Category: Jia You China

My Dream of the Red Chamber

~ moguevara ~ Leave a comment

Toronto, January 26, 2021.

I had a dream.

I had a dream where I was celebrating Lunar New Year.

The Lunar New Year Celebrations were being held in a Red Chamber.

The Red Chamber was in fact, the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City, now known as the Palace Museum, was one of my favourite places to visit when I lived in Beijing. Now that I think about it, I was fortunate to be there with some of my closest family members and friends. I loved walking through the Meridian door, where only an Emperor could go through. If you were a woman, just once in your life could you walk into the Palace through that door… on your wedding day if you were to marry the Emperor. I loved soaking this place full of history, and wondering on the perfection of its making. Being a Dragon, according to my Chinese Zodiac, I endeavoured to find the hidden dragons in the Palace Museum.

The Chinese New Year is the spark that fuels the greatest celebration in the Lunar Calendar in China. The first time we were there as a family, we experienced being part of the largest human migration on the planet, taking the bullet train from Shanghai to Beijing, joining thousands who travelling from mega cities to their hometowns for the Spring Festival. No other festivity in the Lunar Calendar sparks a greater motivation to be with family in the Middle Kingdom.

So it is telling I had this dream of celebrating Chinese New Year, now that I no longer live there.

I had this dream exactly on the anniversary date when I left Beijing in 2020, hoping to escape COVID19. With my two girls and two suitcases, we left our home to join my husband in Canada. We did not know it then, but we would not be back in China in three weeks, as we thought. We did know by that day that a new type of coronavirus originated in Wuhan was spreading like wild fire. While there were very few cases in Beijing, that New Years’ Eve the writing was on the wall. Beijing could be locked down, being the centre of the Middle Kingdom.

I find it even more revealing that in the dream, my memories of China were those of happiness, and togetherness. The New Year celebrations were in full, with red lanterns, and fireworks to scare the Nian monster away. The people in my dream were smiling, another telling sign I was dreaming… I could see the smiles, no one was wearing masks.

When I woke up, I stayed in bed with my eyes closed … trying to hold on to the sensations of this dream: the sense of celebration, togetherness and common humanity – the very elements COVID has taken away from us. 

Then I felt a pang of sadness, realizing that exactly a year from being catapulted away from home, I mainly missed closing our chapter in China with those special places, friends and experiences that came with our years there.

As a new Lunar Year looms around the corner, I close my eyes and remember that in reality, the last time I heard the fireworks in China was a night prior to the Chinese New Year of the Rat which brought a global pandemic from the Middle Kingdom to the rest of the world.

Perhaps is better to go back not to that moment of stark realization that it was not Nian looming on that day, but the ugly monstrous head of a global pandemic.

Perhaps when remembering China, it would be better for me to go back to my dream.

To the dream of celebrating New Year in a Red Chamber.

To the dream celebrating Chinese New Year with friends, family, and fireworks… in the Forbidden City.

Jia You – Add Oil.

~ moguevara ~ Leave a comment

I write this from Toronto, grateful to be back in Canada, where we are originally from. Each morning begins with a simple text that I send a report via WeChat to my youngest daughter’s school back in Beijing to report where we are, whether or not we have had contact with anyone from Wuhan (we have not) and my daughter’s daily temperature. This is the first daily reminder of our situation of home away from home.

Our home is back in Beijing, a place where we have lived the last 5 years. Like many others, Covid19 catapulted us outside of China during the Lunar New Year. I share my personal account of the Eve of Lunar Year of the Rat here.

While in Toronto, we connect with other friends in China who have been in quarantine （voluntary or forced), or with others who have been evacuated. All of us are adjusting to this new normal, all uf us left friends, family, homes, pets, jobs… back in China. We do not know yet when we will be able to go back. Now, as the virus has reached more than 70 countries, others are joining us in the uncertainty.

I will share in a collection of posts, the thoughts and reflections resulting from being catapulted to this unexpected transition. The collection is named AddOil – honouring the Chinese expression of support “jia you” ( 加油).

Following the lock down of Wuhan, capital of the province of Hebei, days before the most important festival in the Chinese Calendar, about 20 million citizens had just been mandated to quarantine in their homes to contain the spread of the virus. A video surfaced showing a compound of dwellings, towers and towers at dusk, no different from the compound that we call home. From the apartments in these towers, one can hear the residents yelling back and forth: “Jia You”. This same call to action – I had heard it, it had pushed me forward before: I heard at least 100 times when I ran 21 k (half-marathon) on the Great Wall of China. Jia You! It literally means : Add oil, as in… keep going, go on. Every Jia You , accompanied by a smile, or a high-five, brought me closer and closer to attain a personal and ambitious goal of completing this race with my husband , particularly on the last 2 or 3 kilometres when my confidence (along with my legs) was frankly shaking.

I want to honour the spirit of community, solidarity, stamina and creativity that we have seen coming out of China as its citizens learn and teach us how to live with Covid19. As the coronavirus spread to other parts of the world, with different systems, liberties, infrastructure and resources, it will be interesting how this unifies us in common humanity to manage this crisis.

Jia You has reached new levels of empowerment. Jia You China. Jia You Wuhan. Do not falter. Keep Going.