Gawper

Chinese New Year is a great time for gawping. Last night, I was walking over to see a friend who’s going to look afte some of my things while I’m in China, when I encountered an ongoing part of the celebrations. All kinds of establishments will hire a lion dance troupe to come and perform, in the belief that it’s auspicious. At this time of year, they are to be seen everywhere going from place to place in small, open-backed trucks. These trucks have three triangular Chinese flags fluttering on each side; the troupe will be in the back, beating kettle drums and cymbals as they drive around. When they reach their destination, they’ll dismount, and as the drums and cymbals play perform the lion dance or, less commonly, a dragon dance. Last night, I saw something I haven’t seen before: they were using a huge banner, rather bigger than the sail of a Laser dinghy, for example. This was mounted on a bamboo pole about 50 feet long, and about five inches diameter. The performers would throw it up in the air, somersault, and catch the pole before it fell or departed from vertical. They were balancing it on their bottom lip, fall to their knees and perform obeisance then stand up again. They were throwing the banner from one to another without letting it topple. All this was in the middle of a busy road, as cars and buses edged by. I watched for about ten minutes before they finished. I love this time of year.