Serhii Muravitskyi, a young man from Ukraine who once served as the recommender for tourism in Fujian Province, was exploring the Spring Festival atmosphere in Chongqing, hoping to understand the Chinese Spring Festival.
Serhii Muravitskyi hoped to understand the Chinese Spring Festival in Chongqing. (Photo/Zou Fei)
Learning Chongqing dialect and spreading Bayu culture
Serhii Muravitskyi has been interested in Chinese culture since childhood, so he came to Xiamen University to study. After obtaining his postgraduate diploma, he stayed in China. Last December, he was transferred to Chongqing from Fujian and worked in a technology research institute.
In his spare time, Serhii Muravitskyi likes to shoot short videos and attracts more than 70,000 followers on a network platform.
Just in the first month or so in Chongqing, he became a master of speaking Chongqing dialects such as "Yao De" (OK) and "Ba Shi" (nice, comfortable). He considers understanding local language philology a precondition for understanding the local culture. Therefore, he has been studying Chinese hard. In Chongqing, he studied the Chongqing dialect to understand its meaning.
When working in Fujian, Serhii Muravitskyi was invited by the local culture and tourism department to act as the protagonist of the province's external cultural promotional video. When working in Chongqing, he also does his best to promote Chongqing, an enticing city.
Like his experience of learning the customs of tea drinking and gaining in-depth knowledge of tea culture, he is also interested in the hot pot culture in Chongqing. He has developed an affinity for the spicy taste of hot pot and the residents' hospitable and cheerful personalities.
Serhii Muravitskyi has his own opinion on how to understand a city. In his eyes, Chongqing has multidimensional beauty, such as metro trains passing through buildings, the gorgeous night scene of Hongyadong, the black bricks and tiles of Jingangbei Historical and Cultural Block, the skywalk in Raffles City Chongqing, the green landscape and profound history of Zhang Fei Ancient Road, and the "Bangbang" porters (manual laborers who carry packages with a pole for people in need).
He likes to travel, not only to famous scenic spots but also to unfamous alleys. He may run into residents, learn calligraphy with them, and listen to their stories. "China is my second hometown!" Serhii Muravitskyi hopes to learn more about the city of Chongqing.
Have a taste of the Spring Festival atmosphere in Chongqing
Serhii Muravitskyi knows it's the Year of the Rabbit, which is of great importance for the Chinese, so he is curious about it and yearning to experience it.
He once spent the Spring Festival in Fujian when his friends invited him to travel. So this time, Gaigaier decided to explore the unique atmosphere of festivity in Chongqing this year.
On spring festival eve, he took local friends' advice and went to the Chaotianmen Small Commodity Wholesale Market. He was amazed at the variety of traditional special purchases for the Spring Festival. He bought red envelopes and a bunch of wintersweets with a sweet smell and had a good talk with the porters in Chaotianmen. Besides, he also visited Longmenhao Old Street to welcome the blessings of the Spring Festival and learned about the story of "Longmen Haoyue," one of the Twelve Scenes of Bayu. In Shancheng Alley, he took pictures of the lanterns along the way and read each character on the couplets on the doors.
Serhii Muravitskyi was amazed at the variety of traditional special purchases for the Spring Festival. (Photo/Zou Fei)
The moment he handed the red envelopes to his Chinese friends and saw their smiles and heard the porters talk about returning to their hometown for the Spring Festival with smiles on their faces, he became more enlightened about the significance of the Spring Festival.
He said people are enthused about sending and receiving red envelopes during the Spring Festival because of how much money they get to deliver wishes and good luck. No matter how busy and hard they are at work throughout the year, traveling to their hometowns during the Spring Festival is unchanging. Getting back together with family members who have been away for a long time is also the goal of daily efforts. He thereupon called his family far away and sent them greetings.
Serhii Muravitskyi had a good talk with the porters in Chaotianmen in Chongqing. (Photo/Zou Fei)