It is scientifically proven that exposure to nature improves your physical and emotional health. The power of nature is so strong in fact, that even the idea of nature can heal! A study conducted in hospitals showed that simply having a plant in the room, whether it was real or fake, could lift spirits and speed up the healing process. Having said that, fresh is best when it comes to plants and flowers. But who has all that time to go around Beijing shopping for the prettiest picks to place in a vase every few days? Here’s where the convenience of this urban city comes in – there are several flower subscription services that will deliver fresh pickings every week, straight to your doorstep. To begin, we’ll take a look at one we’ve tested ourselves.

Open your Taobao app and search 花点时间旗舰店 huā diǎn shí jiān qí jiàn diàn. Click on the second option from the bottom right 宝贝分类 bǎo bèi fēn lèi, aka Categories. In the column on the left choose the second option from the top and boom, you’re now looking at flower subscriptions. You can choose from weekly, biweekly, or monthly options.

They offer quite a variety of flower arrangements, like the Pro or Less, as well as just different types of roses. You can even select DIY to put together your own bundle. Prices start from RMB 39.9 for the cheapest weekly subscription. If you’re too spoiled for choice and can’t decide on which variety, you can always go with a reasonable budget that works for you and try it out for a month or so. Vases are an optional top-up or free with a minimum three-month subscription. Do note that they will suspend their services during the Chinese New Year period for about 2-3 weeks due to lack of delivery personnel, but they’ll send you extra bouquets to make up for it later. If you get their annual subscription, you’ll get additional bouquets on your birthday and special occasions, free-of-charge too!

If flowers aren’t your thing, you could also check out Taobao to get some plants for the new year. Plants are particularly good for feng shui too, if you’re into that sort of thing. From personal experience, here are three house plants that survive in Beijing and are available on Taobao. Pro tip: I used the platform’s photo search feature to look up the house plants that are currently in my apartment and learn their Chinese names, as they are not well-translated using translation apps.

Snake Plant 虎皮花 (hǔ pí huā)

We may call it the Snake Plant, but in Chinese, it’s the “Tiger Skin Plant” and to be honest, I think that’s a much better name given its look. What’s more, this is the perfect plant for ushering in the Lunar New Year since 2022 is the year of the tiger! Whatever you call it, these guys are pretty hard to kill, except by overwatering – which I’m learning about now in winter when they can go months without water. These plants are known for their air purification effects so they are particularly suited for the capital!

Philodendrons 绿萝 (lǜ luó)

According to thespruce.com, this is basically everyone’s favorite low-maintenance, low-light houseplant as well as one of the top vining plants for the home. Philodendron plants grow quickly, require very little upkeep, and are not picky about their growing conditions.

Succulents 多肉植物 (duō ròu zhí wù)

You see them all over Beijing for a reason – they do really well here. Mine even died, but before I had the chance to throw it out, the thing resurrected itself and has been thriving ever since. It can even grow new stems from fallen leaves, making it a really great science experiment for the kids. Fun fact: Its Chinese name literally means “plant with a lot of meat.”

KEEP READING: New Year, New You? Forget That! Here’s How To Make Habits Stick

Images: Taobao, Unsplash

If you think the reason people in China wear red underwear is to find love like people in Mexico and other Latin American countries do, you are wrong. There’s nothing romantic about it. Instead, people who need to wear it, believe they are likely to face more challenges or troubles than usual in their zodiac year (本命年 běnmìng nián), and that they need to wear red to ward off bad luck every single day of the New Year. Sounds confusing? Here are some stories and explanations behind it.

What and when is Zodiac Year of Birth (本命年 Běnmìng nián)?

There are 12 animals (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig) in the Chinese zodiac, and each year welcomes a new animal. People are born under one sign and will run into their Zodiac Year of Birth (本命年 Běnmìng nián) every 12 years, which is on their 12th, 24th, 36th 48th, 60th, 72nd, 84th, 96th birthday etc.

Every year is considered to be managed by a God of Age (太岁 Tàisuì); if you were born under the same sign as the Tàisuì of that year, you are more likely to have the Evil Spirit (凶星 Xiōngxīng) get you in trouble.

How to ward off bad luck in your Běnmìng Nián?

Wear red

The most common and popular way is to wear red underwear. Other than that, a red waist belt, red bracelet, or any other red clothing is supposed to help. But all this red stuff must be purchased by other people; otherwise the effect is believed to be greatly reduced.

Wear jade, crystal, or gold accessories

Jade, crystal, and gold are said to have enough spiritual power to drive away the evil spirit in Chinese culture. That’s why you can see a lot of people, especially old people, wearing these kinds of accessories in China.

Worship the God of Age

As each year is controlled by a God of Age (太岁 Tàisuì), people also choose to go to temples to worship the God of Age and make a wish every year.

What’s special about red in Chinese culture?

In Yijing (易经, Classic of Changes), one of the Five Classics of Confucianism, red is associated with the “division” trigram of the “Bagua” (八卦, Eight Diagrams ), which also represents “light”. According to the theory of Yin and Yang, red is Yang, which can kill the darkness and evil spirits. Wearing red is a simple way to avoid the bad luck that considered to be Yin.

In addition, red is a color which means life and hope in Chinese culture. People choose to wear red for good luck for the new year.

Photo: pexels.com

Feng shui (风水, literally “wind and water”), is an ancient form of art in China. The main idea of feng shui is to arrange the placement and decorations of a place into an environment that encourages fortune and health for the people living there.

Though regarded as a pseudo-science by the majority in the scientific community, this eastern practice has risen to popularity in western cultures. And feng shui for the bedroom is a top consideration for a house since a good night’s sleep is so important.

Below we give some do’s and don’ts for bringing positive effects according to feng shui principles.

• Don’t oversize your bedroom
• Be extra careful when choosing mattresses
• Don’t place the head of your bed directly under a window or ceiling beam, or in a corner, or directly in line with the door;
• Don’t place large furniture by your bed;
• Don’t put mirrors facing your bed or right at the foot of your bed;
• Don’t keep a fish tank or any big container with water in your bedroom;
• Don’t decorate your bedroom with odd decorations, especially those with human faces or animal heads;
• Don’t hang sharp or heavy objects over your bedside;
• Don’t store clutter under your bed;
• Don’t keep big plants in your bedroom and put them as far away from your bed as possible;
• Place your bed at where you can see the door and behind a solid wall;
• Choose furniture with soft lines rather than sharp edges;
• Use fabric or curtains to cover the mirror or electronics with screens;
• Keep the bathroom door closed if it’s inside your bedroom.

According to feng shui philosophy, maintaining good feng shui keeps the 气 (qì, “energy” ) flowing, and brings good fortune and happiness to the family, or at least, can massively enhance the quality of your sleep. If you wake up still feeling tired after a full eight hours, maybe it’s time to rearrange your bedroom for a better feng shui!

Photo: Pixabay

SPRING festival

To me, celebrating the arrival of spring sounds like one of the best reasons to celebrate. This is particularly true up here in my husband’s hometown in Northeast China, a most barren land in winter. I vividly remember when my brother visited us in May 2015. We drove all the way to the North Korean border near Ji’an, a mere 5-hour drive through plains and mountain roads. Driving down a road next to the Yalu River, we could see North Koreans on the other side of the bank, some washing clothes, some taking a bath, others walking home. The trees had barely grown new leaves yet. Snow had melted, but it was still cold and the pictures we took all looked grey.

Spring in Northeast China

Spring in Northeast China is short and starts late. I still remember the excitement I felt when my husband exclaimed that with the celebration of Spring Festival, winter was now officially over and spring about to start. I imagined changing into fewer layers in the morning, spending the days outside, and taking my son for walks, marveling at the revival of nature. Only later did I realize that for my Northeastern Chinese husband, the beginning of spring does not have the same connotations it does for me. To him, the start of spring means that the coldest three weeks of the year are over. His version of the start of spring is slower and more subtle than what I have grown up knowing of the Austrian springs. It might mean that the earth starts to defrost, not necessarily that the trees will start carrying green leaves and blossoms. We’ll usually have to wear winter clothes for a few more months.

Celebrating Spring Festival with my in-laws

I still do like the connotation of spring being just around the corner. Tomorrow, I’ll try to coax my toddler son into wearing layer upon layer of winter clothing and will bundle up my 4-month-old baby to do the unheard of –take him out in the midst of winter. Together we will travel to visit my in-laws. Since we have two small children we don’t have a massive celebration. When visiting relatives we don’t partake in drinking copious amounts of baijiu or watching the men smoke and play Mahjongg. We’ll stuff jiaozi and hang up New Year’s decorations instead and will enjoy a sumptuous New Year’s dinner. And that’s about it. I see myself lying in bed early, trying to comfort my sons as we listen to the boisterous echo of firecrackers exploding on the cement ground just outside the flat, a warning sign to the Nian beast to never put its feet on this earth again. We’ll probably also have our air purifier on full blast to counteract the pollution caused by the fireworks. My father-in-law has already cut my toddler son’s hair. People here say you can’t cut hair in the month after Chinese New Year, or a maternal uncle is going to die. Since I have four brothers, we don’t want to take any chances.

Wearing Red in the Year of the Rooster

This spring festival is special in that it ushers in my husband’s benmingnian, his zodiac year. My husband was born in the year of the rooster. He’ll have to wear red to ward off bad luck every single day of the upcoming year. Red underwear, red socks, or some other red clothes are all supposed to help ward off bad luck incurred upon people in their zodiac year by taisui, the God of Age.

Being married to China and having children whose cultural heritage is partly Chinese does not mean I need to believe in every single Feng Shui principle or Taoist tradition, but it does mean I need to respect local traditions and superstitions–as long as they are not harmful.

Ruth Silbermayr-Song is an Austrian illustrator, German teacher and mother of two. She writes about life in China as a foreign woman, her cross-cultural marriage to a Chinese man, and child rearing bridging cultures and languages on her blog China Elevator Stories. Her story of pregnancy and parenting in China has appeared in the anthology “Knocked Up Abroad Again”.

Photos courtesy of Ruth Silbermayr-Song

Did you know there’s Color of the Year 2017? It’s greenery as declared by Pantone Color Institute, whose forecasters had said in December that the hue was “symbolic of new beginnings.” When I called my parents back home on New Year’s Eve, I was kind of surprised to see my mother sporting a green shirt, or at least the closest color she had to the greenery color. In actuality, she has done the same thing every January 1st — wear the color said to trend and define the year. I started to follow her lead two or three years ago.

2017 is the Year of the (Fire) Rooster, and online soothsayers said those born under this animal year won’t be seeing the greenery pastures Pantone had declared in December. But US President Donald Trump, born in the Year of the (Fire) Dog, not surprisingly will have an interesting but unbalanced 2017.

The Chinese zodiac has specific characteristics for each of its 12 animals. Roosters are said to be loyal and punctual, owing to the nature of roosters as “alarm clocks” of farmers, and observant, communicative, and somewhat ambitious. Monkeys, who took center stage last year, are “wise, intelligent, loyal” even to the point that Geda the Mystical Monkey predicted Trump’s election.

In places where Chinese cultural influences are strong, it will not be surprising to see people lining up to fortune teller stalls to hear predictions of the future. Aside from the Chinese zodiac, there’s feng shui, a system based on the harmony of everyone and the environment. People I spoke to that have less knowledge of these Chinese beliefs find them amusing.

“It’s interesting,” said Ron Drisner, a student counselor from Canada, “[and]let’s just say I’m not gonna go to Vegas and like put any bets based on Chinese horoscope.” He didn’t realize he’s a Rooster until just several days ago. When I asked him if he has those Rooster characteristics, he said he probably hitting 50 percent of those. “Punctuality? I think my alarm clock and my [smart device]notifications take credit for punctuality, not my Chinese zodiac,” Drisner said.

When 11-year-old Jas Arora arrived in China 3 years ago to study, she found the Chinese tag every year with an animal. “It’s so surprising, because in India we don’t have years like that,” she said. I interviewed her at the YCIS Annual Temple Fair, where most expat children and staff were clad in traditional Chinese dresses called qipao. Just the day before the event, Arora’s teacher asked them to wear red to celebrate — and also informed students that Rooster’s won’t be so lucky this year. “It made me surprised and worried because I never knew that whenever it’s your year, it’s not gonna be a good year,” she said. But she was firm to say she doesn’t believe in Chinese zodiac and told me “[We] don’t know what will happen next. [We] don’t know the future.”

It’s true that we don’t know the future, but for my Chinese friends, one loses nothing by taking heed of the Chinese zodiac. Cindy Li told me these traditions have been in place for thousands of years, although she finds them somewhat “intriguing but boring.” She said she believes these cultural beliefs can somehow enlighten and help people interact with others and the environment.

Drisner said predictions shouldn’t make a “Year to Do This,” as there are many other things that would make your year fulfilling. “I guess it’s a belief in relationship [that matters]. Spend time with your family, hang out with other people,” he said, adding that just like unsustainable new years resolutions, forgetting what predictions tell you to do can be disempowering. Arora, on the other hand, said her future relies on her and not on any fortune tellers. “I should study hard to get good grades and I should be nice to everyone so that they’ll be nice to me too,” she said.