Published: 25/01/2009 at 02:36 PM
Thai-Chinese descendants nationwide worshipped the gods and ancestors on the occasion of the Chinese New Year.
In the southern province of Songkhla, many people made merit at the City's Pillar Shrine and a grand candle lighting ceremony will be held there on Sunday night.
In Nakhon Sawan province, people presented offerings to different shrines. However, the amount of offerings was less than usual due to the economic crisis.
The atmosphere in Chon Buri's Pattaya was also less lively, as only some Thai-Chinese joined the Chinese New Year ceremony.
However, the atmosphere near the Thai-Cambodian checkpoints in Chanthaburi province was vibrant, as many Cambodian-Chinese people entered Thailand to buy Chinese New Year offerings, such as pork, poultry and fish. About 40 million baht were circulated in marketplaces near the border areas, and part of it is because Cambodian farmers have sold their produces recently.
Meanwhile, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will organise the Chinese New Year Festival at Bangkok's China Town on Yaowarat road on Monday and Tuesday. Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn will preside over its opening ceremony on Monday at 5pm. The event is expected to generate approximately 500 million baht.
New Year in China sees the biggest annual movement of people in the world
Chinese New Year activities are being organised at Central World Plaza in Bangkok. On Tuesday evening, performers and entertainers from seven precincts of China will perform dazzling shows there.
In China, meanwhile, the global economic crisis put a damper on celebrations as tens of millions of people were set to usher in the Lunar New Year Sunday with fireworks and big family reunions.
Railways and planes worked full tilt over the weekend as people made last-minute dashes home to welcome the Year of the Ox, which begins on Monday.
A record 188 million people were expected to travel by train and another 24 million to fly over the 40 days before and after the New Year, in what is regarded as the biggest annual movement of people in the world.
And while bad weather failed to disrupt the transport network like it did last year in China, the economic crisis loomed large.
In a New Year speech, China's Premier Wen Jiabao warned of challenges in the year ahead, the official People's Daily newspaper reported Sunday, as financial woes continued to impact the country.
"Taking a broad view of the situation abroad and domestically, challenges and opportunities exist," the newspaper quoted Wen as saying, and he reiterated the importance of economic policies such as increasing domestic consumption.
Wen, whose bridge-building trip to Europe starting Tuesday will focus on the crisis, was in the southwestern province of Sichuan -- hit by a devastating earthquake in May -- Sunday to visit victims, the official China Daily said.
In Beijing's Ditan Park, meanwhile, which like many across the nation opened up Sunday for a fair where people came to buy festive treats, there were signs the economic problems had taken their toll.
A multitude of red lanterns hung over alleys as thousands of visitors enjoyed the first day of the fair, but for pinwheel seller Zhu Sibai, business was slow.
Zhu, who lives in the poor, eastern province of Anhui, had travelled up to Beijing to sell his wares during the week-long fair -- a trip he had made annually for five years.
"Last year, on the first morning like this one, I sold 1,000-yuan (145 dollars) worth of pinwheels but this morning, I've only sold 10-yuan worth," Zhu said.
Zhu was not the only worker feeling gloomy ahead of the Lunar New Year.
Around six million migrant workers had already returned to their rural homes around the country after losing their jobs due to the financial crisis, Ma Jiantang, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, indicated on Thursday.
According to Ma, around a quarter of the nation's 120 million workers had gone home.
Of these, 20 per cent -- around six million -- had done so because the plants where they worked had closed down or halted production.
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