Tonight is the eve of Chinese Lunar New Year 2006. Almost all businesses (including us) and governmetn offices are closed from the noontime.　The Spring Festival is the most important festival in China (and in some other Asian countires with a Chinese cultural influence and heritage such as Singapore and Malaysia). As a Chinese tradition, the Spring Festival is a time for family reunion (just like Chrismas for western world), and family members have lunch and dinner together, exchanging gifts. When I was a kid living in my hometown in a northeastern province of China, I got new clothes and candies and watched fireworks during Spring Festival. In recent years, Chinese Government has adopted a seven-day national holidays for Spring Holidays, which are actually three working days off and the remaining are made up of weenkends and working days to be made up by working at the following weenkends (hope you know what I mean :)). People here use these seven days to go back their hometowns or making a tour to some desirable places such as Southeast Asia and Hainan Island where it is much warmer; of course, some other people think the northeastern part of China is a good choice for skiinng or otherwise enjoying the sonw and ice.

I will be staying in Beijing in the holidays, going skiing, watching movies, eating out with friends, and reading some books-a lot of things to do. I will aslo take some photos to demonstrate how we celebrate the Spring Festival.

Wish you guys a Happy New Year also!A Dog Angel for A Good Dog Year 2006