Thought the new year was over after Chinese New Year’s Eve? Think again. In China, celebrating the new year is not just a matter of swinging around a few firecrackers and enjoying a great meal. In the 15 days following Chinese New Year, nearly every day has its own customs and traditions. We won’t get into all of that, in the interest of space. But it all culminates on the 15th day of the new year which is — you guessed it — the Lantern Festival.

As you can see above, part of the lantern festival is about…well…getting out to enjoy these giant lanterns. To the uninitiated, lanterns might just seem like large glorified light-up floats. Unlike floats, lanterns just stay in one place — while people move around to have a look. Usually the lanterns draw from traditional Chinese folklore and, especially, the Chinese zodiac. Since this is the year of the pig, you can bet that, across the world, hundreds of thousands of people are gawking at glowing larger-than-life representations of these oinkers. Meanwhile, the kids often carry around little lanterns — either made by themselves or bought from a seller — as a part of the celebration.

Given the full moon, it’s not surprising then that “roundness” is an inextricable aspect of the holiday. Tang yuan (汤圆), the traditional snack for Chinese Lantern Festival, are round balls of glutinous rice flour filled with sweet or savory paste. One time I celebrated the holiday with a friend who went out of her way to make a meal of nothing but round foods — including the tang yuan. And actually, the word describing the very act of family togetherness encouraged for the holiday — tuan yuan (团圆）– has a character in it meaning “round”.
It is also a time for auspiciousness and good fortune — celebrating the holiday is a part of that. And there are certain traditions that carry this idea forward. For example, some people will put a “lucky” filling in certain tang yuan, such as a strawberry. If you happen to get this filling in your tang yuan, you can expect good things to come in the new year.

Want to connect with Chinese people over this holiday? If you’re looking for a terrific symbol of Chinese New Year, you’ve found one with the lanterns. Think about how you might integrate them into your marketing and communications ideas. Consider also the idea of roundness surrounding the holiday, and use it to your advantage — whether in your marketing materials or your business dealings. For example, impress your guests with a meal of only circular foods! But whatever you do, make it auspicious.

Here’s the reason, taken from a Xinhua News article titled “Protect Chinese New Year” becomes a common idea in Chinese society:

This suggested idea of “Protect Chinese New Year” came about because these years Gao Youpeng [a professor at Henan University] felt “a definite threat to the safety of China’s traditional culture.” During the past 20-some years, Gao Youpeng conducted empirical surveys of traditional culture and regrettably found that young people — entranced with the internet and video games — increasingly followed Western civilization, craved Western holidays, but were more indifferent and lacked understanding of their own traditional holidays and culture.

This crisis is nothing new. After all, didn’t the government completely forget Chinese New Year’s Eve last month — the most important day of the year — when they left it out of the official national holidays? It certainly highlights China’s stubborn fascination with all things foreign.

Yet this new push to “protect Chinese New Year” also suggests a new search for a national identity. China’s traditional culture was all but demolished during the bulldozer run of the cultural revolution. Now people want to embrace those traditional cultural activities and customs that make China…well…China.

I think this means one thing: the “cache” of foreign brands, companies and products in China won’t last forever. Its days are numbered. Perhaps now we can still get away with waving foreignness in the face of the Chinese as a symbol of all that is exclusive, elegant and well-engineered. But sooner or later China will look closer to home and discover the beauty within.

In the meantime, it’s up to us to change the way we communicate with China. If Chinese people are putting more of a premium on their own culture, shouldn’t we do the same in how we deal with them? Think about your marketing materials, corporate identity or even how you interact with people in China — and how you can integrate a little Chinese culture into your approach.

This image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons and user Chrislb, and falls under their GMU Free Documentation License.

Ever come across a door flanked by two vertical red strips with Chinese characters?

If so, you’ve seen duilian — one of the most important and revered Chinese New Year symbols and traditions.

Duilian are generally two long, vertical strips placed parallel to one another on each side of a door, with poetic and traditional Chinese sayings written on them. Duilian might appear to be a simple holiday decoration. But they go far beyond that. They represent the wishes and hopes that Chinese people have for the new year.

Let’s take for example the duilian I have on the door of my office. The one on the left reads “Da Zhan Hong Tu” or “May you achieve your great plan”. On the right, it says “Sheng Yi Xing Long” or “May your business be prosperous”.

As far as Chinese New Year Symbols go, duilian are perhaps the most enduring. That’s because they are displayed the entire year, sometimes looking tired and ragged (as in the case of many of my neighbors in Shanghai). But people don’t mind, because they believe duilian can bring good fortune throughout the year.

If you’re marketing your products and services in China, duilian are worth more than a cursory investigation. Certainly there’s the association that duilian have with Chinese New Year and auspiciousness. Chinese people, in case you haven’t noticed, will go to great lengths to ensure good luck. After all, the duilian are written on red paper — I probably need not remind you just how auspicious the color red is in China.

But the really auspicious part is the content itself — what is written on duilian. Knowing traditional duilian sayings — which are cherished by most Chinese people — can be a great way to connect with the public. In fact, my father-in-law has an entire book devoted just to duilian sayings that he uses to write his own duilian every year. These phrases have immediate cultural recognition, and people are attracted to them simply because they suggest good luck. Duilian sayings could be like gold when used in a marketing campaign, a name of a product/service, or an event.

So go ahead, see how these Chinese New Year Symbols can work for you. Wan Shi Ru Yi (may everything be as you wish)!