The Ultimate List of East Asian Festivals for your Bucket List

Welcome to my list of the major festivals and holidays celebrated across Northeast Asia- Japan, North and South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Mongolia. This will be a continuously updated list as I keep exploring new and interesting festivals that have evolved in the East Asian cultural sphere, also known as Sinosphere (including Vietnam) because they are all historically influenced by Chinese culture.*

Consider adding some of these to your bucket list and I’m sure you’ll never regret the effort to cover them all!

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NOTE: Celebrating some of these festivals usually requires physically being in the country. If travelling that far is impossible, see if you can get to your local Chinatown or East Asian neighborhood on the date of the festival.

 CHINA

Chinese New Year (Spring Festival 春节, Seollal in Korea, ) is celebrated across the world by Chinese diaspora. In 2014 it will be celebrated on January 31 and the final day occurring on February 15- see the Lantern Festival below. This is the most exciting festival I’ve ever experienced. It feels like American 4th of July but more dangerous! Get a more detailed overview on this amazing festival here.

Continue reading The Ultimate List of East Asian Festivals for your Bucket List

Healthy Alcohol: Drink to your health!

In the West we have a basic grasp of the health-related properties of red wine, especially French wine. In China, there exists a family of alcohol referred to as “保健酒” (Bao Jian Jiu); or medicinal alcohol. In fact, I’m enjoying 125ml of it while I type this post.

So, what’s good about it? After the 35% alcohol content, you can enjoy the benefits of  枸杞子(Gouji),仙茅(Rhizome),and 当归(Chinese Angelica), among many other common Chinese medicinal herbs… Continue reading Healthy Alcohol: Drink to your health!