春节 in Quanzhou

The Lunar New Year Festival is a HUGE event in China.  Onions invited me to spend four days with him and his family in the Fujian province city of Quanzhou.  Here's the entrance to his building, which is way in the back at the end.  You can see his Dad in the 2nd floor window!

Onions Dad has a slew of brothers and sisters and many of them live in the building.  Everyone in his building is related and the cousins, aunts and uncles (from his father's side) were in and out all weekend.  On the first floor, there is a shrine to the elders who have passed.

In the next few years, Onions' family's building is slated for rebuilding to look more modern, such as these across the street.

In his neighborhood, there are even the original homes such as this one.

After the first night with the family, Onions and I took the bus out to the beach.  Quanzhou was the largest port during the Tang and Song Dynasty's (around 900-1300) Quanzhou was the largest port in the world.  Here's the wall the keep the foreigners out!

Zhengchen Gong, who successfully retook Taiwan.

Onions doesn't like direct sun.

So, here's a cool geographic marker in Quanzhou.

On the far side of the rocks, the East China Sea.  Closer to us, the South China Sea! 

We found a nice spot on the beach away from other people.  An amazing feat in China!

Onions' family lives in the HEART of old Quanzhou.  Here's some of the original European architecture.

The west pagoda of the Kaiyuan Temple.

"Little Chester"

Onions' Family

Laozi, the founder of the Daoism.

Being a port city, seafood is everywhere!  Oysters.  Turns out the small ones are tastier,

Turns out here in Quanzhou, they eat "zhongzhi" with sweet peanut sauce.  I approve!

We got to visit with some of Onions' friends.  Here he is with his best childhood friend and the friend's father!