New Year's Entertainment

After nightfall, J's dad and I went outside to do a few sparklers and
set off our own string of firecrackers. Once we'd added to the
soundscapade of the evening, we took a seat at a small table in the
courtyard and set about trying to communicate in my limited Chinese. We
made rather good progress, all things considered, before agreeing that
we'd reached the limits of our lingual abilities without J being present.
We headed back upstairs and J's mom opened the door and handed us some
decorations to paste to the front door, as is tradition every New
Year's. We peeled off last year's New Year's banners and plastered on
the new ones, taking care to make sure we didn't paste over the
peep-hole in the door. I noted the neighbors had done the same by
cutting a hole in the banner running down the center of their door.
Luckily we had a decorative cut-out piece that we could strategically
place so that the peep-hole was unobstructed.
Then we headed back indoors and sat in front of the television. Every
year there is a New Year's program which features dances from the
various ethnic groups, such as Inner Mongolians, and the western and
southern minorities, some of which resemble Indian dances rather than
anything most Americans would identify with China. But this is a large
and diverse country, and the Chinese celebrate this at every opportunity
with lavish stage shows--as seen at the 2008 Olympic show. The dances
are akin to a Cirque du Soleil performance, although one could argue
these are the more authentic of the two; nevertheless, they are in a
similar spirit. The audience, both on television and on sofas across the
nation, put their hands together and applaud the well-practiced and
astonishing performances. As midnight nears, the fireworks and
firecrackers signal the sense of revelry throughout the country.