雅思口语素材：中国农历新年(下)

Luo, Bo Bin writes:

I'm a Chinese reader of this article, as a Chinese I think maybe the writer of this article have some misunderstanding about Chinese New Year, or maybe all the author tells us is just the customs of the place which he/she visited.

1. As far as I know on the second day of Chinese most of the people in China don't treat dogs as well as the author said and as a Chinese I have never heard about the Dog's Birthday.
2. On the fifth day of Chinese New Year so far as I know people can do anything they like – before this I never knew if you visit friends and families it will bring bad luck.
3. At Chinese New Year it's a Chinese tradition to have a family reunion dinner but this dinner is not on the eighth day of Chinese New Year, it is held on the last night of the previous year.
4. Not only parents give their children money in lucky red envelopes, you must give the red bags to your family members children or even your friend's children. The red bags are not given on the Lantern Festival, they are given on the first day of the new year, and not only given to the children, but to the old people also.

Maybe some places have special customers - you know China is such a big country - but in my personal thinking the author doesn't know Chinese New Year very well. I'm Chinese and in the last 20 years I have visited lots of places in China, and I think that what I have told you is the real Chinese New Year.

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This is what the author replies:

I am not Chinese and (to write this article) I did research on the subject through a number of different books and websites, so it could be that some of the information I found is true in certain parts of China, but not practised everywhere. As the writer says, China is a very big country and it is also a country which is changing very fast, so maybe some of the traditions I mention are not followed as closely as they may once have been.

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Pham Thuy Diep writes:

I am Vietnamese and we have also a Lunar New Year like China. We often have a reunion dinner on the last day of the previous year. This is a rather important event so every member of the family tries his/ her best to gather on this day.

On the first day of a new year, people don't want to be the first to visit another person's house as they are afraid that their visit will bring something bad to that house (as the first visit plays a very important role for the coming year). In fact, we believe that there is a cycle of 12 years. Each year in this cycle corresponds with one kind of animal, beginning with the mouse and then followed by the buffalo, tiger, cat, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, cock, dog, and pig. If this year is the year of the pig, it is bad for people who were born in the year of the tiger to come first in the New Year. This is a very old tradition and we don't know how to explain it.

At midnight of the last day of the previous year (say 24:00), we prepare some food to pray to God. The Vietnamese believe that God will supervise all the activities of people done during the last year. The type of food is flexible but normally is sticky rice and whole boiled chicken (cock). We report to God and wish for everything to be good in the coming year. This time of praying is different from all praying during the previous year. It is carried out in an open area (I mean not inside).

On the first day of the New Year, children (it doesn’t matter if they are your friends’ or your neighbours’) are given lucky money contained in a small red envelop. It is a dream that this money will bring health to those kids.

From the second day of the New Year people feel free to come to their friends’ or relatives’ houses. It is a good time to see relatives and friends.