Time in China and what the Chinese morning begins with…

Did you know that China spans five time zones? The local time in Beijing is seven hours ahead of our time and in China itself there is a time difference of up to four hours. Many Chinese get up in the morning and do some morning exercises like Kung Fu, Tai Chi or Qigong. Jogging has also caught on in China. From seven o’clock the streets are already quite busy. The bicycle is still a popular means of transport, but there are now a lot more cars in China too, so the roads are often congested.

Peeing made easy

In China there is a very special piece of clothing for small children, trousers with a slit. For a long time, Chinese parents did not know about diapers for babies. That’s why children were simply sewn a slit into their pants. So they could just pee around the corner very quickly. This way the children don’t get wet, their pants (mostly) are dry and expensive diapers are not needed. These pants are also available in winter, then several on top of each other. Of course, not all Chinese toddlers wear these pants.

Full subway

The subway is always full. For example, the Beijing subway is 465 kilometers long. Eleven million people were transported here in one day.

Chinese zodiac signs

According to itypeauto, Chinese are very polite people. So – because it is considered impolite – they would never ask a person’s age. What you like to ask, however, is the zodiac sign. A sign of the zodiac is assigned to each year. There are a total of twelve different signs of the zodiac, so you can calculate the age of a person using the zodiac sign. The Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar and always begins between January 21st and February 21st. For example, anyone born between February 1, 2003 and January 21, 2004 was born under the sign of the goat. Certain character traits are assigned to the various signs of the zodiac.

And what is your animal

Beginning end your animal

February 16, 1999 February 4, 2000 兔 Rabbit
February 5, 2000 January 23, 2001 龍 Dragon
January 24, 2001 February 11, 2002 蛇 Snake
February 12, 2002 January 31, 2003 馬 Horse
February 1, 2003 January 21, 2004 羊 Sheep
January 22, 2004 February 8, 2005 猴 Monkey
February 9, 2005 January 28, 2006 雞 Rooster
January 29, 2006 February 17, 2007 狗 Dog
February 18, 2007 February 6, 2008 豬 Pig
February 7, 2008 January 25, 2009 鼠 Rat
January 26, 2009 February 13, 2010 牛 Buffalo
February 14, 2010 February 2, 2011 虎 Tiger
February 3, 2011 January 22, 2012 兔 Hare
January 23, 2012 February 9, 2013 龍 Dragon
February 10, 2013 January 30, 2014 蛇 Snake
January 31, 2014 February 18, 2015 馬 Horse
February 19, 2015 February 7, 2016 羊 Sheep
February 8, 2016 January 27, 2017 猴 Monkey
January 28, 2017 February 15, 2018 雞 Rooster
February 16, 2018 February 4, 2019 狗 Dog
February 5, 2019 January 24, 2020 豬 Pig

The Chinese New Year

In China people like to celebrate and there is always a good occasion. Although religion is not that important in China, there are many religious festivals. The Chinese also like to celebrate Christmas, although not as quietly as here, but with loud and happy parties. One of the most important Chinese festivals is not Christmas, but the Chinese New Year. In China, this also means Spring Festival. Everyone comes together and covers great distances to celebrate with their relatives. House cleaning and decorating the house or apartment precede the festival. On the evening of the festival, Chinese families prepare a large feast. There are special New Year cakes and dumplings as well as traditional fish. However, this should not be completely eaten, as the fish stands for prosperity, which of course must not be allowed to disappear completely.

At the New Year celebrations, the Chinese also make sacrifices to their hearth gods, who are very important gods in traditional belief. Because everyone should benefit from this festival. And the gods are put in a mild mood. Until midnight, you pass the time playing games or singing karaoke. The New Year’s Eve crackers are not only made in China, but also like to ignite. Because the Chinese love the bang at midnight to drive away evil spirits with the firecrackers, a custom that we also have on New Year’s Eve. However, in China, especially in the big cities, this is now too dangerous because of the narrowness. So many Chinese switch to larger places in the outskirts of the cities in order to be able to shoot their firecrackers. There are also many New Years parades where people wear the animal’s animal masks.