Chunjie in Liaoning

I left school early at 12:15 so I could get going to Liaoning. I went back to the house, got my backpack and Ba led us to the car. I thought we were going to have to take the train to Liaoning and I had apparently misheard him. Oh how happy I was. I can’t even put in words how happy that made me. I wouldn’t have to deal with the 人山人海 (the hordes of people) at the train station. We got in the car and I was wondering where I was going to put my bag filled with my clothes for the next 7 days because the trunk was filled with Chunjie supplies. These are comprised of fireworks, food and clothes. Unfortunately there was no room, so the bag was going on my lap. I was sandwiched between ma and the door and Peter fit in there too somehow. We were off and I fell asleep only to wake up in Hebei province. We still had 6 hours to go and I just realized something about the car. I was too tall to sit up straight in it. The cold was leaking in through a bad seal in the door and the fog on the windows had turned to ice while I slept. There was snow on the ground and it made me happy. A bit nostalgic if you will, hadn’t seen that stuff in almost a year. I don’t know how I developed this ability, but since I came to China I’ve been able to zone out and make long rides seem short. We were soon in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning and I was assaulted with the sounds of fireworks and firecrackers, and the images of men burning things in the streets. I felt like I had stepped into a revolution and I asked my host family, what are they burning, to receive a reply of money. I was taken aback at first, but they clarified it was a special money that was to be burned to give to the dead so they can use it “under the ground.” We got to the house and I met my long lost host grandparents and my cousin Beibei. Or Jerry, but I call him Beibei. Dinner that night consisted of cooking live crabs and then eating the eggs from their bellies. It was a first. I went to my room. It was also Peter and Beibei’s room, but there was only one bed just a bit bigger than a twin sized one. I tried to kill time to wait out getting in that bed with the two of them by playing Chinese video games, but eventually we had to go to bed. The next morning, I woke up with Beibei grabbing my arm and using my legs as a body pillow. The night had been a constant struggle to try and not be the little spoon, but not end up being in that couples face to face cuddle with him. I didn’t sleep too well. But when Ba came in and woke us all up, we were like little kids, and wrestled and it felt like we all actually were family. I went to the bathroom and was confused at how to lock the door so I could do my business in peace. Ba explained that Yeye, (grandpa,) is a bit forgetful so they had to make a hook lock, so he can unlock it easily and not get locked in the bathroom again. I wanted to ask, “Again?” but held that question back. During the day Peter wanted to go to a video game store to get some games, so we walked out in the -5 degree Fahrenheit weather and arrived at this concrete slab of a building. We opened the metal door that looked like a safe and walked in to a rundown room, peeling paint, dirty concrete floors, and makeshift shelves behind the glass counter. A wood furnace was burning in the corner next to the door. Bootleg games were in plastic games. Metroid for the Playstation, Mario for the Xbox, but Peter came here for his PSP. He gave them his PSP and a memory card and they put five games on it for 100 kuai. We walked out and went to a more legitimate looking game store, but the games were still the same. I bought all the Pokémon games for all the gameboys for the computer for only ten kuai. Why not? It’s only ten kuai. We walked back, after buying some fireworks from a thrown together stand on the street corner. Peter and Beibei lit them and threw them everywhere, and I just stood by wondering how they could get away with that, but everyone else was doing it too. It blew my mind. Peter called out “Beibei!” at one point and every single girls head turned around, only to be disappointed. We went back to the house and played for Chinese videogames until we went back to sleep. The next morning Beibei’s arm was wrapped completely around my face and yet another cousin on the computer in our room. It was Chunjie. Well actually it was Chu xi or San shi er, China’s New Year’s eve. I met more and more Chinese relatives as they poured in and the kids went over and played video games. When it came time to dinner, it was hard to hear people talk because of the fireworks and crackers outside. Flashes of light came in through the window and it felt like there was a warzone going on out there. I’m pretty sure everyone is going to compare the fireworks to a warzone, but really, it was. Dinner started and everyone began to give toasts and then it came to my turn. I’m not good with toasts in English, probably due to my lack of experience with the procedure, but in Chinese I had no idea. I tried to thank everyone for letting me into their family and eating with them, but they all stared at me. Apparently it was supposed to do something with the New Year. Like 身体健康 or 恭喜发财, meaning more or less, to health (body healthy) and to getting rich this year. I fumbled not only the toast, but my Chinese too, so it was really embarrassing. Most of the family thought I was just some Chinese illiterate person, when I understood most of what they were saying. After dinner Peter and the kids went out to go light fireworks, and I stayed inside. I went to the room and my 6th grade cousin was on the computer. I talked with him and called him shuai ge, like everyone else had, which I found absolutely hilarious. We were calling him handsome guy. But I digress, he was surprised that I spoke Chinese and we talked and made a QQ account for me. He then went on to talk about Pokémon and became buds. He left for some reason, and everyone began watching the Chinese New Year’s special on TV. I was surprised at how much I understood of it. I was laughing with my family at the jokes. It was a good feeling. Ba pulled me aside and we went outside. It was 10:30 at night in northern China, yet it looked like day. Fireworks blew up everywhere, and the scary part about that fact was we were in a narrow alley, framed by six story apartment buildings on all sides, and fireworks were going off at the 4th floor and up. Firecrackers were going off all along the ground, sparklers the sizes of a person were lit on the path, and the sound was deafening. It was like an air raid. Ba ran out from under the cover of the door, hands over his head and dropped a firework the size of my torso and lit it and continued running. By the time he stood up from lighting it, it was going off. These fireworks put the Fourth of July to shame. He brought me out into the madness and I then realized that every single window was decorated with Chunjie decorations and the lights were everywhere, in and out of the building. I walked back in the house and Peter and Beibei and a female cousin dragged me back out. Beibei was wearing swimming goggles. We stood by the door making mad dashes through the battlefield to light some and then run back to the door, but we were completely oblivious to the firecrackers that were thrown all around the entrance of the door. We stood in the overhang in front of the door and watched everyone else make the show for us, when one firecracker that was launched was a dud and blew up as it left the tube. Sparks flew all around and they landed at our feet. On the firecrackers. We looked down at the newly discovered firecrackers and kicked madly, because the door was locked and it would take at least ten seconds to open. Not enough time. None of them actually went off, and we panicked over nothing, but it still made me go inside and eat Jiao zi. As we ate jiao zi I got the story of Chun jie. A long time ago, there was a monster called Nian, (nian means year in Chinese,) and every so often he came out and ate people and animals because he was very hungry. So everyone would run around and flee and scatter to escape from him when it came that time of the year. One year though, an old man came to a village and wanted food, and was fed. What the villagers didn’t know, though, was that he was actually a god in disguise and when Nian came around he was the only one who didn’t flee because he knew how to ward off Nian. Nian hated loud noises, so the old man/god set off fireworks and thus the tradition of setting off fireworks started. It’s a basic outline of the story because of my translation, but it’s the basics. I wish I could do a better job of explaining the fireworks, it was unreal. I can’t even put into words what it was like. You just have to experience it. I’m not a holiday person and this is definitely the best holiday in the history of holidays, like if you mixed Christmas, the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving all into one. I got 300 kuai in 压岁钱, or the money you get in red envelopes, I ate more jiao zi than I could handle, and that didn’t even include dinner. You’re not supposed to sleep so you can see the New Year arrive, but the family went to sleep. It was like if your whole family had a sleepover. People were sleeping on the floors and everything, but Peter, Beibei and I still had our bed… with an additional person, our female cousin. But Peter didn’t want to sleep. So we watched Quantum of Solace, and it worked this time. Finally. I don’t remember what happened next because I blacked out. I have no recollection of the next three hours. I don’t even know why. I don’t drink and don’t plan to ever, but somehow there’s a whole in my memory. I woke up in bed, next to Beibei and my cousin, with Peter being pulled out of the bed by Ba and getting yelled at. My iPod was in my ears, and the clock said it was 3:30ish. The room was completely black except for when fireworks went off and lit up the room. Only then could I see Peter thrown into a stool and sit there, his body posture that of a defeated person. I couldn’t understand what was being yelled at him, my mind was all fuzzy, and I was completely scared out of my mind. What had happened and why don’t I understand what’s being said? I fell back asleep, and woke up at 4 in the afternoon. I played more games until the celebration of Chu yi, the first day of the New Year. The lot of us who slept in the same bed was placed at the children’s table and we watched reruns of last night’s television program. This time it had subtitles and I understood even more. This night was just the guys in the same bed.
The next morning we went to visit Ma’s family, her aunt. She was living in a very rundown part of town and the most entertaining part of the visit was the little not yet three year old. He thought he was a Kung-fu master and attacked people. He called me a waiguoren, but the family insisted on him calling me waiguogege. He was a violent little bugger and shook my hand before I left, which surprised me. We went back to the house and had dinner without Ba because he was invited to a class reunion. After we ate, he invited us over. We went to the KTV, and if you know China, then you know KTV means Karaoke. We walked into the overly gaudy place and found our way to the private room that was Ba’s and his classmates. When I walked in they just motioned with their hands and pointed trying to get me to sing, but I told them that I can sing, but I really shouldn’t. They were surprised that I spoke Chinese, even if it is pretty bad, and pushed me to choose a song. I thought hard for a song, and it came to me. 对面的女孩看过来 by 任贤齐. I love that song because I understand it all. I sung it and they all applauded and offered me beer and cigarettes, which I politely declined. The lights flashed, and it felt like a disco in our small room. Every now and then they’d put an English song on that was popular and make me sing again. My Heart Will Go On, and some other lovey dovey songs. I have new respect for Celine Dion after having to sing that song. It’s really hard. They loved it and I endured some terrible Chinese singers, but it was still a blast. We went home and went to sleep. The next morning we were off to go to Liaoyang, to visit Ma’s Ma. Beibei came with us for some reason, but I really like my cousin so it didn’t matter. We got there to what sounded like an air raid, but were just leftover fireworks. The building was the most sparse thing I’ve ever seen, but somehow it was cozy and felt like home. The floors were the same as the hallways, concrete walls with peeling paint and paint flakes, or wall candy as I call it, on the floor. Ma’s older sister came over and brought her husband. Her husband is from southern Ohio. So we talked and talked about things. He didn’t speak any Chinese, but his wife did, so I talked with her in Chinese some too. We got to the topic of his wife’s work. He was upset about what happened in the factory where she worked. People in China aren’t guaranteed an hourly wage; they’re told what they get per month. If the factory doesn’t make enough money, then they receive less money. This leads to a lot of corruption in the factory bosses because they can pocket money and say, “We didn’t make enough money.” According to his wife, this happens a lot. My Ohioan friend said all this through a cigarette, and smoke he blew from his nostrils. If it wasn’t for the corruption, I wouldn’t be against this method at all, because at least they’re not losing their jobs. But that’s just me and my crazy mindset. Ba once again dragged me out of the house, with Peter and Beibei this time, and we went to a park. It was tackily decorated with Chunjie decorations that lit up and moved around, but somehow it was so tacky that it worked. We were walking through the cold of the park when Ba nonchalantly pointed to an enormous, gorgeous building and said, “I designed that.” And then he went on walking. It was a government building, and the whole park was decorated by the government. I asked Ba when he designed it and he said 20 years ago. It made me forget that he’s as old as he is. He moved to Beijing after 11 years of working in Liaoning for opportunities. It was amazing to see his vision in real life. But I digress. We went back to Ma’s Ma’s house and went to sleep. The next morning we went to the fake great wall, and a temple next to it. Peter, Beibei and I had a snowball fight while we climbed the mountain attracting stares from passerby’s. But to get even more stares I’d say something like, “I’m going to bomb you now,” or, “No fair, two versus 1!” and their jaws would drop. It was a good feeling. We went back to Ma’s house, and said goodbye. We headed back to Shenyang and went to sleep. Chunjie is the best time of the year. Forget all those holiday songs in America. Chunjie takes the cake.