Chinese New Year Celebrations

How do we celebrate Chinese New Year?  We Chinese people take the Chinese New Year very seriously.  At least, we used to.  Many people, as is the custom, wash with leaves of the Chinese pomelo (沙田柚).  It is said to get rid of evil spirits, illnesses, and bad luck in general.

Many people take a fairly long time off to celebrate Chinese New Year.  For some people, it is the only long vacation that they ever take.  My neighbourhood Cha Chaan Teng (茶餐廳) is so short of hands that they have resorted to serving noodles in styrofoam cups. 

My favourite newspaper vendor told me that she is not taking time off, however.   According to her, taking one or two days off is not that useful.  And they also cannot afford losing the income. 

According to an OECD survey, South Koreans work longer hours than any other members of the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development - an average of 46.6 hours a week.  Hong Kong was not included in that survey.  According to a separate survey, the average full-time worker in Hong Kong work 48.8 hours a week - even longer than the South Koreans.  I, like a lot of people, work many more hours than that.