China’s Youth Spend New Year’s Eve With Strangers in New Trend
Udumbara
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Lunar New Year, China’s most important holiday, is traditionally a time when travelers return home to pay respects to their ancestors and carry out rituals and family traditions with parents, including having a big family dinner on New Year’s Eve and staying up after midnight.
According to Chinese media outlets, it has become a new trend for young migrant workers to stay in their hosting cities and find dinner partners online.
The Epoch Times interviewed several residents who requested that only their surnames or pseudonyms be used because of fears of reprisal from authorities for speaking to an independent media outlet that often reports on human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party.
Huang, who works in Shenzhen, one of China’s so-called first-tier cities, was starting one such dinner when the Chinese language version of The Epoch Times contacted him.
He said more than 20 guests had responded to his online invitation to a New Year potluck. The cost of the night was around 200 yuan ($29) per person.
Huang said he opted for a potluck to reduce costs.
Tang, who also works in Shenzhen, is from the neighboring Guangxi province. She hosted a New Year potluck of five.
Xiaotong, who’s also from Guangxi, sent an online invitation, but no one showed up by the time he was contacted by the reporter.
Chen Cheng, who works in Beijing, told The Epoch Times that the traditional holiday is feeling less festive amid the weakening economy.
Chen said he hardly had any savings from the past year, and some of his friends became unemployed for various reasons.
“The [official] publicity said the situation is good, but I don’t think it is. I don’t really watch CCTV’s New Year gala now. It’s hard to find truth in mainland China,” he said.
Xiaoya, a single military veteran, works in apartment management in Chengdu, Sichuan, around one hour from his parents’ home.
He volunteered to work the New Year’s Eve for extra cash.
“I'd feel more secure with more salary,” he said, adding that he doesn’t see where his future leads in a city with low income, high prices, and increasing unemployment.
