Lantern Festival

Last Sunday is the traditonal lantern festival in China, it is the 15th day of the new year (according to lunar calendar) and marks the end of the new year celebrations (fireworks and firecrackers). I remember we used to have a lot of lantern displays in the parks around town in the late 80s and early 90s during the festival, but it seems to lose its popularity in the past few years and there are many lantern displays anymore in Beijing. This year, Chaoyang park decided to bring this old tradition back to town, so I went yesterday to check out how it would look like after not having seen it for many years.

Overall it was similar designs and styles and same material as they used to be, and the crowd seemed to enjoy the walk in the park with lighted lanterns on display. And I was just happy to see something rooted in our culture before I head off to London for two years.

Snow in Beijing!!!

According to Lunar calendar, today is the second day of spring. And we are embracing the first heavy snow this year in Beijing. Yes, snow has become rather rare now in Beijing. This is the landscape in the high-tech park where I work. Very nice and much needed snow for the dusty and dry weather in Beijing!

Note: The coconut trees in the pictures are fake trees as you might have guessed based on you knowledge of the weather in Beijing :) But you have to admit they look pretty nice in the pictures!