Increasingly by 2000 home for me was China. Living in Beijing of course provided the opportunity to participate in and enjoy local Spring Festival activities. Sometimes my regular restaurants or cafe bars asked me to be with them on the eve of the new year for dumplings and drinks. A small hotel near Dongzhimen that had been my temporary home in 2003 invited me to share the evening at their staff party. It was a time for friendship and to feel increasingly close to people who had been maybe only casual acquaintances.

By the early 2000’s Beijing had developed several popular temple fairs. A good introduction is the Capital Museum where sections display and explain many traditions, customs and indeed much of the city’s earlier street life. Fairs went back to the days when Beijing was a walled city. Camel caravans would arrive after lengthy, arduous journeys following the fabled Silk Road. Gatherings would regularly develop around the city’s many temples. Goods were bought, sold, exchanged, bartered. Along with traders came travelling entertainers bringing acrobatic skills, folk tales, fortune telling. All so much part of the culture of that period. Beijing’s contemporary venues try to capture some of that feel over the holiday week - indeed travelling entertainers and contortionists still come from around the country to perform!