Thais welcome the Year of the Dog
Taiwan News
Date: 2018/02/18
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The official Lunar New Year holiday may only last one day in
Year of the Dog decorations at a shopping mall in Pattaya, Thailand. (Photo by Matthew Strong)
Thailand, but that doesn’t mean it goes by unseen in the Southeast Asian country with its large ethnic Chinese population.
Shopping malls and supermarkets will set aside special areas where they sell anything that’s red, especially red T-shirts and paper lanterns. Even major European fashion chains get in on the act.
At the malls, little girls and young women in red “qipao” or cheongsams walk by, while 24-hour convenience stores sell pink-colored breads and sweets.
The preponderance of red T-shirts comes somewhat as a surprise as only a few years ago, wearing such an item symbolized support for the political movement of deposed ex-Premier Thaksin Shinawatra and of his sister Yingluck Shinawatra, both of whom now live in exile while the country is run by a military-led government. [FULL STORY]
