The Chinese New Year season is the biggest festive period for Chinese people both in China and overseas.

It is a time to reunite with families and welcome the lunar new year.

Unfortunately, some Chinese migrant workers here in Singapore were not able to return home over the new year.

For some, work commitments meant that they could not find time to fly back. For others, a ticket back was an extravagant expense that was better saved.

Massive dumpling party

In order to bring a bit of festive cheer to these workers, non-profit organisation Labour Arty and a Chinese migrant community organise a dumpling party every year.

This year's party -- the seventh iteration -- saw attendance increase by four times since the first one in 2013.

In all, the organisers cooked more than 2,000 dumplings (or jiaozi) to feed about 150 Chinese migrants this year.

"I've been making jiaozi with my family for as long as I could remember, and always without fail during CNY - it's a very Chinese thing to do, especially with the vinegar, ginger, homemade spices, with everyone sitting round the telly, " said Ou Ningfei, the co-founder of Labour Arty.

He pointed out that the festive season is especially painful for those far away from their families.

"Many Chinese migrants here are terribly homesick during this season and struggle with intense loneliness, especially those with families and children back home.

Yes, the incessant celebrations and glamorous social media feeds are wonderfully festive, but it also inadvertently heightens the sense of isolation for those unable to reunite with their families."

Migrant workers helping out

The head chef of the event was Zhang Shu, who hails from Shandong province in China.

For the past three years, he's helped out at the dumpling parties instead of returning home, just so that he could save a bit of money for his family.

To cook the huge amount of dumplings, Zhang had to borrow two massive woks from his employers.

As head chef, he directs other kitchen helpers, and samples the flavours of every batch of pork, beef, and chive dumplings.

Despite the hectic work -- especially on a public holiday -- Zhang said that he was filled with joy knowing that others like him can have a taste of home here.

Labour Arty

This isn't the only migrant worker-focused event that Labour Arty conducts.

For example, the organisation started the #yellowhelmetchallenge hashtag, which encourages people to say thank you to migrant workers in Singapore.

If you're interested in attending some of Labour Arty's events or even joining their dumpling party next year, you can follow their Facebook page here.

Some stories of Chinese workers who remained in Singapore during CNY:

Top image courtesy of Labour Arty.