The Chinese are celebrating their first Spring Festival since joining the WTO in a new way. The Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on February 12 this year.

Beijing residents usually celebrate their holidays by going to temple fairs, but they now have temple fairs of western style.

Visitors to the Beijing Chaoyang Park can wear masks and dress themselves up in costumes. They can listen to Jazz, dance Latin dances and taste German and Thai dishes.

Yang Weiping, an official in the Chaoyang Cistrict Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, said, "The park is expected to have some 300,000 visitors during the Spring Festival holidays. People are excited at the prospects of having something different."

Flowers are especially welcome this year as the western Valentine's Day falls during the Spring Festival holidays. In the past two days, the cost of a rose has jumped from 5 yuan (US$ 0.6) to 12 yuan (US$ 1.45). A florist says it will soar to 20 yuan (US$ 2.4) on Valentine's Day.

Residents in Hangzhou, a tourist city in east China, have turned from a fashion of burning joss sticks before Buddha to offering flowers. A believer going to the Linyin Temple said, "It does not matter whether you offer flowers or burn joss sticks as long as you stand true before the Buddha. Besides, offering flowers can prevent forest fires."

Setting off firecrackers is also a traditional entertainment. Twelve Beijing people this year, however, have taken two strings of electronic firecrackers to the north pole to celebrate the Lunar New Year. A team member, surnamed Cao, said, "This will helpus feel at home."

The expedition team is expected to arrive at Longyearbyen, Norway, on New Year's Eve.

Many people are visiting foreign countries during the holidays since procedures for obtaining passports were streamlined after China joined the WTO.

Wang Yanguang, an official with the China International Travel Service, said, the number of Beijing people registered to travel abroad during the seven holidays has increased by 30 percent, withAustralia and New Zealand being the most popular destinations.

Many others in Beijing have decided to spend their holidays going to concerts, visiting the Picasso exhibition, or attending lectures on the WTO at the Beijing Library.

Liu Tieliang, a professor with the Beijing Normal University, said Chinese people are celebrating the traditional festival in a variety of ways, instead of just watching TV which many have done in the past.

"With globalization ahead, the Chinese are rearranging their cultural structure."

( People's Daily February 9, 2002)