Project Nian (年)

We are like passengers on the same train, starting in one compartment. As time goes by, we travel through the journey with each other, trustingly and blissfully. We are distributed into different compartments after a while. We call each other, talk to each other, and hug each other at each stop, and we feel good, cause it’s the people with you that give you encouragement.

Each time we great each other, we are one stop closer to the final place. No one noticed it until we gaze our eyes together on the little notice board on the train that shows our final stop: Destiny.

Haven’t seen grandma in 2 years, she’s still quite healthy and shows a beautiful glow in front of the camera

3 of my best bros, we’ve been friends for almost 13 years, which is kinda incredible.

Summer 2008, we played board game till 3 am in the morning in a poorly furnished hotel, while there was a trip planned the next day, which is kinda incredible too -_-!

You can always find interesting stuff at my cousin’s place. From top left to bottom right:

1. Just playing with black and white

2. I have nooooooooooooo idea…

3. Chinese guarding lion, which is supposed to keep evil our side and let good luck in

4. Chinese prayers, quite classic words, very festive

Glad to see that my cousin still acts like a child. No… let me do it again: glad to see that my cousin still has a spirit of a young kid in her. And she’s gradually changing my cousin-in-law into a child too, plus they just had a baby about 23 months ago… nice eh?

And here’s my 23-month-old nephew! Ta-da!

Well he’s not always this moody.

He’s forced (I know!) to call me Uncle Dali… I don’t really think he knows what it means… apart from making me older…

And my cousin is trying to train him into a bilingual baby… which is kinda nice.

My cousin-in-law’s cousin… such a long word…

Anyway, according to her pose, she’s 2 years old… and another 23 years on top of that… Interestingly when my cousin got married, I was the best man and she was the best woman… I mean maid of honour… (cousin… really?!)

But yeah…

It’s good to finally be able to calm down and enjoy some spare time activity, which I’ve been longing for for a long time… and 90% of what I’m doing is quite consistent…

I carried my xbox 360 all the way from UK. And we changed history by helping both China and France claim the world cup, within 10 days! Well it’s no surprise since we’ve got a player called ‘killer’ and another one named ‘AK47’… Nice names my friend… But you know you don’t have to behave consistently with your name on the pitch…

Yet I was golden boots and best player both times!

Bravo, me! lol

It’s a wonderful Chinese New Year, there are places that I used to go to a lot, but seldom visited ever since university, but this time I got the chance to visit them. Memories? Yep, they do come back!

And there are also people that come up this year as a wonderful surprise! Just sooooo happy to see them! Sincerely.

The pretty lady, the one who sat in front of me almost all the time in my English class, turned out to be a project manager in Shanghai now… I was a bit surprised, but then again, everyone in my English class turned out to be really good. And wow, and, bravo!!!

Dad is always keen about traditions, and it’s good. We need someone in my family to carry down these traditions, and some day I’ll be doing the same thing. I guess he’s really excited that I can come back for CNY. And like usual, he bought a lot of stuff, cooked a lot of food. These are the things you can’t really get in UK.

Legend says:

There was a monster called Nian (年). It is quite like Medusa in terms of functionalities, only more fatal.

If you see him, you die (I don’t know which beholder lived to tell the story… but it’s kinda cool), and he’ll eat your flesh. And he comes at 0 o’ clock on Chinese New Year. But his weakness is literally weakness, too… he’s afraid of the colour red, and big noises. That’s why we wear red, put up red, and light up fireworks. And gradually it became a tradition… Other places may have different versions…

The days prior to Chinese New Year were quite exciting, and yet there’s more to come…

The Spring Festival usually lasts for 15 days, starting from Chinese New Years all the way to Lantern Festival. It’s wonderful that after so many years spending CNY overseas, I can finally spend a couple of CNYs in China, get soaked in the festival culture.

I love festivals, they always give me a good mood. Although sometimes people don’t really know what they are celebrating, but who cares… it’s all about happiness, eh?

New year resolution? Haven’t really got many… stay healthy, better opportunities at work, more availability from work to go to church, etc.

Oh, right, I do want to pick up guitar skills. It’ll be nice that I can play instruments for myself, rather than looking for guitar talents around all the time…

I did learn something from my friend… but still needs much much practising… well, we’ll see. I do like his guitar though.

Post-CNY time is very nice. People tend to calm down from the crazy work and find time to smell the flowers, visit friends and stuff. The shops are open, and time for shooting!

Although the shopping malls and shops in China don’t like people taking photos in their… don’t know why… they probably don’t know why either… just enjoy the power-wielding moment…

Well, you can look, but you just can’t memorize it…

And Valentine’s Day happened to be in Spring Festival this year as well, so people are kinda in a romantic mood all the time, you can always see previews of Valetine’s Day in the park… And I’m single, which is quite nice as well, so I can hang out with friends, with no pressure whatsoever

A Spring Festival with fireworks and love, and of course good food.

Fantastic!

And of course, the constant visit of my little nephew~

He’s very interested in my bed for some reason… well, I don’t know. And he seems to be exceptionally interested in my xbox controller as well… don’t know why… he’ll probably carry down the tradition of the family–gaming! Hey young man, I’ll challenge you to a FIFA game! Probably in about 10 years!

Haven’t seen this guy for a long time, probably 3 years now. Glad to see that he’s doing pretty well~ But unfortunately time was pretty limited, so we only had dinner together…

And Lynn’s back as well. Really nice to see her again. I still remember that she’s the first one I talked to when we went to high school, and we are still good friends. Glad to see that she’s enjoying her life in Japan, and doing part-time in GAP… man I wish I could get a discount…

Probably a trip to Hokkaido is in order~~~ We’ll see!

Karaoke in UK can cost a fortune, so I’ll never let any opportunity to sing go in China. One day, the four guys went to KTV… kinda weird, but who cares… singing is what it’s all about!

And yeah, sometimes we may get a bit too excited… like this…

But it’s ok…

I’m surprised to see that the Japanese restaurant in my city has soooooo many decorations… they do look pretty…

But it’s just too expensive. One thing I don’t really like is that you can barely buy anything with a month’s salary, if you are an ordinary people…

And some more random pictures, two of which were taken in the house of my parent’s friend~

For the last two days, I went to the place where I learn my English. Mr Xiao is still there, teaching. From a teacher to a friend, each time I visit him, I can always learn something new. Moreover, it’s just so wonderful to be able to meet him like this each year. I can still recall every weekend in my high school time, I went to this place, and learn English.

It was so long ago, and yet it seemed like yesterday. The shops on the outside, the smell of roast chicken, and the jokes and laughs that we had, when we thought we were travelling around the world in the class. And of course, the art on the table~

My high school has moved, to the countryside. The original site still stands, as another high school. Each time I went back to visit, it’s hard to say what kind of feeling I have, to see someone else running on the field that I used to play football on. And the classrooms, the basketball cages, and the little roads surrounding the buildings…

And this is my Project Nian. It was such a nice visit. Such a good time to spend with my family and friends. I don’t know where my road lies before me, but I do know where I come from. And it is this that gives me support every time I feel like giving up.

And even more…

And I can feel the presence of God from the Sun and the shadow, which is just perfect!

829 RAW images, 585 processed pictures, 213 selected photos, among which 49 were chosen for this blog

20 days of China, 10 days of out-door shooting, 5-star models,

3 long-time-no-see friends, 2 lenses,

and

1 Project Nian

Lord be my shepherd

I shall not be in want