The Year of The Rat

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Author: Glynis Ross-Munro

Article source: http://www.articledeshboard.com/. Used with author's permission.

It's the Lunar Chinese New Year. In London's China Town (take the tube to Piccadilly Circus and look right off Shaftsbury Avenue as you amble up towards Tottenham Court Road) there is a festival.

A sea of oval red lanterns illuminates Gerrard Street, and the whole world seems to have come to celebrate the beginning of the Year of the Rat.

Small drums and firecrackers frighten evil spirits, or attract customers, and red is everywhere… in clothing, and in helium balloons and toys carried by revelers. The dragon parade is on Sunday afternoon, but the crowds sparkling under the innumerable lanterns make the night lovelier than any day-lit procession.

I'm in business and the restaurateurs fascinate me. I've seen productivity, I've seen efficiency, and I've seen teamwork, but their effectiveness surpasses anything I've ever witnessed. The huge crowds have come to be fed in style, and entrepreneurs of the area are going to satisfy every customer, while making sure that none lose patience or take their money elsewhere.

As groups finish meals, the bills are processed, tables are cleared, reset and new customers are seated within seconds. Then waiters take orders, take photographs, pour wine and offer coffee with easy friendliness, while underneath they are working together like a pod of dolphins processing a school of fish. I'm entranced.

The food is delicious, the wine goes to our heads. Feeling feasted, we join the throng taking photographs of each other under the lanterns, hugging large stone lions.

I feel that the Year of the Rat will be prosperous and happy. I also feel that I have had a glimpse of the real China: a tireless economic engine, wrapped in an enticing fa?e of glitziness and tradition, where everyone seems to want to come to the party.

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