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A Chinese New Year

Richard is one of the few expats who have had the opportunity to celebrate the Spring Festival with a native Chinese.

Before he accepted the invitation from his expat friend's housekeeper, Richard pictured the scene that would unfold: "I'm sitting at the table with a family of total strangers, being unable to follow the conversation quickly enough to make a meaningful contribution; my obvious presence as the only foreigner in the room is making them all uncomfortable."

The housekeeper, Xiang Wang, was going to throw a party in his tiny apartment for his friends who were all from the countryside and didn't have the money to go back home for the festival.

In spite of the doubts and worries, Richard said yes to Xiang Wang. The dinner was amazing - the food was great and the initial strangeness started to fade quickly. After the dinner, Richard joined his friends making paper birds, dogs and little boxes with a pile of newspaper coupons.

One of the men told him that at their homes, their parents didn't always have enough money to buy gifts for the Spring Festival, and they made their own toys this way.

"Watching my new friends, aged from 24 to 30, sit there and play with the pieces of paper, fashioning their own creations, totally absorbed in their work" - this was the most unforgettable moment of the evening, Richard writes in his blog My Chinese New Year's Dinner at www.pekingduck.org.

Another side of Shanghai

As many expats chose to get out of town for the week-long holiday, yu888 stayed in Shanghai and experienced the city in a way "we never think is possible".

The population of Shanghai dropped by the millions so the streets were quieter, despite the influx of tourists and visiting families. "There's an eerie calm about the place just before the BOOM BOOM BOOM of the fireworks," yu888 writes in http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/community/.

Sites for learning Chinese

As you can imagine, there are countless websites devoted to Chinese learners, and RX compiles some good ones on his blog at http://beijingrx.blogspot.com/.

*http://hk.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php is a great English-Chinese-English dictionary, he writes.

*http://www.nciku.com/ allows you to look up characters by drawing them with your mouse he writes.

*http://chinesepod.com/ is a great podcast with new audio lessons each week. The downside? You have to pay.

Snowboarders' best choice

Nanshan Park is located in Miyun county, a mere hour-and-a-half bus ride from the city center. This ski resort is a "perfect way to get your snow", writes Steven Lee at www.holidayfu.com.

The park is more suited to snowboarders with plenty of decent jumps, kickers and rails as well as an international caliber half pipe. Since the park is open until March, skiers and snowboarders still have time to enjoy some fun in the snow.

China Daily

(China Daily 02/09/2009 page10)