Chinese For Dummies (98 page)

You may want to time your trip to mainland China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong to coincide with certain holidays — or, just as important, to avoid certain days and weeks.

First, you celebrate
xīnnián
新年
(shin-nyan) (
New Year's Day
), also known as
yuándàn
元旦
(ywan-dahn), on January
1. That's separate from a three-day celebration coinciding with the lunar New Year known as
chūn jié
春节
(
春節
) (chwun jyeh) (
Spring Festival; Chinese New Year
). Every year, the dates for
chūn jié
change because — you guessed it — it follows the
yīnlì
阴历
(
陰曆
) (yeen-lee) (
lunar calendar
) rather than the
yánglì
阳历
(
陽曆
) (yahng-lee) (
solar calendar
).
Chūn jié
always occurs sometime in January or February.

In mainland China,
Láodòng jié
劳动节
(
勞動節
)
(laow-doong jyeh) (
Labor Day
) is celebrated on May
1, and
Guó qìng jié
国庆节
(
國慶節
)
(gwaw cheeng jyeh) (
National Day
) is celebrated on October
1 in commemoration of the day Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party declared the founding of
Zhōnghuá rénmín gònghé guó
中华人民共和国
(
中華人民共和國
)
(joong-hwah run-meen goong-huh gwaw) (
the People's Republic of China
) in 1949. In Taiwan,
Guó qìng jié
is celebrated on October
10 to commemorate the day in 1911 when China's long dynastic history ended and a new era of
Zhōnghuá mín guó
中华民国
(
中華民國
) (joong-hwah meen gwaw) (
the Republic of China
[another name for Taiwan]) began, under the leadership of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. National Day in Taiwan is often referred to as
shuāng shí jié
双十节
(
雙十節
) (shwahng shir jyeh) (Literally:
double 10 day
), because it occurs on the 10th day of the 10th month.

In Taiwan, you often see years written out that seem to be 11 years short of what you think is correct. That's because the founding of the Republic of China in 1911 is considered the base line for all future years. So 1921 is listed as
mín guó shí nián
民国十年
(
民國十年
) (meen gwaw shir nyan);
mín guó
is the abbreviation for
Zhōnghuá mín guó
, and
shí nián,
meaning
10 years,
refers to 10 years following the founding of the Republic of China.

In addition to the major public holidays worthy of closing down businesses, you may want to experience some of the other fun and interesting Chinese holidays first-hand. Refer to
Chapter 5
for more on Chinese holidays.

All sorts of folk festivals take place in villages throughout mainland China and Taiwan when you least expect them, so if you suddenly find yourself surrounded by a throng of jovial, clapping and singing people, just follow the crowd and see where the action takes you. You won't be disappointed. Even funeral processions can be the most fascinating and musical of events, with mourners dressed in white sackcloth playing all manner of wind and percussion instruments.

Where To? Deciding on a Destination

Nǐ xiǎng dào nǎr qù?
你想到哪儿去
? (
你想到哪兒去
?) (nee shyahng daow nar chyew?) (
Where do you want to go?
) Planning a trip to
Yàzhōu
亚洲
(
亞洲
) (yah-joe) (
Asia
),
Fēizhōu
非洲
(fay-joe) (
Africa
),
Ōuzhōu
欧洲
(
歐洲
) (oh-joe) (
Europe
), or
Měizhōu
美洲
(may-joe) (
the Americas
)? Will your voyage be
zài guó nèi
在国内
(
在國內
) (dzye gwaw nay) (
within the country/domestic
) or
zài guó wài
在国外
(
在國外
) (dzye gwaw why) (
outside the country
)?
Table 14-1
shows some countries you may choose to visit.

Table 14-1 Places to Visit Around the Globe

Depending on the type of activities you enjoy doing when you
fàng jià
放假
(fahng jyah) (
take a vacation
), you may want to consider traveling to a place that has plenty of the following features (or at least one special one to make it well worth the trip) so that you can
yóulǎn
游览
(
遊覽
) (yo-lahn) (
sightsee
):

fó miào
佛庙
(
佛廟
)
(faw myaow) (
Buddhist temple
)

gǔdǒngdiàn
古董店
(goo-doong-dyan) (
antique shop
)

hǎitān
海滩
(
海灘
)
(hi-tahn) (
beach
)