Marry a foreigner: one way to avoid Spring Festival dilemma
In the first of our four-part series on how families across the spectrum of Chinese society celebrate the holiday, a Shanghai woman’s Swiss husband is the centre of attention at her annual family reunions
The annual argument over whose family to spend the Lunar New Year with has become a modern tradition for married couples in China. But it’s one that Qiu Feilan will be spared because her husband is a foreigner whose family does not celebrate the most important holiday for Chinese people around the world.
Qiu and her Swiss husband Marc Hunziker spend every Lunar New Year – also known as Spring Festival on the mainland – with her family while the Christmas and New Year holidays are spent with Hunziker’s family in Bern, Switzerland.
It’s a holiday arrangement that’s worked out well for them over the past few years.
“At all my family gatherings, my husband will become the centre of attention,” said Qiu, a 34-year-old marketing manager at a state-owned firm in Shanghai, who married Hunziker in May. “‘Do you like Chinese food, how did you pick up the Chinese language, what do the Swiss people do during Christmas?’ … My relatives are very interested to find out his views.”