There's a certain electricity in the air in anticipation of the biggest holiday of the year -- not unlike what we experience at Christmas time. The snow excites the Chinese just as a white Christmas does us. Above: Chinese New Year decorations. These go on your front door, or wherever you want to put them. The Chinese character "fu" can be translated to either luck, good fortune, or blessing.
Ah yes, well if there are not enough of the real thing around, you can buy an imitation firecracker string. I definitely prefer the decorative kind to the real thing.
The woman in the green coat is choosing which decoration will look best on her door.
Trinkets and lanterns are for sale too, all in the auspicious colors of red and gold. For those unfamiliar with the word "auspicious" due to its lack of use in your common everyday vocabulary, it means "propitious." (Kind of teasing with you there...it means favorable.)
Fish offer good luck for some reason I have forgotten. Apparently two is better than one.
In southern areas of China (which is determined by the cleverly positioned Yangtze River), people eat sugar cane for the holidays. Yeah, nothing like chewing and spitting out sugar cane while you set off a bunch of firecrackers and giggle like a gaggle of pre-teen girls at a slumber party.
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