Throwing out with the Lunar New Year

A custom for the Chinese Lunar New Year is to throw out the old and bring in the new. Old furnishings and clothes are tossed out, or sold on with fresh new hear to replace them.
The fledgling and often hilarious democratic movement in Hong Kong probably have and idea of what they would like to throw out. But it seems the Hong Kong people are not so active in this area as the people in Tunisia or Egypt.
There is not enough time left after clearing their houses to take to the streets to protest. The roads here are filled with people to busy stocking up with brand new replacement of what they have just thrown away.

Travelling for the Chinese New Year

 
The Chinese Lunar New Year and this is the time that families get together no matter where they are. In China, many families split across the country as husbands or wives move from the farm lands to the cities in the look for work or children attend schools.

During the days of the New Year the extended families congregate together which often means traveling great distances with mostly everybody going back to visit their grandparent. This creates huge problems for transport logistics and I never realized just how many people are on the move.
This year there will be an estimated 2.8 Billion passengers on trips across the whole country. A million is a big number but 2.8 Billion people all wanting to get on the right bus and with many of them not really knowing how to get there.
The lunar Festival is usually a week long holiday that allows families to get together every year. With economic migration for work this might be the only chance for many families to get together.
February 3 2011 will make the end of the Year of the Tiger and the Start of the Year of the Rabbit.

Hong Kong Government is Loaded

The pockets of the HK Government seem to be quite large. This year there is an estimated HK$ 72 Billion spare cash lying around gathering dust. Whatever will they do with it only time will tell.

There have been calls for returning it back to the people through widening the tax bands although this will just reduce the amount paid next year, not that the tax rates are excessive in Hong Kong Compared to some other countries. This is unlike the other SAR of China, Macau, which recently happily actually gave money back to every citizen.

No doubt there will be some big construction project planned but what could you do with HK$72 Billion spare. Apart from a good holiday and a long party.