Shipmen may call everywhere home, but they still celebrate the New Year.
Even if they want to continue sailing to earn more money during the Spring Festival, people onshore are on holiday, so it's not certain they can find a source of goods. Even if they can find it and deliver it to the destination, the dock workers don't work, so they can't unload.
Because many inland river cargo ships are far from home, shipmen celebrate the New Year simply, anchoring wherever they happen to be.
If they're lucky, they may encounter fellow countrymen or friends who also run boats, anchoring several ships together, gathering to drink, play cards, and chat. At night, they eat New Year's Eve dinner, watch the Central TV's Spring Festival Gala, and then set off fireworks together.
Some shipmen already calculate where the last cargo before the Spring Festival should be delivered, and call home in advance, asking their family to bring the children over to celebrate a reunion year together.
