An opinion piece in the South China Morning Post argues that the most important aspect of Lunar New Year is being with people you care about, not whether you cooked the food yourself or followed traditions precisely. The article uses personal anecdotes to highlight this focus on human connections.
The South China Morning Post published an opinion piece on February 19, 2026, titled 'Why Lunar New Year celebrations are about the people, not the process.' It stresses that the core of the holiday is connections between people, rather than ritual details. The article recounts the author's grandmother making meatballs: she dipped her hands in corn starch, scooped up the meat, tossed it between her hands to form balls, placed them on cabbage leaves, and steamed them in a small pot. This labor-intensive dish, prepared over hours and days, is typically consumed in seconds at the table.
It also references another anecdote from a recent article: the author bought spring couplets from a store, but his father got angry, saying a holiday without hand-writing them lacked 'flavour' or 'a sense of ceremony.' In the end, the family returned to tradition, carving a money god by hand, grinding tofu with a stone mill, and holding a calligraphy contest.
Keywords include reunion meal, Yingge dance, women, fireworks, Chaoshan, red envelopes, tradition, Guangdong, Nian monster, Lunar New Year, and spring couplets. The piece mentions how people in northern and southern China enjoy dumplings for the holiday but provides no specifics. Overall, the view is that Lunar New Year celebrations should prioritize emotions over perfectly executed traditions.
