The celebration of Chinese New Year is a month long observance that begins on the sixteenth day of the last month of the old year and culminates on the fifteenth day of the first month of the new year with the celebration called Yuan Hsiao Chie the Festival of the Night of the First Full Moon.

In English, this celebration has, over time, come to be known as the Lantern Festival, In English, this celebration has, over time, come to be known as the Lantern Festival, due to the custom of carrying illuminated lanterns outside to parks and temples. Traditionally, lanterns are made of bamboo and are illuminated with candles. Now, however, the more aesthetically pleasing bamboo lanterns have mostly given way to durable, brightly colored plastic lanterns. Lit by flashlights, they take the form of cars, boats, and airplanes among others. When seen in a park by the thousands, even these modern lanterns are a spectacular sight.

Some lanterns bear riddles. The origins of this practice are rooted in myth. It is said that in ancient times, an arrogant mandarin criticized a Chinese merchant named Wang Shao for his poor clothing. Wang Shao decided to take revenge on the mandarin on the night of the Lantern Festival by presenting him with a lantern bearing this riddle:

Its head is sharp, body slight, And it is as white as silver. Its weight is light, has eyes on its tail. It sees only clothing not men.

The mandarin was infuriated, thinking that the riddle described him. Having taken his revenge, Wang Shao explained that the answer was a needle.

Another custom prevalent during the festival is the eating and giving of tang yuan, the rice dumplings also known as yuan hsiao. The term dumpling covers a wide variety of Chinese foods; in this case, sesame paste or peanut syrup. Yuan hsiao are said to represent the moon and family togetherness.

Another popular event during Chinese New Year is the Rocket Festival held in the Taiwanese village of Yen Shui, near Tainan. Yen Shui was a prosperous river port until, about 190 years ago; it suffered a deadly plague that killed scores of villagers. Kuan Yu, the god of war, was asked by the remaining townspeople to put a stop to what they called "the Wind of Evil."

Kuan Yu ordered the villagers to combat the plague with fireworks were set off in a three-day battle against evil that ended on the Night of the First Full Moon. The villagers were victorious, and the plague lifted. The Rocket Festival still is held annually in Yen Shui but has been shortened to one night of complete chaos, when all types of rockets fly in every direction from innumerable launchers. The displays take every conceivable shape: animals, cars, tanks, and even the god Kuan Yu. All participants and spectators wear fullvisored motorcycle helmets, heavy clothes, and gloves as protection against the ballistic onslaught.

Despite their popularity, it is not unusual for Chinese folkloric rituals to have ambiguous roots. But no matter how many versions of a story there are, all have common elements that revolve around a central theme in this case, a servant girl named Yuan Hsiao.

The tale presented here has the common elements of dozens of versions of the story combined in an approximation of the style used by the modern Chinese storytellers with whom I am familiar. This version is simple and a bit repetitive, with a very light smattering of sarcasm. Every effort has been made to present it as colorfully as the stories were when told to me.

The tale of Yuan Hsiao

Long ago, in the house of the great Emperor Wu, there lived a beautiful young servant girl named Yuan Hsiao (Full Moon). Yuan Hsiao had been well named: The light of her namesake would reflect off her face at night, making the other servants feel as if the moon has left its place in the sky to take up residence in the kitchens of the Son of Heaven.

It was not only the imperial servants who were attracted to the light of Yuan Hsiao. The mandarins and even the Son of Heaven himself knew of her, and her famous tang yuan dumplings were vaunted throughout the empire although few had been tasted outside the imperial residence.

One among the household was attracted to Yuan Hsiao like a moth to flame" Tung Fang Shu, the honorable first adviser to the great Lord Emperor Wu. In his capacity as first advisor, Tung often took it upon himself to personally oversee weighty imperial matters within Yuan Hsiao's general vicinity.

It was on one of these urgent imperial errands this time, to the kitchen where Yuan Hsiao, most conveniently, was cooking the at Advisor Tung noticed a shadow cast over her usually bright face.

"What troubles you, little one?" he asked while taking careful note of a cage of ducks that he had decided to personally inventory.

Yuan Hsiao only lowered her eyes in way of response.

"You may speak, little one. Perhaps I can be of service.'

Yuan Hsiao, although just a servant, was first a young woman; and in so being, she was not blind to the approaches taken by infatuated men.

"I would not want to waste the valuable time of the esteemed and wise first adviser to the Son of Heaven with trivial matters," she said sweetly, her eyes still demurely lowered.

"My time could nev… would not be wasted," Tung replied, perhaps a bit too quickly for decorum.

"It is only that" she began hesitantly. "It is only that I miss my family. I have been away for so long that even if they were to see me, I fear they never would recognize me. Soon I will be forgotten."

"It is an honor to be in the service of the Son of Heaven, little one. Your home sickness soon will pass."

"Yes, wise one."

Yuan Hsiao bowed deeply and returned to her work.

"I see that you are making your famous dumplings," Advisor Tung said while looking at the heaping platter of tang yuan.

"Yes," Yuan Hsiao said, her face brightening at the compliment. "Would your esteemed presence care for some?"

"Thank you, little one."

"It is my pleasure, wise one."

With that, Adviser Tung took a bowl of dumplings and returned to the counting of the imperial ducks. That night, in his rooms, Tung thought about the momentary brightness that had lit Yuan Hsiao's troubled face; and as he watched the moonlight fall on his uneaten plate of dumplings, he fell into a fitful sleep and dreamed of the moon.

He woke thinking of Yuan Hsiao. He tried to banish thoughts of her from his mind, only to have them rise again like the moon in his dreams.

It went on in the same way for days and, especially, nights when he was haunted by what once had been just ordinary moonlight.

After many anxious days of trying to forget Yuan Hsiao's problem and many futile nights trying to avoid her namesake, Adviser Tung concocted a plan. He managed to arrange a truly essential errand this time, a careful personal inventory of the stock of fish stomachs in the imperial kitchen where Yuan Hsiao was working.

"You will see your family soon, little one; that I promise," he told her. "Say, nothing of this."

He left quickly.

At first, Yuan Hsiao was afraid to be happy. She feared that she had misunderstood the muttered message. Soon, however, her natural good cheer took over, and the imperial kitchens once again were blessed with the radiance of her smile.

Tung was too busy to notice the change. In typical imperial adviser fashion, he has only planned to plan a plan at the first available opportunity, and he now found himself in a worse state than before. Especially at night when the moonlight haunted him.

It was only after a dream in which he saw Yuan Hsiao cooking dumplings over a bright fire that his plan finally took shape.

On the next day, a haggard and weary Adviser Tung announced to Emperor Wu that the capital city of Changan soon would burn to the ground.

"On the fifteenth night of the first full moon, the Jade Emperor, the emperor of heaven, will watch as his envoy, Kuan Yu, the god of fire, burns Changan until only ashes remain."

"How can this tragedy be stopped?" the Son of Heaven asked, greatly concerned.

"There is a chance, Magnificent One, that if we were to pay a suitable tribute to the god of fire, this catastrophe can be avoided."

"You throw open the chambers of the imperial concubines and the vaults!"

"That will not be required, Son of Heaven."

"Continue, Adviser Tung."

"Your Eminence is aware of the demand for dumplings made by the servant girl Yuan Hsiao?"

"Yes, Adviser Tung," the emperor said, growing impatient.

"It is said that the desire for Yuan Hsiao's dumplings extends to the god of fire himself."

"Said by whom?"

"The servants of Kuan Yu are known to exchange gossip, in the manner of servants every where, with those of the imperial house hold, omnipotent one."

"I see."

"The god of fire will not burn the city if he is paid tribute with Yuan Hsiao's dumplings."

"The Jade Emperor will miss his entertainment," Emperor Wu stated.

"We can fool the Jade Emperor into thinking that the city is burning by having the people carry burning lanterns through the city streets," Tung advised.

"How will Kuan Yu know this servant girl?"

"We will have her lead the procession carrying a lantern bearing her name in letters large enough for the god of fire to see."

And so it went. The Son of Heaven heeded Tung's advice, and Yuan Hsiao's waiting relatives were able to identify her by the lantern she carried. She visited with them long enough to cure her home sickness, and, to this day, tang yuan dumplings bear the name "yuan hsiao" in remembrance of the girl with a face like pale moonlight.

Why did he help?

The preceding tale and the Lantern Festival both have their origins in the Han dynasty (206 B.C. - A.D. 220). The Han dynasty saw the invention of paper (by a eunuch), the arrival of Buddhism from India, the adoption of Confucianism as the state religion, and the rise of "bureaucratic feudalism."

It was during this period that the ruling class of mandarins with the aid of Confucian tenets and the two class concept (that is, the rulers and the ruled) developed by Mencius established a firm hold over the other classes: peasants, artisans, and merchants. Many considered the merchants to be "exploiters" who lived as parasites off the honest labor of others. Although they were at the bottom of the social hierarchy, they were acquiring great wealth and, as a result, economic status.

The rulers of this era were known more for their arrogance and impatience toward the ruled and their strong distaste for getting into trouble than for their sympathy and generosity. An important feature of the story of Yuan Hsiao is that, for reasons unknown, she was aided by Tung Fang Shu, who certainly would have been a eunuch. The eunuchs were somewhat of a class unto themselves, and they, too, had little patience or time for members of the others classes.

So why did he help her?

Like many other Chinese folktales, this story lacks an obvious moral lesson, so his aid was not enlisted by the tellers to prove some moralistic point. It is likely that he was just a convenience. Emperor Wu probably was the Emperor Wu, Ti, who reigned during the second century B.C.; Wu Ti was known to have a penchant for castration to high positions -positions of trust. He could easily have been fooled by such and adviser.

It is important to ignore Adviser Tung's probable state because his motivation, in most versions of the story, clearly was physical attraction his being a eunuch, or advanced in age, is never suggested. To have a physically functional male in the imperial compound is vital to the tale; so standard imperial practice is cast aside.

It is likely that the telling of this tale began much later in history in order to explain the practices of carrying lanterns and eating yuan hsiao dumplings during the Festival of the First Full Moon the true origins of which had been forgotten, or lost during one of China's many mass book burnings. Or maybe it all really happened.