Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

    BEIJING, Jan. 22 -- Money is tight, so with the Chinese New Year holidays approaching, how can you get the most entertainment at the least cost? Joining traditional Chinese New Year celebrations is your best bet.

    In Shenzhen, there is a lot more to traditional celebrations than just lion dances and firecrackers, although these two venerable traditions are integral and highly visible.

    We've put our heads together and come up with a list of things costing little that still give you a sense of traditional New Year delight and will keep the whole family entertained.

    Taste a basin of goodies: big basin dish

    On Feb. 9, the Chinese Lantern Festival, Shixia neighborhood community in Futian District, will prepare an outdoor dinner party with the traditional Cantonese dish called the big basin dish (dapencai). Since ancient times, the people in Guangdong coastal areas have followed the custom of eating big basin dish on the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month.

    The dish consists of 15 courses, prepared with a big wok heated with firewood. As to what the actual ingredients are, there are no hard and fast rules. The Cantonese are known to serve the basin with expensive seafood like abalone, scallops, dried oysters, mushrooms, duck, chicken meat and ham. Other versions could include ginseng, dried eel, fish maw, prawns and bean curd.

    The main difficulty preparing this dish is not in the cooking, but in the presentation. Every ingredient has to be layered and stacked properly. Chicken and duck meat are usually placed on the top, implying that birds return to the nests. Those in the know, however, will scour the bottom where the gravy trickles over the ingredients.

    It's said that dapencai was invented when Mongol troops invaded the central China about 1,000 years ago. To feed the fleeing emperor who escaped to Guangdong, the locals collected all their best food available. After cooking it, they put it in wooden washing basins because there wasn't a bowl big enough for the army, coining the term pencai (vegetables in a basin).

    Dapencai is associated with events that unite the entire community. It is a symbol of cohesion, indicating everyone who eats from the common dish are equals.

    Best of all, the basin meal can be eaten over several days. Sometimes the more it's simmered, the tastier it becomes as the ingredients blend together absorbing the rich flavors.

    Enjoy the fish lantern dance

    From Jan. 26 to Feb. 9, the Yantian Neighborhood Community will celebrate the New Year by performing the fish lantern dance. The dance, originating in the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), was introduced to Shenzhen in the 18th century. It was usually staged at night during traditional Chinese festivals to celebrate the fishing catch and to pray for future good luck.

    The dance is related to the ancient sea culture worship in the coastal regions of Guangdong and Fujian provinces. Shenzhen's seafaring past can also be traced to sculptures and temples honoring Matsu, the heavenly empress who protects fishermen.

    Dancers hold candle-lit lanterns in the shape of sea carp, shrimp, turtles and crabs as they dance traditional steps based on Chinese martial arts. Traditional Chinese instruments blare out their ancient music, highlighting the fishermen's courage in overcoming natural dangers and pirates.

    Even with the protection of Matsu, the fish lantern dance was a dying tradition, but since 2003 the city government has allocated funds for the dance, and many young people in Yantian District have become dancers performing it.