The 15th of February was Chinese New Year and, as I sad in the previous blog post, I am one of the lucky 外国人 (foreigners) who gets to experience this special event surrounded by a warm and very noisy Chinese family. This years celebrations were somewhat muted compared to the past few years, partly due to the ban on fireworks where I am (which was mostly followed) but also because of the rubbish new year show CCTV put on this year. The new year show is the centre piece of Chinese celebrations for many families and a talking point for months afterwards, but this year's version was so boring that not even the Chinese netizens (as they seem to like to be called) could think of anything witty to say about it. The performances were repetitive and unambitious, the singing was all pre-recorded and the songs were completely lacking in energy (apart from one song that was accompanied by two young dancers being shown up by a much older actor). Overall, it brought the night to an end on a disappointing anti-climax which was only just about tolerable due to the nobody else in my home drinking the copious amounts of booze I'd bought in preparation for the night.
For episode 427 of "The Whole World Has Lost the Plot!" a Chinese actress cam under fire for sending an snappagram picture of herself celebrating the festival with a caption wishing everyone a happy lunar new year. Chinese netizens (yes, them again) lost their collective shit over a Chinese woman, living in Vietnam, sending a message to the whole world with best wishes for a festival that is most associated with China but is also celebrated by many different countries and peoples thoughout Asia. Seriously, is there nothing that the internet won't get offended by?
