North to South: Chinese community in the UAE shares the New Year table, customs and conversations

North to South: Chinese community in the UAE shares the New Year table, customs and conversations

When you think about festivals, what comes to your mind? Lots of family and friends gathering and a table laden with delicious food? The image that comes to my mind when I think about the most important festival in China – Spring Festival, in another word, Chinese New Year (CNY), is a beautifully spread dinner table. I come from the north of China, Hebei province. It is the dinner grandparents and parents spend days, if not weeks, to prepare. It is the dinner that sums up an entire year’s hard work, and turns it into colourful, and delicious bundles of joy. It is also the dinner that is designed to carry people’s good wishes into the next year. Being a big fan of food and the culture of food, I always find festive dinner tables fascinating. In case you are also like me, you might be interested to know what a CNY Eve dinner table looks like. Here’s a glimpse of it …. With a vast land across different longitudes and latitudes in China, CNY Eve dinner table looks different from one region to another, due to seasonal and habitat diversities. However, common food and dietary habits still exist over