Just before I left town at the end of last week, I wandered around the city to see how preparations were coming for the arrival of the new lunar year.
In old town, near the City God Temple and Yu Garden, workers were feverishly installing large inflatable hares.
This poor fellow took a break from work and feel asleep standing up!
Across the river in Pudong at the World Financial Center, people were filling out wish cards and hanging them on trees. 
What were they wishing for? I could read very little of the Chinese, none of the Russian, and only caught a glimmer of the hopes in German and Spanish. But I’m pretty sure I got the gist of this one, between the “4.0″ and “GPA,” although the rest is in Korean:
But here’s what I collected in English. A gal’s hope:
A guy’s wish:
Hmm, an older guy’s dream, I s’pose:
Then there’s the one I won’t show you, in which a guy wishes a certain specifically-named lady “would jump off a bridge.” Seems a tad unchivalrous. Ultimately, the child’s dream warms the heart:
Thanks for that, Emma. And my best wishes for your health and happiness, everybody, in the Year of the Rabbit!
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Awesome photos!