The coming of Spring Festival has brought an air of celebration to everywhere in Sanshui.

For days, Hongwei Street has been flooded with people, surrounded by traditional Spring Festival decorations such as couplets, Fu (the Chinese character which means fortune) paintings, red lanterns.

This “Street of Spring Festival Couplets” is known to every family in Sanshui. There are many masters here, and Wu Jiadong is one of them. Many citizens have come to his stand to appreciate or choose the scrolls they like. The couplets written by Wu are so popular that a customer bought one right after Wu finished writing it. “Everyone wants an auspicious start for their families”, said Wu. “‘Better home, better person, and better career. Greater luck, greater wealth, and greater fortune’ is the most popular pair of couplets.”

   

Besides handwriting Spring Festival Couplets, tiger toys, tiger paintings, red packets with tigers’ patterns and many other artifacts with “tiger” on them are also the citizen’s favorite here. Many people have come here to buy these and brought good luck home to welcome the coming Year of the Tiger.

 

Markets and malls in Shanshui are also filled with joy. New Year songs like The Winter Jasmine (Ying Chun Hua) and Wish You Make A Great Fortune (Gong Xi Fa Cai) can be heard and decorative paintings such as “Forging ahead as vigorous as a tiger” (Hu Hu Sheng Wei) and “Lucky tiger brings fortune to the whole family” (Fu Hu He Jia Huan) can be seen wherever one goes. Candies, biscuits and chocolates are put in places which are easy for people to spot them. Many citizens have filled their carts with all kinds of goods, and everywhere is filled with an air of happiness.

 

Flower plays an essential role in welcoming the Spring Festival. Festive mandarin orange, delicate phalaenopsis, lively cymbidium, fragrant daffodil and many other flowers can be seen at every selling spot, adding good fortune to the Spring Festival.

 

Spring Festival is not just about having a bustling atmosphere, but also, family gatherings. Many of those who left their hometown for work have chosen to stay put during the festival due to the corona-virus. Yet still, the air of celebration that runs out from every corner of Sanshui has comforted the hearts of local citizens and newcomers.

Author | Natalie (Intern)

Revisor | Jersey

Photo | Wangshu, Foshan Daily