Despite being out of China for Chinese New Year, we still managed to get involved in the celebrations in Shanghai, both before and after our holiday. The lead up to CNY in the office is rather like Christmas in the UK, with various team lunches and after work drinks, which culminates in the office Annual Party. In China all companies set aside budget every year to organise a party and it certainly seems that generally no expense is spared. The evening consists of a formal Chinese banquet, lots of lucky draw prizes (this years prizes at Ford included suitcases, ten iPad minis and two MacAirs) and every department putting on a performance to provide the entertainment throughout the meal.
Two years ago I performed a dance and swore never to do it again, unfortunately, rather like Steve Redgrave, I proved unable to keep to my word. A colleague asked me if I would be willing to get up on stage as part of a large group and sing a song. This didn't sound too bad, so I agreed only to discover a couple of weeks later that I was actually to be part of a 4 piece 'boy band'.
As we were made up of two Brits and two Chinese, we decided to perform a song that could be sung both in English and Chinese, so not only did I need to try and sing in tune I also had to make sure I could pronounce the Chinese properly. We had a few rehearsals and organised our outfits to tie in with the theme of the night - The Golden Age.
It was a great night and we seemed to go down fairly well with the 800 strong audience.
Having called ourselves ShanghHai IT, at the end of our performance we tried to make sure people didn't think we were taking ourselves too seriously.
We came a close second in the vote, only losing out to Marketing & Sales by one vote and let's be honest, it is their job to entertain!!
William and Oliver's school also do a number of activities in the week or two leading up to the CNY school holiday, the main event being a day when the children go to school in clothing representative of China and then have a morning of Chinese activities around the school, which the parents are invited to attend. Oliver and William enjoyed going to the different classrooms and solving riddles, playing games and following the Chinese tradition of hanging a thought or hope for the coming year on a wishing tree.
They collected stamps as they completed the different activities and when they had enough they were able to end the morning with some candy floss.
On returning from our holiday, we decided that we would once again head to the old town to see all the decorations that they put up, especially all the lanterns. We decided to go on the 15th and final day of the new year celebrations, the Yuanxiao Festival, also known as the lantern festival. Families get together for a meal in the evening and the traditional dish to eat is rice dumplings in a sweet soup. Candles and lanterns are lit to help guide wayward spirits home.
To begin with we headed to our favourite dumpling restaurant, it was very busy and whilst we waited to be seated we were rather surprised to see another waiting family tucking into a McDonalds!
After eating we went to look at the lanterns. Despite the fact that they barricade the area and sell tickets to enter the old town, it was still absolutely packed.
To begin with we headed to our favourite dumpling restaurant, it was very busy and whilst we waited to be seated we were rather surprised to see another waiting family tucking into a McDonalds!
After eating we went to look at the lanterns. Despite the fact that they barricade the area and sell tickets to enter the old town, it was still absolutely packed.
However, regardless of the crowds it was definitely worth it, because the lights and lanterns were spectacular set against the wonderful old Chinese architecture.
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