Pig, Golden Pig and No Pig

In late January, at 4am on a train back to Dalian from north, northern China, everyone was jolly and awake, eating packaged meat, drinking bai jiu, playing cards and visiting the foreigners in cabin F on their way to the smoking area... including a young girl named Xiu Lee. We chatted long enough to feel aquainted and before she left, she gave me her bracelet of stone pig beads, all different stones with different meanings.... luck for health, luck for love, luck for family and more and more and more. She was lovely, I love wearing the bracelet (I play with it like Tibetians do their prayer beads) and because of all this I have developed a particular interest in this New Year, the year of the pig.
I started seeing pigs everywhere. On peoples clothes, bags, newspapers, even in Starbucks. They have funky Starbucks pigs (with no eyes) in their display window. I learned it was not just the year of the pig, but the year of the Golden pig (2007 is a gold year, on the five year element rotation). Meaning it only comes around every 60 years, which makes it even MORE auspicious. No golden pig on my bracelet, but my love for it is unconditional.
But... while in London, browsing in marked-up shops on Chinatowns strip, I commented on the significance of this years Golden Pig to the Chinese sales woman and she had no idea what I was talking about. She said she was born in London and didn't know much about it. Sorry. I was on my own. We didn't buy anything and as we walked out, I played with my bracelet instead.
So when I got back to China I watched some Chinese CCTV. On the night of Chinese New Year the same all-night variety show is broadcasted on all channels in all regions and, so my landlord says, it is 'traditional' for the whole family to watch. I didn't see any pigs. I looked online and saw that the government banned the pig from being shown on tv.

"Although for most Chinese the pig represents wealth and happiness, images of the chubby pink beast were banned from state television out of concern they would offend China's 20 million Muslims whose religion bans the consumption of pork." - from China Daily today

So my research enlightens me that Chinese New Year, one of the oldest traditional celebrations on earth, means to each person whatever they make of it, Chinese or not. So there go my sweeping generalizations about symbolism; boomeranging around full circle to bonk a deeper appreciation of cultural diversity into my head. As I write this, I am playing with my bracelet. My lucky pigs.