Last Sunday, February 2nd, was what might be called National Haircut Day here in the Middle Kingdom. And, of course, Chong Chong joined with the masses and had his first haircut on this very auspicious day.

Folks in China uses both Lunar and Gregorian calendars. A very simple illustration of this is that a month ago we celebrated Chinese New Year 2014.

In Mandarin, if you want to refer to the first month of the year, it is called  “one month”. Likewise through to the final month, which is “12 month”. Pretty straightforward, and applicable to either calendar system.

The fun comes when this is translated into English. Instead of saying the “one month of the Lunar calendar”, they say “January of the Lunar Calendar” or just January, with which January it really is being discernible by context.

Now, it is considered unlucky (as in placing a curse on your mother’s brothers) to get your haircut during the first month (January) of the lunar new year. And, even though many folks don’t believe that old uncle Sigmund will fall over and croak, they’d rather not take the chance. So, folks who work in hair salons that actually cut hair usually take an extended holiday for the Spring Festival.

Which brings us back to last Saturday, February 2nd, when the ban was officially lifted, and one could once again seek the services of a barber.

With that out of the way, the shot above is Lao Lao holding Chong Chong in preparation for his grooming.

I started with the clippers. The blur of my right arm, unfortunately, is more a product of me shaking than the speed of the shutter. Chong Chong was moving as well. We all quickly decided it’d be best if I held Chong Chong and the wife did the cutting, so…

With Lao Ye (and Leo Shu Shu) looking on, the cutting commenced, and was finished in no time.

Top view.

Front view.

That is all.