Even under the regime of "Gang of Four" during the Cultural Revolution, when books were burned, temples smashed, traditions deemed rotten and intellectuals sent to grow cabbages, "Chun Jie" (Chinese New Year) was still the joyous days of the year. To us kids, it meant good and plenty food, new clothes, lots of visitors, no school and time to trap birds.

My grandma started preparing the feast a week before "Chu Yi", the New Year day. She made dozens of "Zong Zi" ( glutinous rice and meat wrapped in bamboo leaves for the salty ones and red bean paste and lard for the sweet ones). Just like everybody else, we had chicken, duck, fish, pork and whole cooked eggs braised in soy sauce... My grandma's specialty was egg skinned dumplings. She put a spoonful of well beaten egg onto a heated frying pan and made a perfect round skin and I helped placing a meatball on it. Then she carefully folded the skin into a half moon shaped dumpling. The university my father worked distributed fruits, roasted peanuts, small walnuts and dried persimmons. Grandma polished the glassware only used for special occasions and put in them apples, pears, oranges, nuts and sweets. In the university nobody displayed on their front doors a piece of red diamond shaped paper with a big "Fu" (luck) character on it, which was thought tacky. But girls did wear some red, either red outfit or a piece of red yarn for their braids. Grandma worked hard through the summer on our new clothes and shoes. All the children looked forward to that morning when they would be dressed head to toe new things and receive "Hong Bao", a small red envelop with money in it.

What I always longed for the most was the moment of "Da Nian Ye"( New Year's eve). After the dinner table was cleaned up and outside snowflakes fell silently, Grandma lighted a candle and hurried us to bed. In the shimmering light she started to tell the story of " Mouse Getting Married" and if we would go to bed early and leave the bright lamps out, we could hear the ceremonial and their procession passing by, with the bride sitting in her sedan of an egg shell...