The Lunar New Year-eve is four months away - on February 11 - but already several restaurants highly regarded for "nianyefan," the traditional family dinner served on the eve of the Chinese New Year, are fully booked for that day, said managers of the restaurants.
Many reservations were made more than a year in advance - when families completed their nianyefan meals at the restaurants on January 23, this year's Lunar New Year-eve.
Unlike the Gregorian calendar that's the international standard, the New Year according to the Chinese lunar calendar falls on different days.
Zhang Xidong, 26, said he was amazed when early this month he tried to make a reservation for nianyefan at Xing Hua Lou Restaurant.
Sorry, he was told. The reservation for the last of 250 tables was made in early September. Many others were still calling Xing Hua Lou, trying to reserve a table for nianyefan, a waitress at the restaurant said.
"I thought I was early enough to get a deluxe table for my parents and relatives because this is the first year I have earned money since graduating from college," said Zhang, who works for an international trade company.
Managers at three other local restaurants that have built their reputations on nianyefan - Meilongzhen, Xiaonanguo and Xinya - said they only have a few tables left.
Chinese see nianyefan as more than a meal. It also serves as reason for family reunions, the way Thanksgiving and Christmas do in the United States, said Xu Guangxin, an assistant professor of sociology at East China Normal University.
So even if you are working thousands of kilometers from home, you are expected to return to join your parents and relatives for nianyefan, Xu said.
In Shanghai, as personal incomes have risen in recent years, Chinese new Year's eve and other holidays have become a reason for dining out, rather than for a home-cooked meal that would require a lot of time to prepare, Xu added.
Mid-Autumn Festival, which this year fell on October 1, is an example. Local restaurants garnered an estimated 5.5 million yuan (US$662,651) in revenues that day, a 9.1 percent increase compared to the previous year's Mid-Autumn Festival, according to industry estimates.
"I like dining at restaurants where traditional Chinese singing and dancing are staged because it feels more like a festival," said Ni Huiping, 51, who this year ate nianyefan at Meilongzhen.
Her family already has reservations for nianyefan at Meilongzhen for next year.
(eastday.com October 21, 2001)
