Although the Chinese are said to be atheists, many of them acted
as if they were not yesterday.
Instead of visiting relatives and friends as they often do
during Spring Festival, many stayed at home to clean
rooms, burn joss sticks, paste special pictures on doors and
prepare dumplings for dinner.
The reason: to greet the "God of Wealth".
Also named Po Woo, the fifth day of the Chinese Lunar New Year
is said to be a day to welcome the God of Wealth called Zhao
Gongming.
Legend says that the soul of Zhao, a marshal during the Shang
Dynasty (16th-11th century BC), was empowered to bestow good
fortune. Thus, he became the god to which fortune-seeking Chinese
give veneration and offer sacrifices.
"It has become a habit for my family to follow all these rituals
on this special day," said 53-year-old Beijing resident Du Shufen,
who was setting off fireworks with her family in front of her
apartment building. "Everyone wants to be lucky and get rich in the
New Year."
She said that according to the custom, no one visits families or
friends, but instead stay home to wait for the god. People usually
have dumplings on this special day because dumplings look like gold
ingots - the money used in ancient China.
But sometimes people don't get lucky. Local media in Shanghai
reported that a family was burned early yesterday morning in a fire
caused by firecrackers.
The report said two men used firecrackers to greet the "God of
Wealth", but instead the sparks ignited the satellite antenna at a
family's balcony and then burned the whole room. No injuries were
reported.
But fireworks did kill a 25-year-old man on the eve of the Lunar
New Year in Beijing. The city's health bureau said the man was
seriously wounded in the head and died in hospital on Sunday
morning.
In addition, Beijing also reported some other 124 injuries and
114 fire cases caused by fireworks on the New Year's Eve.
To prevent such accidents, the city's office in charge of
fireworks sent about 250,000 police officers to patrol in the
capital last night, and ordered firefighters and first-aid
personnel to stay on duty.
But not everyone is having a traditional festival. Local media
reports that many single young professionals in Beijing are
matchmaking during the holiday.
The Beijing Times said over 2,000 people took part in a
matchmaking party held in Ditan Park (the Temple of Earth) to look
for a lifelong partner.
According to the format of 8-minute dating, participants were
divided into three groups according to their ages. They were
required to introduce themselves, and then to perform in various
games.
The daily event, which will end on Saturday, welcomes single
people above 18 years old who take love seriously and hold a
college degree or above, the report said.
At the same time, some others are having an electronic festival.
China's top two telecommunications operators estimate that Chinese
people will send around 14 billion festival text messages during
the 7-day holiday more than 30 for each of the 460 million mobile
phone subscribers.
(China Daily February 23, 2007)