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Dragon Lantern Dance 窜龙灯

There was a dragon lantern dance performance just now at the mall entrance. Lunar New Year’s Eve and the Spring Festival are in two weeks. In Shenzhen, there are lion dances in malls every year during the Spring Festival. This is the first time I’ve seen a dragon lantern dance in Shenzhen.

In my hometown, many villages have dragon lantern dances on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Traditionally, on the fourteenth and fifteenth, the dragon lantern troupe visits people’s homes to offer New Year’s greetings. When the dragon lantern troupe arrives, the homeowner will set off firecrackers to welcome them, and then both sides will exchange auspicious greetings. The dragon lantern will first enter the kitchen, and then perform a few acts in a spacious open area in front of the house. After the performance, the homeowner will give the dragon lantern troupe a red envelope as a token of gratitude.

Generally, the dragon lantern troupe doesn’t visit every household. They usually need to confirm beforehand and then visit each house in order of location. When the dragon lantern troupe arrives, sometimes the neighbors will also set off firecrackers to welcome them, even though the dragon lantern troupe may not actually visit their house later. This is a childhood memory, somewhat hazy, but I remember it being very lively and the atmosphere very enthusiastic. The dragon lantern procession, in particular, had drummers and cymbal players, so you could say it was a live band setup; the entire procession was a live show. One image of the dragon lantern has always been vividly etched in my memory: on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month in fourth grade, in the darkness, a long, glowing dragon (with lights inside) slowly moved forward above a long canal in the distance. That feeling was truly magical.

（刚才商场门口有窜龙灯表演。再过两星期就是除夕和春节了。在深圳每到过年的时候商场里会有舞狮。这是我第一次在深圳看到窜龙灯。

在我老家很多村子正月十五的时候都有窜龙灯。传统上正月十四和十五龙灯会去到人家拜年。当龙灯队伍走来时，这家的主人会打鞭炮欢迎，然后双方互道节日的吉祥话语，然后龙灯会首先进到厨房，然后再到门口宽敞的平地进行些许的表演，表演过后主人会包一个红包给龙灯队表示感谢。

一般来说龙灯队并不会去每户人家，一般是需要提前先确认过，然后按各家的位置顺序依次拜年。当龙灯队到时，有时旁边的邻居也会打鞭炮表示欢迎，虽然等一下龙灯队可能并不会去他家拜年。这是我儿时的记忆，有一些模糊了，只记得很热闹，气氛很热烈，尤其龙灯队伍是配备鼓手和镲手的，所以可以说窜龙灯队伍是一套live band配置，而窜龙灯的乐和舞全程都是live show。关于龙灯有一个画面一直印象深刻：四年级那年的正月十四，夜色中，面前远处亦不远处，一条长长的发光的大龙（龙灯里面有灯）在那条长长的水渠上空缓缓前行。那种感觉真的太奇妙了。）

Gods 神明

Today is the Gregorian New Year, January 1, 2026. The qualifier “Gregorian” is added primarily because for most Chinese people, there is another New Year, the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). The Spring Festival is the Lunar New Year. The Lunar New Year is determined by the intercalation of the Gregorian and lunar calendars.

Last night, in the middle of the night, I heard fireworks going off in the distance. They were very loud, and the fireworks must have been beautiful. It was really nice. But generally speaking, for Chinese people, the Gregorian New Year, besides officially adding one year to the calendar and marking the beginning of a new year, is a significant day, more like a holiday than a festival. It has a different celebration style from the Spring Festival.

Holidays and festivals always seem to belong more to children. The Spring Festival goes without saying, in my memory, as Christmas approached, classmates would rush to buy postcards—all sorts of postcards, brand new ones, bought in sets, then write blessings on them to give to classmates and teachers. Of course, there were also beautiful greeting cards, especially Christmas cards. Some were battery-operated and could sing, and there were various cut-out Christmas tree cards, adorned with sparkling glitter—very gorgeous. Some children would write “Merry Christmas & Happy New Year” on the cards, even though they didn’t know any English. Children always enjoyed it very much. It was a completely different scene from the Spring Festival, other festivals, or local festivals.

So what are festivals like? What are the ways of festivals? Generally speaking, the essential elements include: delicious food, a big meal, and visiting relatives and friends. If it’s Chinese New Year, people will also buy new clothes. Today, I suddenly thought that there is another major element in traditional festivals—worshiping the Gods. Worshipping the Gods of the kitchen—the Kitchen God, the Gods of the living room, the Gods in front of the gate, as well as the ancestors in the ancestral hall, and the Earth God. Every place requires offering tribute, lighting candles and incense to worship, setting off firecrackers, burning paper, all following the same process and ceremony. Now thinking about it, one of the main reasons why I feel the festive atmosphere was stronger when I was a child is the worship ceremony that every household started early in the morning. Early in the morning, everyone gets up to prepare chicken, duck, and fish offerings, which takes a lot of time. Then, they set up plates, light candles and incense, set off firecrackers, and burn joss paper. The whole morning, people are busy, and the sound of firecrackers adds to the liveliness. Worshipping Gods makes the festival more solemn. 

A question that has never appeared before has arisen: why do people worship Gods during festivals? On the first and fifteenth day of each lunar month, people worship Gods. If we ask why worship Gods on the first and fifteenth day, the answer is because it is the first and fifteenth day of a lunar month. So, regarding the worship of Gods during festivals, I wonder if one of the reasons is that people use this ritual to tell Gods that today is a festival and that everyone will eat a big meal, and also to express people’s gratitude to Gods in the form of worship?

(今天是阳历的新年，2026年1月1日。添加一个定语“阳历”主要是对于大部分中国人来说，还有一个新年，也就是春节的过年。春节是农历的新年。农历是阳历和阴历的合历。

昨天晚上，半夜里我听到远处传来放烟花的声音，声音很大，烟花一定很漂亮。真不错。但是总的来说，对中国人来说阳历的新年除了年份的数字正式地加1，时间进入了新的一年，是标志性的一天，它更像是假日而不是节日。它和春节是不一样的庆祝模式。

不管节日还是假日似乎总是更多地属于小孩子。春节不用说，在我的记忆中，每当临近圣诞节时，同学们便纷纷开始购买明信片，各种各样的明信片，很新很新的明信片，一套一套地买，然后写上祝福语送给同学和老师。当然还有精美的贺卡，尤其是圣诞节的贺卡，有些是带电池可以唱歌的贺卡，还有各种剪形了的圣诞树贺卡，带亮晶晶的闪粉很是华丽。有些小孩会在贺卡上写Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, 虽然他们压根儿不会英语。在那几天里小孩们总是乐在其中乐此不疲。那是和春节或者其它节日或者当地特有的节日完全不一样的场景。

那过节是什么样的呢。过节的庆祝模式是什么呢？总的来说必备的元素有：美食，吃大餐，走亲访友。如果是过年的话大家还会买新衣服。我今天突然想到传统上过节其实还有一大元素——敬神。敬厨房的神明——灶神，敬客厅的神明，敬大门口的神，以及敬祠堂祖先和敬土地公。每处都需摆贡品，点蜡烛燃香参拜，烧纸，点鞭炮，都是相同的流程和仪式。现在想想为什么感觉小时候过节的氛围更浓，一大原因就是家家户户一大早开始的敬神仪式。一大早大家就起来准备鸡鸭鱼贡品，这会用去很大一块时间，然后装盘摆盘，点蜡烛燃香，燃纸，点鞭炮，整个上午人们忙忙碌碌，加上鞭炮声的烘托很是热闹。敬神让节日变得更隆重。

一个从来没有出现过的疑问出现了：过节的时候人们为什么要敬神？每逢初一和十五要敬神，如果问为什么初一和十五要敬神，答案是因为是初一和十五。所以关于过节敬神，我在想原因之一是不是人们通过敬神这个仪式告诉神明们今天过节，大家今天会吃得很丰盛，然后以敬神的形式告诉和感谢神明们？)

One Year and Festivals

Today is December 29, 2025. In a few days, it will be the Gregorian New Year, January 1, 2026. A few days ago was Christmas, and a few days before that was the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. In China, the winter solstice is both a meteorological solar term and a festival. This year, the winter solstice falls on December 21st. The winter solstice is the day with the shortest daylight hours. For thousands of years, from the ancient Central Plains to the present day, at noon on this day, the shadow of the sun on a gnomon falls on the farthest line of the winter solstice. In my diagram, the projection of the sun at noon on the winter solstice onto the gnomon is the first straight line appearing in the three GIF Tai Chi diagrams in the gallery; it is pure black because the sun’s shadow on the gnomon extends from the summer solstice line all the way to the winter solstice line.

I feel like I’m about to say a lot about these three circular Tai Chi symbols, so I’ll stop here for now. I’ve discussed this in my book before. All three are quite unique. In general, if you understand the longest line, the winter solstice line, you’ll fully understand my three Tai Chi diagrams. It should be noted that the chronological order of the Tai Chi symbols in the double-fish design I am showing here is the same as that of the earliest Taichi symbol used in ancient China to illustrate changes in natural weather. Simply put, the bottom represents the winter solstice, the top represents the summer solstice, the leftmost represents the spring equinox, and the rightmost represents the autumn equinox.

As you can see in these three Tai Chi diagrams, the winter solstice line is always at the bottom, appearing first. I insist on placing the winter solstice line “at the bottom” and as the first line to appear (I believe that in terms of time and quantity, the earliest people followed the rule of bottom to top, while if placed horizontally, it follows the rule of near to far). The winter solstice is a symbolic day, signifying a beginning. The winter solstice line is perpendicular to the horizontal line, but in my straight-line Tai Chi diagram, it is the baseline, the reference line for all other lines. The angles between all other lines and it are the angles in the Tai Chi diagram, while the angle between the winter solstice line and itself is zero degrees. In terms of color, the winter solstice line contains zero red. Yes, the red color gradually decreases from more at the beginning, reaching its minimum on the winter solstice. However, the Earth is constantly revolving around the sun, and by noon the day after the winter solstice, there is no longer a shadow on the winter solstice line on the gnomon. The so-called “birth of one Yang at the winter solstice” does not mean that Yang will naturally arise because Yin has reached its extreme; rather, it means that after Yang decreases from its peak to its minimum, the earth immediately begins to brew more Yang. Of course, the ancients could not see the Earth’s rotation and revolution, but they knew that tomorrow’s shadow would be shorter than today’s.

I think the traditional Chinese celebration of the winter solstice as a festival is similar to one of the established reasons of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the night of the full moon. It is said that on that day, the moon is particularly close to the earth, making people’s emotions more easily affected, leading to greater excitement and anger compared to usual. Thus, the ancient Chinese established the Mid-Autumn Festival as a festival full of warmth and tranquility. People eat mooncakes and admire the large, round moon with their families, creating a beautiful atmosphere. Similarly, the ancients also established the cold winter solstice as a festival not only to celebrate the increasing sunshine of the following day and welcome the new year, but also for a similar reason: to dispel the cold through celebration. In my memory, the winter solstice of my childhood was always very warm. Children helped adults make rice flour balls, the kind of unfilled glutinous rice balls sold in supermarkets today. It is said that rice flour balls represent the round sun. Besides making rice flour balls, every household would also fry rice or popcorn—frying raw rice until it’s fragrant and cooked, or popping paddy rice. They would also steam many kinds of cakes and pastries. The kitchen on the Winter Solstice was always warm and filled with the enticing aroma of food. My memories of the Winter Solstice are of warm, sweet rice flour balls, hot, fragrant popcorn, and delicious steamed rice cakes.

(今天是2025年12月29日。再过几天就是阳历的新年了，2026年1月1日。前几天是圣诞节，再前几天是北半球的冬至日。在中国冬至是一个气象节气也是一个节日。今年的冬至是12月21日。冬至日是日照时间最短的一天。几千年来，从远古至今的中原大地，冬至这天正午时分圭表上的日影投在了最远的那根冬至线上。在我的图形中的话，冬至这天的正午的太阳在圭表上的投影线对应的是画廊里的三张gif太极图中出现的第一条直线，它是纯黑的，因为圭表上太阳的影子从夏至线一直到了冬至线。

感觉接下来我要说很大一段话关于这3款圆形太极，我还是先说到这里吧。前面我在我的书里有关于这个的论述。它们三个都是那么地特别。总的来说如果理解了最长的那根冬至线的话，就能完全理解我的这三张太极图了。需要说明的是我这里展示的双鱼款的太极图的时间顺序同中国古代最早期的用于示意自然气象变化的太极图相同，也就是最下面为冬至日，最上面表示夏至日，最左边表示春分日，最右边表示秋分日。

可以看到在这三款太极图中，冬至线都在最下面，它第一个出现，我坚持把冬至线放在“最下面”以及作为第一根出现（我认为在时间和数量等方面，最早的古人遵从的是先下后上法则，若是平着放则是由近到远法则）。冬至是标志性的一天，冬至意味着开始 。冬至这根线条垂直于水平线，但在我的直线款太极图中它是基准线，它是其它所有线条的参考线，其它所有线条与它的夹角才是在太极图中的角度，冬至线与自己的夹角为零度。从颜色上看冬至线这条线包含的红颜色为零。是的，红颜色从前面的多逐渐地变少然后在冬至日这天变为最少到了极点。然而地球是在不停围绕太阳转地，到了冬至日的第二天正午，圭表上冬至线上不再有日影。所谓的冬至一阳生，并非因为阴的值到了极点理所当然地就会有阳产生，是阳由多变少再变为最少后地球立刻马不停蹄地开始酝酿更多的阳。当然古人看不到地球的自转和公转，但是他们知道明天的日影一定比今天的更短。

我在想传统上中国人把冬至日当做节日庆祝其实和设立中秋节的其中一个原因是相似的。中秋节那天是月圆之夜，据说那天由于月亮距离地球特别近，人们的情绪容易受到影响，相比平时更容易焦躁，于是中国古人便设立中秋节，一个充满温情与宁静的节日，人们吃着月饼和家人们一起欣赏天空中的大圆月，无形中就营造了美好的氛围。而古代人们将寒冷的冬至这天设置为节日除了庆祝明天开始阳会越来越多，迎接新的一年的到来，还有着与中秋节的的设立类似的原因，就是通过庆祝节日无形中就把寒冷驱除掉了。在我的记忆中，儿时的冬至都是非常温暖的。小孩子会帮着大人搓米粉圆子，也就是现在超市里卖的那种不包馅的的汤圆。据说米粉圆子代表着圆形的太阳。除了做米粉圆子，每家每户还会炒米或者炒爆米花，就是把生大米炒成焦香的熟大米，或者把稻谷直接炒成爆米花。还会蒸很多的糕点。冬至那天的的厨房是无比温暖的，始终弥漫着诱人的食物香味。记忆中的冬至是热乎乎的甜甜的米粉圆子，是热乎乎的香喷喷的爆米花还有热乎乎的美味的蒸糕。)

Shenzhen 2025.12.08 27 °C 

This noon, while waiting at a traffic light on Shennan Road, I saw this tree in full bloom. So I took a picture of it, along with the portrait of DENG Xiaoping. Although the picture wasn’t very clear because I was in a rush, it’s still quite nice, and I like it very much.

PASTA Refrigerator Magnet from Italy

I bought this pasta fridge magnet at Venice Airport. At first, I thought it was a bag of mini-kitchen pasta, but it’s actually a fridge magnet. The design and quality are excellent. There’s a tiny magnet hidden inside. I bought fridge magnets of other foods before, but these pasta fridge magnets are incredibly realistic. Just be so cute! And even now, every time I see it, I still think of it as a small bag of food, just like the first time I saw it.