Xīn nián kuài lè! That’s happy new year in Mandarin and, yes, it is something that is said in China to mark the new calendar year on January 1. Though expectations of Chinese New Year are in the air– the traditional lunar new year celebrated on February 16 – there was a pause to recognize the arrival of 2018. Like every other city in the world, Shanghai sparkles with cocktails and other nightlife festivities for New Years Eve. Seeking a family oriented event, we learned about an opportunity in nearby Suzhou to (literally) ring in 2018 to the sounds of 108 chimes of a massive temple bell. With train tickets purchased and overnight bags packed, the four of us headed out to Suzhou.
After arrival, and despite the rain and foggy pollution gloom, we walked the side streets from our hotel to Pingjiang Old Street. Walking through areas not usually trafficked by tourists is always interesting and certainly gives you a better feel for the local scene. Sometimes you see locals going to and from errands, rare empty streets, or interesting music stores that allow you to play authentic Chinese musical instruments!
Marco playing the Guzheng, or Chinese Zither.
We’ve been to several old town market streets (Pingjiang is probably the most charming of all of them so far) so instead of sticking to the main stores, or peering at the vendors hawking their wares from a safe distance, we delved deeper – even walking down what Janna or Marco deemed creepy looking dark alleys to see what was there.
We spotted an intriguing restaurant and pushed aside the plastic screens hanging on the door to keep the cold air out and took a step inside and back in time. I was enthralled by this restaurant. It reminded me of scenes from the famous movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and was filled with local (yet still pleasant) food scents. Steam from the dumplings clouded our glasses and warmed our faces against the chill air outside. The large-scale dining room was in the back through a narrow corridor and to get there we walked by chefs chopping and tossing dinner at their exposed kitchen and carefully stepped over the large wooden thresholds marking doorways in old Chinese buildings. Our confidence, as well as our language skills have improved as we pointed to dishes other diners were having and added that to our order.
Suzhou (pronounced soo joe) is tucked right next to Shanghai, almost like a suburb, but is far older than its massive neighbor. As the birthplace (literally) of silk, it is downright ancient and culture drips from its corners and alleyways like the winter rain. This is not just a personal opinion. The city hosts numerous UNESCO World Heritage sites. Suzhou’s Classical Gardens are the sticks by which all other Chinese gardens are measured. It’s a big stick at that as the gardens are fabulous. While the weather on the last day of December may not show the gardens at their best, it didn’t stop them from being full of people enjoying the long weekend.
For our ringing in the New Year festivities, we headed over to the Hanshan Temple located just outside the old town area of Suzhou. This temple is famous throughout China and even neighboring Korea and Japan.
The streets around the temple were full of festivities, lights, dancing dragons, food, and shopping. We approached the temple entrance gate and were surprised to be turned away because tickets were required and already sold out. Undeterred, and as confident as if he was getting tickets for a CU Boulder Football Game, Jeff turned on his street radar (some languages are universal) and soon found tickets through a “ticket vendor” who conveniently happened to have extras in his coat pocket. Tickets? Check. Onward into the temple we went.
The Chinese have a long tradition of poetry and many historical and cultural events are memorialized through poetry. The particular poetic history of the Hanshan Temple is from “A Night Mooring by Maple Bridge” by the 10th century poet Zhang Ji .
月落烏啼霜滿天，
江楓漁火對愁眠。
姑蘇城外寒山寺，
夜半鐘聲到客船。
The moon is going down
And the crows make a ruckus
The sky is covered with frost
There are maples on the riverbank
And the lights of fishing boats
Drift with the current
I fall into a sad sleep
from the monastery on Cold Mountain
The sound of the bell
Reaches the guest boat at midnight
The night was chilly, and the moon was almost full, so true to poetic form, the temple grounds spanning the Grand Canal and interlinked by bridges was mesmerizing.
There were opera singers, costumed vendors, and music and dance ensembles to entertain guests. Marco pointed out that never in his wildest imagination could he have pictured himself standing in an ancient Buddhist temple in China to ring in the New Year.
Precisely timed to have the last gong ring at the stroke of midnight, the monks strike the Hanshan Bell 108 times to bring good luck and fortune to those who hear it. The Buddhist tradition says that there are 108 annoyances in a layperson’s life. I can’t say whether this is a daily count or annual count, but no matter, riding ourselves of annoyances seems a good thing. A crowd gathered while we listened to the bells chime out in intervals for 15 minutes until the count to 105, 106, 107, 108 and Happy New Year was reached!
Listening to the exotic and low-pitched bell dutifully and expertly rung by monks to ring in the New Year was far from an experience any of us expected to have on this New Year’s Eve and we were excited to experience it.
