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Alison Lloyd is an Australian children's writer.
Her latest book is Wicked Warriors and Evil Emperors - the true story of how the First Emperor won the fight for Ancient China. She has also writtenYear of the Tiger, an adventure story about archery, armies and acrobats, on the Great Wall.
On this website you can find out about:
If you have something else you'd like to know, you can contact Alison here too. |
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Year of the Tiger now in US! |
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Year of the Tiger has now been published in the USA. Welcome to all American readers! Hope you like the book as much as kids in Australia. Tell Alison Lloyd what you think here. |
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2010 - Year of the Tiger! |
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14 February 2010 was the beginning of the Year of the Tiger, on the traditional Chinese calendar. If you're turning twelve (between 28 January and 15 February) this year, that makes you a tiger too. Other famous 'tigers' are: Beatrix Potter, Marco Polo, Queen Elizabeth II, Tom Cruise and Karl Marx. Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, is the biggest festival on the Chinese calendar. New Year's Eve is cold, dark and wintry across most of China. Families gather together for a big meal, often of pork dumplings. Kitchens are filled with steam, and with people chopping vegetables, kneading dough and chatting. Fish is often cooked too. This is because the word for 'fish' - yu - sounds the same as the word for 'plenty', so it's good luck in a country which has often suffered famines and starvation.
People like to wear new clothes to welcome the new year. They also give their children red envelopes stuffed with money, called hong bao. (On the right above is a hong bao with the character fu, meaning 'blessing'.) In the old days, rich people like the Commander in Year of the Tiger, would hire performers like Hu's family for entertainment. Nowadays, after dinner everyone watches China's top stars in the big New Year's Eve show on TV. |
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