Dianxi Xiaoge lives in a remote village in Yunnan Province. So even though China is bracing for the deadly outbreak of #CoronaVirus, her mountainous hometown remains a safe haven……for now.
I say this because many villagers actually work in the cities, and they all return home for Chinese New Year. There’s no guarantee the 2019-nCoV virus won’t reach “isolated” parts of China.
Wuhan, the epicenter of this disaster, is a city with 10 million residents. It’s under complete lock-down. Many cities around Wu Han are also cut off from the outside world, affecting roughly 50 million people. This is how serious it is.
China is fighting the infectious disease with everything it’s got. Almost all public gatherings throughout China have been banned. The entire country just celebrated the biggest holiday in sadness, anxiety and disbelief.
But for Chinese people, family dinner on New Year’s eve is THE most important event all year. It often takes days or weeks to prepare everything. You simply don’t skip it unless it’s absolutely necessary.
And if you live in large cities, you’re not allowed or encouraged to go outside anyway. So you’re home all day, with plenty of time to cook anything you want.
Fortunately, everything remains normal in Xiaoge’s village. Her family gathered for a New Year’s dinner, as usual. And she cooked a bunch of dishes with the help of her cousin. Some of the dishes not only look beautiful, they also have special names to symbolize good fortunes for the new year.
Xiaoge also prepared red packets for everybody – well, she’s not married yet, so she shouldn’t be the one giving out red packets I assume, but since she’s making so much more money than everybody, who would say no, right?
Xiaoge took special care to wish viewers a safe and happy new year.
Here is the video: