Shenzhen’s winter does not make one into a snowbird, no need to flee the subfreezing temperatures the US is enduring right now. Still, the new year is a good time to refresh mind and body. One local spot for rejuvenation in Shenzhen is the OCT East resort (东部华侨城 dongbu huaqiaocheng), a massive fairytale of a development, with two themed parks, a Buddhist temple, and palatial residences clinging to hilltops, all nestled in a picturesque valley east of central Shenzhen. In the Interlaken village, you can treat yourself to a mountainside soak in a series of therapeutic baths and stroll along the recreated alpine lake.

Elsewhere in China, options for hot springs and spas abound. You could even visit the most ancient and famous hot spring in China, the Huaqing Hot Spring outside of Xi’an, where Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei retreated. Near Hangzhou, a natural hot spring has been discovered and opened into a new resort at Tuankou Hot Spring. This spring is the largest in eastern China, and is located close to other winter and four-season resorts, as well as Hangzhou’s sublime West Lake.

For more ideas on winter spa breaks, check here and here. Happy travels, and let us know if you have a special getaway planned this winter.

China’s high-speed rail has just been extended, with several new lines opening on December 28. The longest of these is the Shenzhen-Xiamen stretch of the Hangzhou-Fuzhou-Shenzhen High Speed Railway. This now links all the southeastern coastal special economic zones, allowing travel by high speed rail directly from Guangzhou (by the Shenzhen-Guangzhou line) and Shenzhen to Xiamen, Shanghai and Hangzhou. The 514 km trip from Shenzhen to Xiamen has been shortened from 15 hours to 3.5 hours. See schedules here.

A 138 km line also opened from Baoji to Xi’an in Shaanxi province, extending the line which already connects Xi’an to Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province.

This opens up lots of possibilities for winter and Spring Festival travel. For ideas of things to do, take a look at China Tea Leaves guides for Shanghai and Hangzhou!

 

Researchers at the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang in Xi’an have announced the recent discovery of stone armor from the Qin dynasty, over 2,000 years ago. Qin Shi Huang was the first emperor of China under the Qin dynasty, and his mausoleum is the site of the famous Terra Cotta Warriors. Read more about the discovery and view a video here.

The Terra Cotta Warriors were discovered in 1974, just one part of Qin Shi Huang’s tomb complex, which has been uncovered gradually over the past forty years. Archaeologists believe there may be as many as 6,000 of the life-size clay figures, but as of today only about 1,000 have been unearthed.

The armor is made up of square stone pieces, held together by bronze wire for flexibility. A distinct design was created for each rank of officer, with the finest and most flexible design worn by the generals. Pieces of flexible stone helmets and armor for horses were also found.

One model of armor was on display during our recent visit to the Mausoleum museum. Thousands of pieces of the stone armor will be excavated and reconstructed. Check back often for news about China Tea Leaves Xi’an, coming soon to iBooks!

Our friends and family back home ask us, what’s it like to spend Christmas in China? Do they celebrate Christmas there? The answer is yes! It is a bit of a novelty, a new custom compared to the big show a month later, Spring Festival or Chinese New Year. But even though many people don’t exactly celebrate Christmas as we know it in America, the season is becoming more popular and widely enjoyed.

Here in ever-tropically green Shenzhen, many shops, hotels and plazas decorate for the December holiday, often with truly grand Christmas trees and beautiful displays. Department stores put out obligatory sections of Christmas decorations for the expat community in about mid-December, a somewhat welcome relief from the long onslaught of holiday sales and promotions stateside. The more whimsical shops or bars might decorate with a lifesize Santa Claus, usually playing the saxophone for whatever reason (because it’s American, or cool, or romantic, or maybe because of Bill Clinton). Lobbies, restaurants and malls play a nonstop soundtrack of White Christmas, Let It Snow, and other familiar tunes, with an extra dose of irony and heart pang for us. The Chinese penchant for shopping is a constant, so the malls are always full. Thanksgiving and Black Friday don’t exist to kick off the holiday season, though stores may feature a “Thanksgiving sale” in a nod to the Americans. (Though this year it seemed like China’s Singles’ Day – clubbing night for the unattached on 11/11 (all ones) – had a bit of Black Friday/Cyber Monday-flavour to it, promoting a particular wave of shopping frenzy.)

Families especially like to treat their children to holiday fun. Chocolates and toys line the shelves, as well as funny hats, reindeer antlers, princess wands and other less-traditional costumes. However, there’s no sitting on Santa’s lap—Santa Claus (圣诞老人 shengdan laoren – literally Christmas Elder) often comes in groups of young men in loose beards. The international hotels and cafes offer special Christmas sweets for some authentic Christmas edibles. We even found a couple of our family favorites – Italian panettone and German Mozart Kugeln.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are working days, so there is no national pause for official celebration. Come the 24th, people may get together for happy hour or a movie, or deliver a small gift to friends. A new tradition is to give a single apple, sometimes in a special box or decorated with a meaningful character, because the name for apple (苹果 ping guo) sounds like Christmas Eve (平安夜 ping’an ye, literally peaceful night). This is a new symbol of Christmas, impossible outside of China, at once touching, independent but still true to spirit, a creative assimilation of a Western feast into Chinese culture.

And so, while we miss the familiar immersion in Christmas movies, buttery cookies, and family, spending Christmas in China offers new traditions and symbols that make for a very happy holiday.

Once you’ve arrived to marvel at Shenzhen International Airport’s gleaming new Terminal 3, what else is there to do?

See the wonder of Shenzhen itself, a city of over ten million that grew out of a fishing village in the span of thirty years. This open, confident, creative city is always changing, so visit now to see history being made. Here are some exciting things to see and do while in Shenzhen, and none are related to shopping, Hong Kong, or themed entertainment!

Visit Civic Center, and see the soaring City Hall and the vast People’s Square. Shenzhen is sometimes known as the Pengcheng (鹏城), the city of the Peng or Roc, a great mythological bird. The building’s upturned eaves connect to Chinese tradition and harken the image of the great bird. School kids are often improvising dance routines or flying kites in the large square.

Head north to climb Lianhuashan (莲花山), or Lotus Mountain Park, for a view of elegantly planned Futian, the surrounding district. A statue of Deng Xiaoping looks down from the peak, surveying his legacy of the Special Economic Zone of Shenzhen with an eye on Hong Kong on the southern horizon. Weekends and evenings bring out crowds to dance, exercise, play Chinese chess, and enjoy Shenzhen’s great weather while in the park.

Between Civic Center and Lotus Mountain is the central branch of Shenzhen’s Book City (中心书城 zhongxin shu cheng), the biggest bookstore in the world. This huge mall devoted to the literary arts is always filled with masses of students exploring the stacks, young children reading story books, cafes, specialty gift shops, art exhibits and traditional craft and music demonstrations.

See stunning architecture and infrastructure throughout Shenzhen, and be sure to watch the ongoing construction of the Ping An Finance Center, which will be the tallest building in China when it is completed in 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

Visit Shenzhen’s beaches and parks. Dameisha and Xiaomeisha in eastern Shenzhen are pleasant beaches, Mangrove Park stretches along Shenzhen’s western bay, and gardens and parks give life and recreation to the city’s neighborhoods. The Shenzhen International Garden and Flower Expo Park, or 园博园 (yuanboyuan) for short, is a garden of gardens representing dozens of Chinese styles and regions. Climb to the highest point to see the marble pagoda and views of Shenzhen’s surrounding hills.

A short drive to the east of Shenzhen brings you to the Ming fortified town of Dapeng (大鹏). In this 600 year old military town you can see the ancient city wall and gates, officers’ homes, granary, and other original structures. Shenzhen’s nickname as the Pengcheng preserves its connection to the ancient history of the region.

Today a Chinese visa is required to visit Shenzhen, so contact your nearest Chinese embassy to apply for the correct visa for your trip to China. Some countries’ travelers (not US) may be eligible to apply for visa on arrival when entering by ferry or metro from Hong Kong or Macau, but it’s best to have a Chinese visa before arriving to avoid any complications or fines.

Holidays, of course, reflect local culture and family traditions. Thinking about American holidays at home brings back dear and deep impressions of now far-flung family, one’s childhood hometown, mums managing an industrious kitchen, flavours one can only find when reunited with their kin. But it is also these things that give cherished holidays the world over a sense of universality.

Living in China, we have spent Thanksgivings eating Xinjiang barbecue and Beijing duck, Black Friday scouring a Chinese market for tea sets and Christmas lights, Spring Festival snowed in and eating birthday cake with rice wine. The imagery changes, but the feeling often is surprisingly familiar.

Chinese holidays, from the New Year to Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrate togetherness with family and friends, the blessings of being healthy, and the passing on of traditions from one generation to the next. Whether we’re introducing an American holiday to our Chinese friends or creating a new tradition by celebrating a Chinese holiday in our own way, these threads get woven together in amazing new ways.

This month at China Tea Leaves, we’d like to explore the new traditions we have found in celebrating holidays in China, the customs, gifts and legends behind each. It’s our wish to give to you a sense of China through our experiences. And we hope you’ll think of giving the gift of China in colour, story, picture and poem to family and friends this season.

 

 

Traveling in China’s already exciting and convenient, but it’s about to get even more beautiful and luxurious. Terminal 3 at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport is about to open at the end of this month.

 (photo via gizmodo)

Check out the luminescent interiors and impressive structure here.

In the past thirty years, Shenzhen has grown from a fishing village to being one of China’s Tier One cities, and soon we’ll have an airport to match. Flying in and out of Bao’an we’ve anxiously watched the progress of Terminal 3, and can’t wait until it opens on November 28.