Photo: Xinhua
In a recent article by the British media outlet BBC, we get a closer look at the rapidly changing dynamics of New Year celebrations. The article focuses primarily on the millennial generation, who in relatively large numbers are setting their own rules about how to spend New Year's Eve and are taking to the road instead of celebrating with their families. Others, on the other hand, choose not to celebrate at all, often for financial reasons and the high expectations associated with a New Year's visit to family. I myself have quite a number of friends or acquaintances in my area who clearly confirm this rule and either stay in a rented apartment in the city where they moved for work to relax, save the high costs associated with going home and avoid the expectations and pressure of family, or choose to travel. Let's take a closer look at this rapidly changing dynamic, with specific examples and specific reasons behind the often unusual decisions these young people make.
Independence
China's millennials, of whom there are 400 million, mostly came of age during the Chinese boom years of the 2000s. This generation, many of whom are college-educated and only children, do not always follow the old rules, abandoning the traditional values their parents held.
A growing number of young Chinese millennials have alternative plans and are approaching the Spring Festival with a shrug. Changing family dynamics, new lifestyles and economic pressures have disrupted some holiday traditions - and many young Chinese are planning their own celebrations.
According to a long-standing tradition, many Chinese people have to travel long distances for the Spring Festival. But millennials are increasingly bucking the trend and planning their own journeys.
For example, Cassidy Yu decided to go on a trip with a friend instead of a family reunion on the Lunar New Year. It wasn't the first time she'd skipped a trip home.
"I don't enjoy going home for New Year's anymore," says Yu, a 32-year-old marketing specialist from Shenzhen in southern China. As a child, she used to look forward to the simple rituals associated with celebrating the Lunar New Year: decorating her home with firecrackers and feasting with her family. Not anymore. "With so many entertainment alternatives available today, I prefer to travel and enjoy the quieter holidays."
Like Christmas, the Lunar New Year is a time of family gatherings. Families traditionally gather for a grand dinner on New Year's Eve, followed by visits to relatives throughout the week.
The celebration of New Year in China is associated with the largest regular migration of people in the world, with millions of people returning to their home villages and towns for a labyrinth of celebrations rooted in centuries-old regional traditions. Some experts estimate that the season-long New Year's celebrations will bring a record number of travellers this year, largely due to the lifting of restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic over the past few years.
As a result, for some millennials, this holiday is just an extended holiday that may not include family gatherings. "Traveling is more fun than just feeling bored at home during the Lunar New Year, isn't it?" wrote one user on Chinese travel website Mafengwo 马蜂窝.
Millennials' fears about the holiday stem in part from crumbling family ties, says Hu Xiaowu, an associate professor at Nanjing University in eastern China who studies urban issues.
"The independence of young people as a result of urbanization and social mobility has disrupted family relationships," he says. "Traditional family ties in China are weakening personal boundaries, which can manifest itself in overprotective and overbearing behaviour by elders. This is partly why young people shy away from family celebrations during the Spring Festival."
Many Chinese millennials have left their hometowns for the big cities in pursuit of better opportunities. The individualistic lifestyle, coupled with the stresses of big-city life, is a common reason for the lack of time - or desire - to talk to their families, Hu says. According to a survey Hu conducted in 2022, young people between the ages of 18 and 30 communicate significantly less with relatives than those over 30.
"Relatives want to know what you do and how much you earn. If you marry or get married, they ask when you plan to have children. It's like being interrogated by a spy agency," says Cassidy Yu.
One of the reasons Yu has chosen to avoid communicating with her family, and even her neighbors, this year is because she is single. She says her family always likes to play matchmaker, and that during the Spring Festival, the ringing can be especially intense. No questions are too private and relatives know no boundaries.
We have no money
According to the BBC, in recent years companies have been laying off workers and cutting benefits. Shares have plummeted. And the housing market, to which nearly three-quarters of Chinese household wealth is tied, is in chaos.
On Zhihu, a Chinese platform similar to Quora Q&A, users posted their reasons for not going home for the Lunar New Year in 2024. One wrote simply, "I don't have the money."
Not everyone avoids going home - but many have changed their behaviour and attitude once they have gone home.
"For some people, the idea of having to set aside 3,000 yuan (about US$432) to travel home to see family - to pay for train tickets, clothes and gifts - can be an economic burden," says Zak Dychtwald, founder of Young China Group, a market issues and consulting firm. "And everyone would rather go home for the holidays with visible accomplishments to present to their family, not with their tail between their legs."
"I want to show my parents my mianzi"
In Chinese mianzi 面子 literally means "face" and refers to the recognition of social status and prestige by others.
Not every young millennial avoids the journey home - but not all of them travel with joy and look forward to seeing their parents with open arms.
Yu Meiling from the eastern city of Hangzhou, who is 29 and works as a freelancer, and her husband spent the holidays in her home village. She prepared three red hongbao 红包 envelopes and put 1,000 yuan (US$140) in each for her mom, dad and younger sister. The couple also bought wine and cigarettes as gifts for other relatives, according to tradition.
Yet this year, high family expectations and financial burdens weighed on her. She feels high pressure to maintain good mianzi, the Chinese concept of saving face for social prestige and status. Thus, a person is judged by the gifts he or she has brought or even by the clothes he or she has chosen for New Year's celebrations. In the interest of better mianzi, the couple came to their home village this year in a new car they had recently purchased.
"In the past, the gifts we bought during the Lunar New Year were basically the same. Everything was simpler because everyone's standard of living was more or less the same. Now that the wealth gap is widening, you are constantly being compared to others when you go home for the holidays," he says. "I don't particularly like the Spring Festival. But this year I decided to go home with my husband because I want to show my parents my mianzi."
The traditional values and expectations that define the Lunar New Year are gradually giving way to new lifestyles, economic pressures and the growing independence of young Chinese. This change is mainly due to the development of individualism and a different perception of social roles and traditions. Many young people are choosing alternative ways of celebrating, such as travel or relaxation, and rejecting the traditional expectations associated with family celebrations. This trend not only points to changes in Chinese society, but also to the need to rethink traditional notions of family, responsibilities and prestige. The Lunar New Year remains an important part of Chinese culture, but its meaning and form is changing with the arrival of a new generation that defines a completely different meaning of this holiday.
Lada Procházková
gnews.cz-Jana Černá_07
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