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Temporal markers provide unique opportunities for a community to revisit traditions, construct identity, and negotiate solidarity. The linguistic landscape (LL) encapsulating the celebration of the Chinese New Year, a momentous festival for both the Chinese community and people worldwide, presents a distinctive avenue for exploring the contestation and negotiation of diverse values and viewpoints in envisioning the future in the public sphere. The paper investigates the use of multilingual and multimodal resources to commemorate the Chinese New Year in Shantou’s coffee shops, revealing a diverse textual and visual narrative of celebration. In this process, socially constructed linguistic borders dissolve, facilitating the meshing and fusion of languages and enabling the reimagination, reinterpretation, and rewriting of the New Year. The juxtaposition of elements in differing linguistic and semiotic repertoires opens a dialogue, wherein values and traditions associated with the New Year are negotiated and reconstructed within the context of the evolving social attitudes and beliefs in post-pandemic Shantou. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conduct an experiment to examine how the attitude toward time preference changed when there was a time-related occasion, specifically the Lunar New Year. We anticipated that individuals would be more patient as measured by a battery of questions after the New Year. However, we find that individuals only appear more patient when those questions pose the amount of time they have to wait in year increments rather than other units of time. More experimentation is necessary to identify the peculiarities of framing questions around this "New Years Effect." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the prevalence and significance of ritual in the early modern world, focusing on the case of the early Qing surrender ceremony. It argues that as empires expanded and societies became more diverse, rulers relied on ritual to incorporate new political actors and govern different cultures and ethnicities. The article explores how ritual constructed and reconstructed social and political orders in a rapidly changing world, and suggests that ritual proliferated during this time period due to increased social interactions and the emergence of large empires. It discusses the role of ritual in the Qing surrender ceremony, which was used to incorporate surrendered generals and their troops into the Manchu political order. The article highlights how rituals were used to establish and reinforce power dynamics, create political relationships, and navigate conflicts, emphasizing the crucial role of ritual in state-building and the construction of political order in early modern societies. [Extracted from the article]

This article examines the role of Chinese temples, known as kelenteng, in the Hokkien community in Batavia during Dutch colonial times. The kelenteng served as important social and cultural institutions, facilitating the integration of the Chinese community into the host society. They played various roles, including political authority, funeral services, commercial promotion, family dominance, guild competition, and Islamic accommodation. The rituals conducted at the kelenteng contributed to community cohesion and acculturation. The article also discusses the historical significance of specific kelenteng in relation to political authority and the embedding mechanisms of the Hokkien community. [Extracted from the article]

In this study, online ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were collected at an urban site of Zhengzhou in Central China during February 2018. The VOCs characteristics, source contributions and the Chinese New Year (CNY) effects have been investigated. During the sampling period, three haze periods have been identified, with the corresponding VOCs concentrations of (92 ± 45) ppbv, (62 ± 18) ppbv and (83 ± 34) ppbv; in contrast, the concentration during non-haze days was found to be (57 ± 27) ppbv. In addition, the festival effects of the CNY were investigated, and the concentration of particulate matter precursor decreased significantly. Meanwhile, firework-displaying events were identified, as the emission intensity had been greatly changed. Both potential source contribution function (PSCF) and the concentration weighted trajectory (CWT) models results indicated that short-distance transportation was the main influencing factor of the local VOCs pollution, especially by transport from the northeast. Source contribution results by the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model showed that vehicle exhaust (24%), liquid petroleum gas and natural gas (LPG/NG, 23%), coal combustion (21%), industrial processes (16%) and solvent usages (16%) were the major sources of ambient VOCs. Although industry and solvents have low contribution to the total VOCs, their secondary organic aerosol (SOA) contribution were found to be relatively high, especially in haze-1 and haze-3 periods. The haze-2 period had the lowest secondary organic aerosol potential (SOAp) during the sampling period; this is mainly caused by the reduction of industrial and solvent emissions due to CNY. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese Lunar New Year is a significant festival in China that leads to indoor and outdoor air pollution with distinct characteristics compared to normal times. In this study, indoor and outdoor air samples were collected and analysed to investigate the indoor and outdoor pollution of PM2.5 and its metal elements during the Chinese New Year. The findings reveal that there is a notable positive correlation between indoor and outdoor PM2.5 concentrations during the Chinese New Year, with outdoor concentrations being higher on average. The levels of PM2.5 concentrations indoors and outdoors started to increase on Chinese New Year's Eve and peaked after the early hours of the Chinese New Year. The total concentrations of six metal elements (Cd, Cr, Ni, Cu, Pb and Zn) in indoor and outdoor PM2.5 during the Chinese New Year in 2022 were 738.73 ± 134.93 mg/kg and 1124.38 ± 553.14 mg/kg, respectively. Principal component analysis suggests that the main sources of indoor metal elements were from outdoor combustion sources and human activities, while outdoor sources were fireworks displays and emissions from coal combustion. Based on the U.S. EPA risk assessment carried out, both indoor and outdoor PM2.5 metal elements could pose a carcinogenic risk to adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrous acid (HONO) is an important precursor of OH radicals which affects not only the sinks of primary air pollutants but also the formation of secondary air pollutants, but its source closure in the atmosphere is still controversial due to a lack of experiment validation. In this study, the HONO budget in Beijing has been analyzed and validated through the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown event, which resulted in a significant reduction in air pollutant emissions, providing a rare opportunity to understand the HONO budget in the atmosphere. We measured HONO and related pollutants from 1 January to 6 March 2020, which covered the Chinese New Year (CNY) and the COVID-19 lockdown. The average concentration of HONO decreased from 0.97 ± 0.74 ppb before CNY to 0.53 ± 0.44 ppb during the COVID-19 lockdown, accompanied by a sharp drop in NO x and the greatest drop in NO (around 87 %). HONO budget analysis suggests that vehicle emissions were the most important source of HONO during the nighttime (53 ± 17 %) before CNY, well supported by the decline in their contribution to HONO during the COVID-19 lockdown. We found that the heterogeneous conversion of NO 2 on ground surfaces was an important nighttime source of HONO (31 ± 5 %), while that on aerosol surfaces was a minor source (2 ± 1 %). Nitrate photolysis became the most important daytime source during the COVID-19 lockdown compared with that before CNY, resulting from the combined effect of the increase in nitrate and the decrease in NO. Our results indicate that reducing vehicle emissions should be an effective measure for alleviating HONO in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric methane is one of the major greenhouse gases with a drastic impact on climate change. This study developed a random forest model to obtain a daily 5 km resolution atmospheric methane concentration dataset with full spatial coverage (100%) from 2019 to 2021 in mainland China, thereby filling the gap in the methane product data from the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI). The coefficients of determination for a sample-based and spatial-based cross-validation are 0.97 and 0.93, respectively. The average deviation of the seamless methane product reconstructed by the random forest model is less than 1%, validated with the measured methane concentration data from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network sites. Methane concentrations in China show a distribution of high in the east and south and low in the west and north. The high-concentration areas include Central China, the Sichuan Basin, the Pearl River Delta, and the Yangtze River Delta. In terms of time scale, the methane concentration has evident seasonal variation, as it is low in spring (average 1852 ppb) and winter (average 1881 ppb) and high in summer (average 1885 ppb) and autumn (average 1886 ppb). This is mainly due to the significant increase in emissions from rice cultivation and wetlands during the summer and autumn. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the methane concentration decreases significantly and then starts to return to normal around 70 days after the Lunar New Year, indicating that the seamless methane product can potentially detect anomalous changes in methane concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a hybrid model, the convolutional neural network-support vector regression model, was adopted to achieve prediction of the NO 2 profile in Nanjing from January 2019 to March 2021. Given the sudden decline in NO 2 in February 2020, the contribution of the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) lockdown, Chinese New Year (CNY), and meteorological conditions to the reduction of NO 2 was evaluated. NO 2 vertical column densities (VCDs) from January to March 2020 decreased by 59.05% and 32.81%, relative to the same period in 2019 and 2021, respectively. During the period of 2020 COVID-19, the average NO 2 VCDs were 50.50% and 29.96% lower than those during the pre-lockdown and post-lockdown periods, respectively. The NO 2 volume mixing ratios (VMRs) during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown significantly decreased below 400 m. The NO 2 VMRs under the different wind fields were significantly lower during the lockdown period than during the pre-lockdown period. This phenomenon could be attributed to the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. The NO 2 VMRs before and after the CNY were significantly lower in 2020 than in 2019 and 2021 in the same period, which further proves that the decrease in NO 2 in February 2020 was attributed to the COVID-19 lockdown. Pollution source analysis of an NO 2 pollution episode during the lockdown period showed that the polluted air mass in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei was transported southwards under the action of the north wind, and the subsequent unfavorable meteorological conditions (local wind speed of < 2.0 m/sec) resulted in the accumulation of pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, titled "Three Poems," features three poems by Nida Sophasarun. The first poem, "Moon (Mid-Autumn Festival)," describes the moon as a light and reflects on the narrator's father. The second poem, "Spring Festival (Lunar New Year)," depicts the anticipation of someone's arrival in a forest. The third poem, "Moon (Spring Equinox)," portrays a journey home in the dark. The poems explore themes of nature, family, and personal experiences. [Extracted from the article]

In January 2019, What is Peppa?, a promotional video for a Chinese New Year movie, received widespread attention in China immediately after its release. This paper explains the success of the video from the perspective of visual framing, and employs Systemic Visual Grammar to analyze how visual semiotics are applied to frame prominent topics so as to achieve promotional purposes. The results show that: (i) visual semiotics are used to frame the topic of empty nesters, implying that this issue brings negative consequences and evoking the audience's empathy and concern; (ii) visuals frame the topic of family love, in which the main protagonist's actions are highlighted; and (iii) the topic of family reunion is mainly framed and realized by delicate compositional arrangements. Using various visual semiotics at the denotative, stylistic-semantic, connotative, and ideological levels, this video establishes both visual and emotional communication between the main character and the audience, making the promotional purpose more successful. The results highlight and specify the important roles of visual frames in promotional videos, and the integration of Peppa with traditional Chinese culture, love, and family reunion represents a visual approach to glocalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of studies that concurrently differentiate the effect of the holiday season from the weekend effect on mortality risk in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We evaluated the mortality risk among patients admitted with AMI who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention, using data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Adult AMI patients admitted during January and February between 2013 and 2020 were enrolled and classified into the holiday season (using the Chinese New Year holiday seasons as an indicator) (n = 1729), weekend (n = 4725), and weekday (n = 14,583) groups according to the first day of admission. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to assess the risk. With the weekday group or the weekend group as the reference, the holiday season group did not have increased risks of in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.15; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 0.93–1.42 or aOR 1.23; 95% CI 0.96–1.56) and 7-day mortality (aOR 1.20; 95% CI 0.90–1.58 or aOR 1.24; 95% CI 0.90–1.70). Stratified and subgroup analyses showed similar trends. We conclude that holiday season-initiated admissions were not associated with higher mortality risks in AMI admission cases than weekday or weekend admissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We observed transient elevations in creatinine levels among kidney recipients after three traditional holidays in Taiwan. This retrospective cohort study aimed to compare the changes in eGFR levels after Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival, all of which are associated with high-calorie and high-fat diets. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 364 kidney recipients with stable graft function who were following at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Linkou from 2018 to 2020. The graft function before and after the festival was determined by calculating the eGFR level using the serum creatinine measured during clinic visits prior to and following the festival. The patients were then categorized into subgroups based on their sex, BMI, and co-morbidities. The eGFR levels before and after the festival were evaluated and compared within these subgroups. A total of 301 kidney recipients have been finally included in this retrospective cohort study. The analysis showed a significant decrease in overall eGFR levels after Chinese New Year (from 56.92 ± 29.70 to 55.14 ± 24.79, P =.006), Mid-Autumn Festival (from 54.03 ± 24.61 to 53.35 ± 24.33, P =.008), and Dragon Boat Festival only in 2020 (from 50.98 ± 24.35 to 49.99 ± 23.45, P =.018). The analysis of subgroups suggested a tendency of renal function decline after all 3 traditional holidays in patient groups with DM or hypertension or nonoverweight status. In this study, we observed a significant decline in renal function among kidney recipients following traditional holidays in Taiwan, particularly among recipients with hypertension or diabetes mellitus or those who were not overweight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the long-term implementation of air pollution control policies in northeast China, severe haze pollution continues to occur frequently. With the adoption of a megacity (Changchun) in northeast China, we analysed the vertical characteristics of aerosols and the causes of aerosol pollution throughout the year using multisource data for providing recommendations for controlling pollution events (i.e., straw burning and fireworks). Based on a ground-based LiDAR, it was found that the extinction coefficient (EC) of aerosols at a height of 300 m in Changchun was highest in winter (0.44 km−1), followed by summer (0.28 km−1), with significant differences from those in warmer regions, such as the Yangtze River Delta. Therefore, it is recommended that air pollution control policies be differentiated between winter and summer. On Chinese New Year's Eve in Changchun, the ignition of firecrackers during the day and night caused increases in the EC at a height of 500 m to 0.37 and 0.88 km−1, respectively. It is suggested that the regulation of firecracker ignition should be reduced during the day and strengthened at night. Based on the CALIPSO and backward trajectory analysis results, two events of dust–biomass-burning composite pollution were observed in March and April. In March, the primary aerosol component was dust from western Changchun, whereas in April, the main aerosol component was biomass-burning aerosols originating from northern and eastern Changchun. Hence, reducing the intensity of spring biomass burning can mitigate the occurrence of dust–biomass-burning composite pollution. These findings can provide emission policy suggestions for areas facing similar issues regarding biomass-burning transmission pollution and firework emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hongbao is a monetary gift given during Chinese New Year and other occasions. In 2015, WeChat introduced its electronic version in China. This has altered its original and ritualistic meaning, which is linked to a conception of the world characterised by filial piety, benevolence, and social harmony. Here the red packet is seen as a connector linking the generations, and also the individual to the community. The money inserted in the red packet symbolises these relationships, as well as the debt of life that can never be reimbursed. Hence, the amount is symbolic. The time-space compression that allowed for the introduction of the e-hongbao has changed this meaning, and the WeChat app can be analysed as a mediator that links the sender and the receiver. This blurs the meaning of the hongbao, linking it to economic practices and highlighting the individualisation of Chinese society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the historical connections between Australia and Asia, using the personal story of a Hungarian refugee who traveled through Asia on his way to Australia in 1957 as a lens. The article highlights the significance of a photo album given to the refugee in Saigon, Vietnam, which documented an anti-Communist festival. The authors argue that Australia's focus on nationalism has often overshadowed its historical ties to Asia, and they call for a more inclusive and nuanced approach to history. The article also introduces a special issue of History Australia that explores the interconnections between Australia, China, and Japan. It discusses how the processes of deimperialization and decolonization in both Australia and Asia have shaped Australian histories and knowledge production of Asia, and emphasizes the importance of understanding the emotional aspects of historical geographies and fostering productive dialogue among scholars. [Extracted from the article]

This article explores the Australian experience of Lunar New Year, a festival originating in mainland China that has allowed its participants to navigate the identity politics of the private sphere alongside the national politics of the public sphere. For the Chinese-Australian community, it has been a means to reaffirm ancestral traditions and forge new transnational identities. Local councils have further capitalised on celebrations to unify cities under a broader social image of multicultural harmony during Australia's post-imperial disorientation and subsequent search for a new sense of nationhood. Finally, as Australia continues to navigate a turbulent relationship with China, Australian politicians have adopted the vibrant rhetoric of the festival to ground Australia's regional identity in the Asia Pacific. The festival thus exists as a lively, contemporary focal point used to hone, reconstruct and complicate a range of Australian identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• PMF source analysis was performed by using combined bulk and single-particle data. • Fresh/aged fireworks were identified from biomass burning during Spring Festival. • Fresh fireworks and biomass burning dominate the mass of particles on the LNY 's Eve. • Fresh fireworks contribute more to nitrate while the aged one contributes more to sulfate. Fireworks (FW) could significantly worsen air quality in short term during celebrations. Due to similar tracers with biomass burning (BB), the fast and precise qualification of FW and BB is still challenging. In this study, online bulk and single-particle measurements were combined to investigate the contributions of FW and BB to the overall mass concentrations of PM 2.5 and specific chemical species by positive matrix factorization (PMF) during the Chinese New Year in Hong Kong in February 2013. With combined information, fresh/aged FW (abundant 140K 2 NO 3 + and 213K 3 SO 4 + formed from 113K 2 Cl+ discharged by fresh FW) can be extracted from the fresh/aged BB sources, in addition to the Second Aerosol, Vehicles + Road Dust, and Sea Salt factors. The contributions of FW and BB were investigated during three high particle matter episodes influenced by the pollution transported from the Pearl River Delta region. The fresh BB/FW contributed 39.2% and 19.6% to PM 2.5 during the Lunar Chinese New Year case. However, the contributions of aged FW/BB enhanced in the last two episodes due to the aging process, evidenced by high contributions from secondary aerosols. Generally, the fresh BB/FW showed more significant contributions to nitrate (35.1% and 15.0%, respectively) compared with sulfate (25.1% and 5.9%, respectively) and OC (14.8% and 11.1%, respectively) on average. In comparison, the aged FW contributed more to sulfate (13.4%). Overall, combining online bulk and single-particle measurement data can combine both instruments' advantages and provide a new perspective for applying source apportionment of aerosols using PMF. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this study is to analyze the compositions of urinary stones and investigate their distributions in different ages, genders, seasons, and clinical features of Northern Vietnamese patients. Methods: A total of 231 patients with urinary stones from Northern Vietnam were collected and analyzed composition from 1/2021-12/2022. For all patients, age, sex, stone location, stone side, urine pH, and hospitalized date (month) were collected. Results: Kidney stones are more frequently found in men than women with the male: female urinary stones ratio in this study being 1.96:1. The highest stone prevalence appeared between 60 and 69 years old. The most common stone composition was calcium oxalate, followed by calcium phosphate, uric acid, struvite, and cysteine. Mix stones of CaOx and CaP were more prevalent than pure stones. Males submitted more CaOx, CaP, and UA stones, whereas females were susceptible to infectious stones. Stones were more frequently found on the left side of the upper urinary tract (51.9%) than on the right side (27.3%) and lower urinary tract (7.8%). Cultural tendency leads to a smaller number of stones during the Lunar new year (February), and Ghost month (August). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrous acid (HONO) is an important precursor of OH radicals which affects not only the sinks of primary air pollutants but also the formation of secondary air pollutants, whereas its source closure in the atmosphere is still controversial due to a lack of experiment validation. In this study, the HONO budget in Beijing has been analyzed and validated through the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown event, which resulted in the largest changes in air pollutant emissions in the history of modern atmospheric chemistry. A home-made Water-based Long-Path Absorption Photometer (LOPAP) along with other instruments were used to measure the HONO and related pollutants from January 1, 2020 to March 6, 2020, which covered the Chinese New Year (CNY) and the COVID-19 lockdown. The average concentration of HONO decreased from 0.97 ± 0.74 ppb before CNY to 0.53 ± 0.44 ppb during the COVID-19 lockdown, accompanied by a sharp drop of NOx and the greatest drop of NO (around 87 %). HONO budget analysis suggests that vehicle emissions were the most important source of HONO during the nighttime (53 %) before CNY, well supported by the decline of their contribution to HONO during the COVID-19 lockdown. We found that the heterogeneous conversion of NO2 on ground surfaces was an important nighttime source of HONO (31 %), while that on aerosol surfaces was a minor source (2 %). Nitrate photolysis became the most important daytime source during the COVID-19 lockdown compared with that before CNY, resulting from the combined effect of the increase in nitrate and the decrease in NO. Our results indicate that reducing vehicle emissions should be an effective measure for alleviating HONO in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuing control efforts in recent decade have notably brought down fine‐particulate‐matter (PM2.5) pollution to compliance with the annual average air quality objective in Hong Kong. However, short‐term (several hours to few days) PM2.5 pollution sporadically occurred in winter and has become a major focus of attention, calling research in characterizing sources and their variations at hourly timescale. This study reports hourly measurements of PM2.5 and its chemical speciation, including molecular and elemental tracers in suburban Hong Kong in 2020 winter. Hourly PM2.5 was 20.3 ± 7.33 μg m−3, dominated by organics and sulfate. We deployed tracer‐based source apportionment using positive matrix factorization, which resolved six secondary and seven primary sources. Sulfate‐rich and nitrate‐rich factors were the leading PM2.5 contributors. Variation in source contributions under different air masses revealed the Pearl River Delta region and coastal areas to the north are main origins. Elevation in secondary sources was the driving factor in causing high PM2.5 polluted hours. During Chinese New Year holiday, firework emissions partially offset the reductions in anthropogenic sources, even leading to an increased PM2.5. Hour‐by‐hour examination of most polluted and firework event hours enhanced understanding on dynamic variations of haze and firework burning evolution. The mass concentration of firework‐derived PM2.5 was notably lower under "prohibition" than "restriction" control scenario (avg. 3.5 vs. 8.4 μg m−3). Our results highlight the effectiveness of tracer‐based source apportionment in revealing hourly PM2.5 source variations and the necessity of regional joint management to lessen the severity of episodic PM2.5 pollution and health risks. Plain Language Summary: Episodic PM2.5 pollution elicits acute health impacts and has attracted increasing attention of the public in recent years, thus impelling the need for understanding PM2.5 source variations at the hourly timescale. We present a comprehensive study of PM2.5 sources based on hourly measurements of PM2.5 in suburban Hong Kong during the winter of 2020. Totally, 20 out of 94 sampling days recorded PM2.5 levels exceeding 25 μg m−3, the World Health Organization IT‐4 air quality guideline for daily PM2.5. Over 200 hourly samples (21% of total) surpassed over 25 μg m−3, which we set as the episode threshold value in this study. Our source apportionment results identified the episodic high PM2.5 hr in Hong Kong was attributed to the large increment in secondary formation processes. Firework emissions had a significant but short‐term impact on air quality during the Chinese New Year holidays (5 consecutive days), and their mass contributions increased by ∼2.4 times when the control policy shifted from "prohibition" to "restriction." The overall findings provide scientific insights for formulating effective control strategies to meet the WHO AQG IT‐4 and to strike a balance between pollution mitigation and the inclusion of fireworks to enhance festive occasions. Key Points: Receptor modeling based on hourly aerosol organic molecular and elemental tracers resolved 13 source factors in suburban Hong KongHourly measurements allowed hourly time‐scale characterization of variations in aerosol chemical composition as well as major sourcesAnalysis of PM2.5 episodes and firework events on an hourly basis offered quantitative source data for devising targeted control measures [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]