Spring begins in China with the end of Spring Festival. The last day of Spring Festival is Lantern Festival, 2 weeks after Chinese New Year. We passed this huge lantern display in front of a city park that day. Notice the peony in the elephant's trunk, and the rooster, signifying the Year of the Cock, on his back.

No, that is not a snowdrift in our stairwell. It is the "fluff" that covers the seeds of the poplar trees that line our street. The trees shed these seeds for about 2 weeks in the spring. Sometimes the air is so full of drifting seeds, it really does seem to be snowing.

In 1956, China planted many of these fast growing poplar trees as part of a campaign against erosion.

As you can see, this is a patch of white clover. However, the leaves are bigger than any white clover I've ever seen in America. In fact, they are bigger than any red clover I've ever seen. If you look at the right side of the picture, halfway between the blossom and the picture edge, you may be able to pick out a big 4-leaf clover.

Our birthdays also come in the spring. Here is Lee with one of his birthday presents - a tiger shaped ink stone. With this and his writing brush, he hopes to learn the fine art of Chinese calligraphy.

And this is Deanna's birthday. We had real birthday cakes this year. Lee gave up his afternoon rest (a Chinese custom he really likes!) to go to Da Zhang Supermarket for this cake for Deanna. He picked a cake out of a display case, and they made one for him while he waited. All the other clerks came over to watch the decoration in progress.

We've already shown you the peonies, but they are not Luoyang's only spring flowers. Many other trees and shrubs burst into bloom as well, and for a little while the city is a sea of flowers. Then, just as quickly, they all give way to the green leaves of summer.

A sign of spring at Henan University of Science and Technology is the two day Sports Meeting. Students compete in a variety of events, ranging from races to high jump to tug-of-war to jumping rope. The university is decorated with beautiful chalk drawings done by students in various campus organizations.

This is another of the chalk drawings from Sports Meeting. This one features Liu Xiang, a gold-medal hurdler at the Athens Olympics. He is a big hero in China, and was a favorite subject for the artwork this year.

Copyright 2005, Dr. Lee Williams

Last Modified: 1 May 2005

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