As spring days beckon, so does Europe

Meanwhile, the differences in the way the Chinese celebrate Spring Festival at home and in Europe were obvious to Zhang Jun, who visited his mother in Brussels during Spring Festival.

"It seemed that the atmosphere was very low-key. Although there were dragon and lion dances, they were limited to Chinatown and I didn't have the opportunity to see them," says Zhang, who had been traveling with his family in France, Switzerland and Belgium since Jan 23.

Although it is technically the off-season, they have seen Chinese tourists all over France and Switzerland. "We found quite a lot of them - even in Interlaken, which is a really small Swiss city," he says.

Another man, who would only give his surname, Wu, and was visiting Brussels with his family, says the number of Chinese who observe the festival traditions is in decline. "Now, there is no festive atmosphere anywhere. Maybe in the north of China they still stick to the Spring Festival traditions, but we don't prepare any special celebrations, except for visiting relatives and watching the Spring Festival Gala on TV."

However, the lack of tradition does not bother Zhang and his family. "We just took the Spring Festival holiday as the perfect chance to travel around."

Contact the writers through fujing@chinadaily.com.cn

Li Xiaofei and Yang Yang contributed to this story.

(China Daily European Weekly 02/14/2014 page24)