First impressions of China's Spring Festival celebrations

The Chinese people are celebrating the Lunar New Year. I'm so happy that I'm able to participate for the first time this year, staying in Beijing to enjoy the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival and feel the splendid Chinese civilization.

I arrived in Beijing in 2019 a few days after the Spring Festival. Despite being a little late, I could still see the city wearing a festive look. Ever since, I have been curious to witness how the Chinese people ring out their traditional old year and usher in the new one and be a participant.

Ahead of the Spring Festival, Chinese people thoroughly clean their house to sweep away any lingering ill-fortune and to make way for incoming good luck, and they decorate the windows and doors with traditional New Year red paper-cuts and couplets.

The most attractive part of the festival is the family gathering and annual reunion dinner, when family members scattered across the country return to their hometown to participate in this special ritual. This is why the Spring Festival travel rush became the world's largest human migration.

However, this year's celebration is somewhat different as the Chinese government has encouraged people to spend their holidays in the place of current residence to reduce the risks of infection or spread of COVID-19.

Many have chosen to give up the chance to join the annual travel rush back to their hometowns to be with their families for the biggest traditional festival. They did this for the sake of their loved ones and the pandemic prevention and control.

People used to depict Beijing as an "empty-city" due to scenes of empty streets and vacant homes following the mass exodus. This year, the city looks much busier and crowded, and the atmosphere become even more resplendent as restaurants, shopping malls, supermarkets and all kinds of business remain open and offer a variety of services and activities to make the festival more colorful and interesting.

Every corner of Beijing wears a celebratory look with the decoration of red paper-cuts and lanterns. Every door of the house has been decorated with red stickers written with different good luck wishes. The colorful illustrations of buildings around the city have brought extra vibes to the festivity.

The government and enterprises have rolled out various policies and measures to ensure people can have a relaxed and happy festival, such as offering bonuses and utilization of 5G technologies to ensure people reunite with families through virtual video chats. There are also a lot of local tourism products offering people opportunities to enjoy short-distance trips close at hand.

The Lunar New Year is around the corner. I can sense the feeling of joy and festivity all around. My office has already been decorated with festoons, scrolls and lanterns. Everyone living in my community is getting ready to usher in the new year of the Ox. My colleagues have started exchanging traditional red envelopes with each other.

Staying in Beijing to join in the Spring Festival celebration is really a unique experience, which allows me to get a sense of traditional Chinese culture and taste delicious Chinese delicacies. Happy Chinese New Year!

The author is a Bangladeshi journalist and columnist now based in Beijing.