Thursday, November 24, 2011

Activities

4:28 AM
By Steve Chung


How do kids celebrate New Year in China? Take a look at what the Chinese kids do during the New Year.

Although the Chinese New Year is a time when men, women and children of all ages go all out in terms of enjoying themselves by engaging in all sorts of traditional activities it is the youngest lot that manages to reap the utmost benefits.

After all there are some advantages of being young. First of all you are free from all the liability when it comes to arranging, supervising and taking care of things. This doesn't mean that the kids don't help around the house during the season but it is right that the elders take it real easy on the kids during the Chinese New Year season and let them enjoy to the maximum.

For the Chinese kids the New Year events assure a lot of fun and games but additionally it becomes an educative process for them as well. This is because the New Year is a time when all sorts of historic traditions are brought back to life hence the kids get to discover about the history and origin of their very own culture.

Such an educative process that permits them to have fun while they are being educated serves great benefits in terms of teaching them a history lesson that they will never forget or dread all their lives. Rather New Year celebrations for kids are amongst the most memorable things that the youngsters will never forget all their lives.

The richness of Chinese tradition is evident during the New Year when it manifests through different activities. The China in its true colors is presented to the children in such a manner that the kids easily understand them. The fun begins with the permission of staying awake till late at night and taking part in all sorts of activities.

The elders in China take pains to teach their kids Chinese history and traditions by setting up traditional games so that kids learn from them while enjoy playing them. One of the main games that kids get to play is dominoes which they learn that it originated in China and Chinese are playing it for at least thousand years.

Another game which parents encourage the children to play is an 8th century game of cards. Here the parents make drawings on the cards and kids are made to write a story from the visual. Jianzi game is also played with lot of enthusiasm which is one of the ancient games of China resembling the game of hacky sack played by the kids in modern times.

Another ancient practice is to hand over a red envelop having money to the children by some elders. The children wait for this moment as this money helps to increase their spending power during the New Year festival. The red envelop known as Hong Bao is the most coveted ancient tradition which also is a carrier of good luck.

The kids also get to enjoy the general parades like the lantern festival as well as the dragon dance that takes place a few days into the New Year. On the whole the festive season is a time of great fun and learning for children.




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