We looked for a shirt this week with a map of China and the words “I survived Golden Week” imprinted on it. Not being able to find one, we’ll have to settle for the memories. We made a lot of those.
Golden Week is a 7-day holiday in China that celebrates China’s National Day and the popular Mid-Autumn Festival. This year, Golden Week was from October 1 – 8.
In September 1949, after a lengthy Civil War, the People’s Republic of China separated from the Republic of China (which is now Taiwan) and the mainland communist Chinese nation was formed. This event was formally celebrated in Tiananmen Square on October 1 and as such October 1 has become the official National Day of China. Overnight, cities became festooned with red lanterns and flags which decorate the streets for the entire week.
Also celebrated during this week is the Mid-Autumn Festival, an annual celebration of fall which occurs on the full moon of the 8th month of the Chinese calendar. It is also festively called Moon Day and the nation is filled with celebratory “moon cakes” which are little dough cakes filled with sweet bean paste or nut mixtures. This is a time of year where families travel to be together to celebrate the harvest and bounty of the season. The joining of these two holidays gives everyone a full 7 days off work and so travel and sightseeing is on everyone’s (almost all 1.5 billion of them) activity list.
We were adamantly told by almost every westerner to stay away from travel this week. Many advised that the best thing to do is hang out in your apartment and watch TV or read a book. It was hard advice for our family to follow and so of course we decided to venture out. Our official tour (which you’ll read about in future posts) was a Yangtze River Cruise. We rationalized that a ship can only hold the number of people it was originally designed for and can’t get overcrowded. We were right, the ship had plenty of opportunities for solitude. However, other sites and land based events were astoundingly crowded.
Crowds of people throng to markets, temples, historic sites, and famous buildings throughout all of China. None of us in our family will ever (I mean ever) look at a crowd the same way. What is a crowd in most other places compared to a crowded Chinese venue during Golden Week? Nothing, trust me.
Everyone is festive and the mood is happy. The only faces that appear anxious, nervous, or downright afraid were those “non-Chinese” who were brave enough to venture out and explore. With all these people one might think of being trampled. But there is no shoving, just a gentle constant pressure to move from place to place. Chinese security is out in force standing sentry at checkpoints, corners, and entryways ushering people calmly from place to place. It is fascinating to me for its calm amidst the chaos. Shouting street vendors, loud music, boisterous families, and the ever-present selfie and video taking abound, but nowhere, not once, did I see any display of anger or frustration. Of course, I can’t speak the language, but I did once witness a yelling match between two taxi drivers shortly after we arrived in August which I’m certain contained plenty of choice swearwords (you recognize those in any language) so I know it happens, I’m just saying I didn’t see it during Golden Week. I can’t say I know why and I’m equally sure the answer is not simple, but I do know that you don’t feel unsafe in these crowds.
Here’s a story to explain what I mean. One evening after trying for more than an hour to find a restaurant in a crowded marketplace with map apps that kept pointing underground, elevators that only took you to certain floors, and stairwells leading to boarded off doorways, Jeff and I succumbed to getting the kids dinner at a local Starbucks. While Marco was getting selfies taken with giggling local adolescent girls (being asked to take photos with locals is not uncommon, but it helps when you’re a cute 12 year old boy as well) we were standing in the courtyard with 500 other people and a woman happens to overhear our discussion and asks us in English if she can help. We tell her about the restaurant/pub we were trying to find. She says she will help and gets on her phone and calls someone to come and escort us. I’m thinking, seriously? But not long after, out of the crowd appears a man who comes right towards us and asks us if we’re the ones looking for the pub. It must have been obvious. After we said yes, he lead us through the crowd, around the lines, behind the security gate, and down a set of stairs that must have just been meant just for those in the know and into the restaurant.
I recently met a couple from South Africa and was told there are things you can’t explain about China – incongruities that defy categorization. Like an outdoor escalator that ferries people up and down a mountain. She told us to pass if off by saying “This is China” or “TIC”. This is, indeed, China!