Across China: Snapshots of special Spring Festival celebrations

Traditional Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations usually feature feasts, family reunions and televised galas at home. For some, however, the festival is a little bit different.

JOY IN REHABILITATION CENTER

In southwest China's Guizhou province, Chen Jiang (pseudonym) dined with his brother and mother, who cooked his favorite spicy chicken and sausage. They were not, however, at their home, but in a rehabilitation center.

Since the drug addict was sent to the center in Guiyang, Guizhou's capital, last year, he has only seen his mother twice, through a glass window, talking via telephone. "I didn't expect to join them in the New Year dinner this year," he said.

He Ya, a police officer with the center, told Xinhua that they arranged family reunions for the addicts and video chats with family for those whose relatives were not able to come.

"The 482 people here are victims as well as offenders," he said.

From Monday to Wednesday, the first to third days of the Year of the Monkey, a variety of activities are to be held in the center, such as a basketball match, tug-of-war, chess contest.

Zhou Qiang (pseudonym) is the basketball star of the center. "I was in poor health when I arrived last year," he said. His weight was less than 50 kilograms (about 110 lb). Now he is 60 kilograms and strong enough to play from the opening whistle to the end.

"At this time next year, I will be enjoying the feast with my family. Out of the center of course." he said.

OUT OF SHADOW OF DISASTER

"If you happen to bite into a Gutu with a banknote in it, you will have good luck in the new year," said Tsewang Sangmo, who believes that her younger daughter was naughty as the girl found a piece of tree bark in her Gutu.

Gutu is a kind of dough soup made of wheat and other ingredients enjoyed by Tibetan people at the Night of Gutu, which falls on the 29th of the 12th month on Tibetan calendar. This year, the Night of Gutu coincides with the eve of Chinese Lunar New Year.

Tsewang Sangmo lives in the Kyibuk village of the Gyirong county bordering Nepal, which was affected by an earthquake last April.

Among the 35 households in the village, one third are still living in makeshift dwellings.

After the quake, the affected people received quilts and food for disaster relief. Before the new year, village officials organized home improvements.

"We were living in a tent before I left for Shijiazhuang last year," said Nangsa, an 18-year-old college student studying in north China's Hebei province. "Now we are in a makeshift house." They watched TV and had a big meal on the eve of Spring Festival.

The Hui Autonomous County of Menyuan in northwest China's Qinghai province was jolted by a 6.4-magnitude earthquake on Jan. 21, damaging 54 houses, including 20 with cracks in the walls.

But the red lanterns in the streets and sound of fireworks seemed to have dispelled people's anxiety.

Liu Chengpu, a village in Shangjinba village, bought a new television on Saturday. His neighbor Wang Yanying had prepared dishes for her children who worked or went to school outside.

"The wall of the courtyard collapsed, but our house wasn't damaged much," Wang said. She received 1,000 yuan from local government for renovation.

CELEBRATING AT WORK

This Spring Festival eve was the first time Chen Zhengfang, a train conductor with 27 years experience, saw staff members outnumber passengers on the route.

On K1235, which travels from Jiujiang of east China's Jiangxi province to Kunming in southwest Yunnan, there were 50 conductors and police officers, nearly three times the number of passengers which stood at 18.

"In previous years, I received a lot of phone calls asking for spare tickets," he recalled. "Travel has been made a lot easier by the completion of railway network and introduction of extra trains."

Around 3,300 kilometers of new lines were added to the high-speed railway network in China last year, bringing the total length to 19,000 kilometers, which makes up 60 percent of the world's total.

Before the Spring Festival, 3,543 extra train services were launched so as to ensure people could get tickets during the annual travel rush.

"I had been used to passengers' company on the New Year eve, but this year the train is less bustling," Chen said. "Anyway, we would be here even if there was only one passenger." Endi