In the wee hours of the morn' here in Beijing I'd like to wish those of you in the States and elsewhere to the west an early happy new year! This is the year of the Tiger (老虎, lǎohǔ), a year that from what I hear is one that represents optimism, strength, and energy. Chinese New Year isn't until February 14th so a lot of my Chinese friends weren't doing anything to celebrate tonight and saving themselves for plenty of celebrations and fireworks next month. Last year the fireworks show in Beijing on Chinese New Year was out-of-control literally, catching a new multi-billion RMB building downtown on fire and completely burning it down! Hong Kong had an amazing fireworks show for this Jan. 1st New Year tonight! I wish I could have seen it in person; it looked amazing. Check out this blog to see pictures of 2010 New Year's celebrations from around the world including HK.
I spent some time this evening wandering around Tiananmen Square with friends. The picture above is of a building in the middle of the Square under the beautiful full moon that shone in the otherwise pitch black sky. It was absolutely freezing out but people were still out and about ready to throw confetti. Here's my friend Joy, me, and Mao pausing for a photo op.
I hope everyone, wherever you are when clock ticks over, has hopes for a wonderful 2010. I know I'm looking forward to all the possibilities. Tomorrow I'm going to write out my annual New Year's Resolutions list. I could probably just use the same one I made last year-- and it's similar to the one before that. But this year one of my resolutions is to keep my resolutions. Can you do that? Did any of you actually keep yours from last year? I'd love to hear some success stories. What are your resolutions for 2010? Now back to finishing my champagne....... I think it's bad luck to leave left
-mk