Spring Festival is the time when China becomes most Chinese, but many foreigners living in the country are also getting into the spirit of the occasion.

For American Tammy Fitter's family, that means joining about 20 other families to pool their money for an entire truckload of fireworks, donning traditional Chinese attire and feasting on a huge holiday banquet.

"We try to make it as local as possible. That's what we love about living abroad - you take the best things of the country in which you live," says the registered nurse with Beijing International School.

The family spent three years in Taiwan - where Fritter says the festival's "more like a party" - before moving to Beijing two years ago.

"It all comes down to family. When you're living abroad, your friends become your family," Fritter says.

"I hang out with a lot of crazy friends, and we look for any excuse we can find to dress up."

Her sons, 8-year-old Nolan and 12-year-old Ethan, also believe spending the holiday with friends makes it better as a foreigner.

"I enjoyed having other people, because we don't have any of our (extended) family out here," Nolan says.

His favorite parts of the celebrations are watching the fireworks and throwing "bangers" (small, harmless fireworks) with other kids.

Fitter said that while few mainland Chinese attend the gatherings, there are some families from Taiwan.

"They can help you keep it realistic, they have the stories from their childhoods to add and they can help you appreciate it culturally with a personal twist," she says.

Before the big bash this year, Fritter's family attended a Chinese New Year block party hosted by Yosemite Villas in Shunyi, where about 400 community members enjoyed food, games and performances.

"It was a lot of fun, if you participated," Fritter says.

After Chinese New Year's Day, the family usually attends Beijing's temple fairs, watching performances, munching traditional snacks and playing games.

American Micah Truman, who has lived in China for 15 years and works for an advertising firm in Beijing, calls Spring Festival "the big family gathering".

He, and his 6-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, will spend this Spring Festival with his Chinese wife's relatives in Beijing.

"Everyone gets together, talks, watches the TV specials, you eat a lot - a lot of food and fireworks - chunjie (Spring Festival) is pretty much just that."

For American Jeff Casagrade, who has lived in China for four years, the holiday is "like the US Thanksgiving combined with the Western New Year".

He and his 11-year-old twin sons will join his wife's family in Guangzhou to celebrate.

He says he enjoys the time but it isn't without its downsides.

"Normally, it's OK, but there's conflict, like in any family," Casagrade says.

"You still tend to feel like an outsider. Mostly, it's language. My Mandarin is poor, and my wife's family speaks Cantonese anyway."

This will be the first Spring Festival in China for Australian Paul Gooden and his family.

The information technology specialist says they have been looking forward to the holiday since expatriating to the Chinese capital seven months ago.

"I've been aware of Chinese New Year for a long time but this is the chance to be here and see it, to be in the Chinese capital where it has been celebrated for thousands of years," Gooden says.

"Beijing is the center of Chinese culture in some ways, so it's a great place to see Spring Festival. Experiencing it here, that's part of the reason we came to China."

The family plans to spend New Year's Eve with a friend from Taiwan who has lived on the mainland for seven years, meeting and feasting with his Chinese pals.

In addition, he will go skiing near Beijing with his local friends, and the family will travel to Longqingxia in the capital's northern suburbs to see the annual ice festival.

"With my job, it's been very busy, but moving to China has helped me understand how important family is," Gooden says.

"In China, I've been spending more time with my family, and Chinese New Year is a part of that."

Fritter says her family also enjoys the spirit of cheer that fills the air this time of year.

"Beijing takes on a different feel, and people are really happy," Fitter says.

"You feel a part of it, too."

(China Daily January 22, 2009)