December 30th on the lunar calendar, China. It is few seconds before midnight and the internet is about to explode.
A clutch at the sense of ritual, Chinese people save their grandest performances for this point precisely. The loudest fireworks, the most sincere wishes to those who matter and, most importantly, messages and posts on social media for that 00:00.
It is the Spring Festival. A celebration of a whole years’ endeavor. China’s biggest festival of all.
January 27th on the Gregorian calendar, The United States. It is the middle of the day, professors are giving lectures as usual, but few students are paying attention—it is the first Friday of this semester, which means spring rush parties are to look forward to.
Then, at some point in the middle of the class, Chinese students’ phones start buzzing all at once. Messages and phone calls appear on the screens, and they hurriedly turn them down. Those should be from back home for New Year’s Eve, which they cannot celebrate right at this point.
The proportion of Chinese population in the US is increasing drastically. Promises of better education and subsequent job opportunities has made it a trend for Chinese parents to send their children to this “country of wealth”. Stereotypes are formed: STEM major, BS degree and then seizing every job opportunity related to math and science with little competition from domestic graduates. The future looks promising for Chinese kids with their solid math/science education background. Until 2015, there were more than 3 million Chinese undergraduates entering the US college education system.
One phenomenon occurs along with the increase of this particular population—it is a lot easier for Chinese students to stay inside their comfort zone by secluding themselves from the society they live in and establish one of their own within. In the most extreme circumstances, students don’t even have to say more than 3 sentences in English each school week. Some argues that Chinese culture is so absolutely opposite to American culture that it is impossible, even a degradation to some, for them to adjust to the Americans’ lifestyle.
However, no matter how strong and active these Chinese social bubbles are, it is, after all, a bubble on a foreign land.
Right now, with most students in class being excited about their first Friday night, a few Chinese students’ excitement about a midnight occurring thousands miles away seems misplaced.
“My family and friends in China were sending me midnight blessings,” a Chinese student recalls, “but I’m in class with bright daylight outside. I can hardly relate to the specialness they were feeling at home.”
One of the traditions of Chinese Spring Festival is to have a midnight dinner and Chinese students here are hesitated. “Should I have something special at noon, or at midnight?” Most students decide to take the middle ground and have a special dinner with their fellow Chinese friends. The bus to Amherst is for the first time loaded with Chinese students going to Chinese places for dinner.
Some students are so tied up with school work they give up celebrating at all. After all, the school here is not obliged to give them a week’s break like they had back in China.
Nostalgia no doubt swells within this student community. Spring festival, as a representation of the key elements of Chinese culture, particularly encourages family reunion. While students are grateful that the internet enables them to communicate with their family, they feel distant from the festival spirit while typing and speaking into microphones, and getting electronic “Red-Pocket Money” instead of having real ones in their hands. “If I just wanted the money, I wouldn’t like this Red Pocket tradition so much,” said a student, “the pocket with my grandparents’ wishes on the back—that gives me a sentiment electronic-transfers cannot provide.”
It is almost nine o’clock at night in the US. Chinese students are getting back from dinner while other students are just dressed up for their parties. Right across the Pacific Ocean, China is just getting up and ready for the first day of their new year.
But the Chinese students are stuck in this 13-hour time difference where they are not sure if they’re in the last few hours of the old year or the first few hours of the new one. But they need to stop thinking and go back to their homework.
