions across Asia are celebrating the arrival of the Year of the Ox which begins on January 26.

[Jasmine]

Actors dressed in Qing Dynasty costumes take part in an opening ceremony for the Ditan Temple Fair in Beijing on January 25, 2009. The annual fair opened to celebrate the Year of the Ox one day ahead of the start of the new Lunar New Year.

[Bianca]

THE YEAR OF THE OX

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