Uncle's Birthday in China

by Valentin
(Munich, Germany)

My uncle has been living in China for more than 10 years. I had never seen him, but one day he invited a member of our family for his 60th birthday celebration – he was covering all expenses!

This all sounded very strange since the travel expenses from Germany to China were huge, to say the least. We talked on the phone, and he said this is a very important birthday in China and he would like to celebrate it according to local traditions.

So, it was me who went!

When I finally met uncle, he explained that this is the first birthday he celebrates per Chinese customs, simply because the 60th anniversary was considered the first important birthday in a man’s life – can you imagine?

After the 60th they celebrate the 70th, 80th and so on until death, with each birthday being more important than the previous one. Of course, this tradition is not followed by everyone..

There was a huge party, needless to say, with mostly relatives of my aunt (uncle is married to a Chinese). However, rather than the usual sweets and cakes, there were ... noodles! Very long, almost endless!

It turned out long noodles were a symbol of long life. There also were something like peaches, a kind of sweet made up of wheat products with something sweet inside (couldn’t identify what), their shape and overall appearance was like peaches.

I was a bit confused that some presents were money, wrapped in red paper. There was also lots of wine and ... noodles!

Can you believe someone would buy you noodles for a present?

My family had decided to get uncle a luxury watch for the anniversary. Guess what? A watch in China is considered a very, very bad present! It is believed to symbolize the end of life ... ahhh! We should have read something about Chinese traditions beforehand!

Anyway, uncle was not upset, he was happy that I had managed to come. And I was happy to see so many friendly people at the celebration, eating noodles and eggs!