Writer is Lecturer at China Study Center
Karakoram International University Gilgit
Chinese New Year – China's Grandest Festival & Longest Public Holiday
The Chinese New Year is an important celebration in China. It is the first day of the lunar Calendar and is usually in January or February of the Gregorian calendar. The festival signifies the coming of spring and has been regarded as the only day of the year when China’s hard-working peasants allow themselves to rest. Since it is such an old festival, the legend, rituals, and food are especially interesting. There is a wonderful legend about the Chinese New Year. Thousands of years ago, an evil monster, Nian, ravaged a village in China one winter eve. The following year the monster returned and again ravaged the village. In order to avoid the further damage, the villagers devised a plan to scare the monster away. Red banners were hung everywhere. The color red has been believed to protect against evils. It was also believed that lighting firecrackers could scare the beast away. The plan worked and the celebration of joy lasted for several days. People visited each other, exchanged gifts, danced, and enjoyed delicious food. Chinese New Year is also a series of celebrations that involve a number of rituals. Spring-cleaning starts about a month prior to the New Year and must be completed before the celebrations begin. People wipe windows and paint the window panes or the wooden gates bring a look to the home. It gives a refreshing change to the home. Typically, red packets with money tucked inside are given as a symbol of good luck by the elder generation to the child or adult who has not started employment. The amount of money is usually an even number as odd numbers are regarded as unlucky. Decorating the doors with vertical scrolls of characters on red paper is also one of the common rituals. The red scrolls are believed to bring good luck. The fifth day of the New Year is the time to welcome the “Wealth God”. Generally, people do not go to bed before midnight but prepare a delicious meal for the “Wealth God”. Firing fireworks is also a good way to welcome the coming of the “Wealth God”. Thus, people hope to get a promotion or more money in the coming year. The fifteenth day of the New Year is marked by the “Lantern Festival”. Lighting colorful lanterns in the houses is the main ritual of this day. It is also the most cheerful day in the New Year for children since they can tote all kinds of lanterns playing on the street. Eating a famous Chinese snack called “Tang Yuan” (small balls made of rice flour with ground black sesames inside) is another ritual for this day. It symbolizes a hope that everything will be smooth and easy for the year. The food during the New Year is diverse and symbolic. For instance, fish is believed to ensure abundant crops and a long life. Red dates bring the hope for prosperity. Oranges and tangerines symbolize wealth and good fortune. Nian Gao, the New Year’s cake made of glutinous rice, suggests the coming year will be better than year the past. The northern Chinese enjoy a delicacy of boiled dumpling, known as “jiao zi” to celebrate the festival. But if you are a foreigner and plan to spend the New Year festival in China, you should learn how to use chopsticks to enjoy the foods.
Time for Family Reunion
Like Christmas in Western countries, and Eid in Islamic world Chinese New Year is a time to be home with family, chatting, drinking, cooking, and enjoying a hearty meal together. The celebrations for Spring Festival are very meaningful. In addition, everyone should maintain an optimistic approach to welcome whatever lies ahead. Most importantly, the Chinese New Year is a time to spend with one’s family, relatives, and friends. It is also a time to meet with friends. In 2022 Chinese New Year festival falls on Feb. 1. It is the Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese zodiac, which features a 12-year cycle with each year represented by a specific animal. People born in the Years of the Tiger including 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, and 2010 will experience their Zodiac Year of Birth (Ben Ming Nian). 2023 Chinese New Year falls on Jan. 22 and it is the Year of the Rabbit.
The festival date changes every year
This is because it follows the lunar calendar, based on the movement of the moon. Usually, it falls on a day between mid-January and mid-February. In 2022, Chinese New Year falls on February 1.
It is also called Spring Festival
The festival usually falls after the solar term, Beginning of Spring (Li Chun), and is a festival in the spring, hence the name.
Chinese New Year starts a new animal’s zodiac year
The Chinese zodiac, known as Sheng Xiao or Shu Xiang, features 12 animal signs in this order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. Originated from ancient zoolatry and boasting a history of more than 2,000 years, it plays an essential role in Chinese culture. The 12 Chinese zodiac animals in a cycle are not only used to represent years in China, but also believed to influence people’s personalities, career, compatibility, marriage, and fortune. 2022 is the Year of the Tiger and 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit.
Zodiac
Animal Chinese Name Recent Years
Rat 鼠 (shǔ) 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020, 2032
Ox 牛 (niú) 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021, 2033
Tiger 虎 (hǔ) 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022, 2034
Rabbit 兔 (tù) 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023, 2035
Dragon 龙 (lóng) 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024, 2036
Snake 蛇 (shé) 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025, 2037
Horse 马 (mǎ) 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026, 2038
Sheep 羊 (yáng) 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027, 2039
Monkey 猴 (hóu) 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028, 2040
Rooster 鸡 (jī) 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029, 2041
Dog 狗 (gǒu) 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030, 2042
Pig 猪 (zhū) 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031, 2043
The celebration lasts for 15 days till Lantern Festival
The peak time of the entire celebration is on Chinese New Year's Eve and the first day of the lunar new year. The 15th day is called Lantern Festival, marking the end of the celebration.
One sixth of the world’s people celebrate it
It is not only celebrated in Mainland China, but also observed in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore and some other Asian countries as well as China towns around the world. In recent years, the celebrations in New York, London, Vancouver, Sydney and other overseas cities have spread out of China towns. Chinese New Year has become one of the world’s most celebrated festivals.
It is the longest public holiday and the whole country is on the move
Most employees have 7-12 days off the work, and students have one-month winter vacation. The 2022 Chinese New Year holiday is from January 31st to February 1st. No matter where they are, people try their best to return home for a family reunion, like westerners attempting to spend Christmas with their families. Meanwhile, some families travel together during the holiday. This makes the world’s largest annual migration, known as the Spring Festival Travel Rush. The total trips made by plane, train, bus and ship can reach nearly 3 billion.
Reunion dinner is a ritual
The reunion dinner on Chinese New Year's Eve is a big feast to commemorate the past year. This is the most important time to be with families.
After the reunion dinner, families sit together to watch the CCTV New Year's Gala while chatting. As the most watched TV program, the gala collects various well-selected performances, targeting audiences of different generations.
Then comes the annual largest usage of fireworks on the planet
Fireworks are an indispensable part of the celebration to liven up the air of Spring Festival. All families set off fireworks to celebrate the festival. The biggest firework show is on Lunar New Year's Eve.
The celebration decorations are mostly in red
Houses are decorated with red Spring Festival couplets, red lanterns, and red paper cuttings; city streets are lit up by red lanterns; and numerous people are dressed in red. This is because red in Chinese culture is the symbol of happiness, wealth and prosperity, and can ward off evil spirits and bring good luck. These red decorations are to the festival what Christmas trees are to Christmas.
“Xin Nian Hao” is one of the most used greetings
This is like the westerners saying “Merry Christmas” to each other on Christmas Day. It means “Happy New Year”.
Why is the celebration also called "Xin Nian"? "Nian”is the Chinese word for year. In folk culture, the Spring Festival celebration is also called “Xin Nian” (meaning “new year”). In a Chinese New Year story, “Nian” is a fierce and cruel monster which eats livestock and kids, but it is scared of red color and cracker sound. Therefore, people use red decorations and fireworks to drive away “Nian”
When is Chinese New Year?
Unlike the universal New Year observed on January 1st, Chinese New Year is never on a fixed date. The dates vary according to Chinese lunar calendar, but generally fall on a day between January 21st and February 20th in the Gregorian calendar. How long is the festival? Most people in China have at least seven days off work, including three days' legal holiday, and the preceding and following weekends. Here's a CNY timetable for recent years, marked in UTC/GMT+08:00.
Why is it called Spring Festival?
The festival date is in January or February, around the Chinese solar term the 'Beginning of Spring', so it is also named the 'Spring Festival'.
Famous Chinese New Year Stories: the "Nian" Monster
There are many legends and stories about the Chinese New Year. We would like to share with you the three most popular ones.
The Legend of Why New Year Is Celebrated
Chinese New Year's Day is called Guo Nian (过年) in Chinese, which can mean 'celebrate (a new) year' or 'overcome Nian'. The character 年 (Nián) could mean a 'year' or 'the monster Nian'.
In ancient times, there was a monster named Nian (年, or Nianshou 年兽) with a long head and sharp horns. It dwelled deep in the sea all year round and only showed up every New Year’s Eve to eat people and livestock in nearby villages.
Therefore, on the day of New Year's Eve, people would flee to remote mountains to avoid being harmed by the monster. People had lived in fear of this monster until an old man with white hair and a ruddy complexion visited the village.
He refused to hide in the mountains along with the villagers, but successfully scared away the monster by pasting red papers on doors, burning bamboo to make a loud cracking sound (precursor to firecrackers), lighting candles in the houses, and wearing red clothes. When the villagers came back, they were surprised to discover that the village had not been destroyed.
After that, every New Year's Eve, people did as the old man instructed and the monster Nian never showed up again. This tradition has been continued until the present time and has become an important way to celebrate the arrival of the new year.
The Legend of Why Red Envelopes Are Given
red envelopes
During the Chinese New Year period, the married or the elderly give red envelopes to children or unmarried juniors. A red envelope is also called yasui qian ("suppressing Sui money").
According to legend, on New Year's Eve, besides the monster Nian, there was a demon named Sui that came out to terrify children while they were asleep.
It was said that the children who were touched by the demon would be too scared to cry out loud, got a terrible fever, and even became mentally unstable. To keep children safe from being harmed by Sui, parents would light candles and stay up for the whole night.
On one New Year's Eve, in an official's family household, the parents gave their child eight coins to play with in order to keep him awake, so as to avoid him being hurt by the demon. The child wrapped the coins in red paper, opened the packet, rewrapped it, and reopened it until he was too tired to fall asleep. Then the parents placed the packet with eight coins under his pillow.
When Sui tried to touch his head, the eight coins emitted a strong light and scared the demon away. The eight coins turned out to be eight fairies. From then on, giving red envelopes became a way to keep children safe and bring good luck.
The Legend of Why Spring Couplets Are Pasted
It is recorded that the origin of spring couplets can be dated back to 1,000 years ago when people hung taofu (桃符, written charms on peach wood) on doors.
Legend has it that there was a huge peach tree stretching for more than 1,500 kilometers on a mountain in the ghost world. To the northeast of the tree, two guards named Shentu and Yulei guarded the entrance to the ghost world. They would catch the ghosts who harmed people and then send them to tigers as food.
Therefore, all ghosts were afraid of the two guards. It was believed that hanging a piece of peach wood with an inscription of the two guards’ names on doors could scare evil things away.
By the Song Dynasty (960-1279), people began to write two auspicious antithetical lines on the peach wood instead of the names of the two guards. Later, the peach wood was replaced by red paper, which symbolizes good luck and happiness. Since then, pasting spring couplets has been a custom to welcome the new year and express best wishes.
How do Chinese people celebrate the festival? – Customs & Activities
When all streets and lanes are decorated with vibrant red lanterns and colorful lights, the Lunar New Year is approaching. What do Chinese people do then? After half a month's busy time with a house spring-clean and holiday shopping, the festivities kick off on the New Year's Eve, and last 15 days, until the full moon arrives with the Lantern Festival. Scroll down and let's look through the core traditions and practices of the Chinese New Year.
House Cleaning and Decorating – half month before
No matter whether in a city apartment or a countryside villa, there must be a diligent housewife exerting all her energies to carry out a thorough clean of the house before Chinese New Year. Sweeping, mopping, wiping, washing… Sometimes the whole family needs to give a hand with the chores, to make sure the house is rid of the old year's dust and is prepared for taking in the fortune of the New Year. Then every house is decorated with the most favored color, the bright Red – red lanterns, Chinese knots, Spring Festival couplets, 'Fu' character pictures, and red window paper-cuts. Read more about How to Decorate for Chinese New Year.
Family Reunion Dinner – New Year's Eve
Home is the principal focus of the Spring Festival. All Chinese people manage to make their way home at the latest by New Year's Eve, for a reunion dinner with the whole family. The essential course on all Chinese menus for a reunion dinner will be a steamed or braised whole fish, representing a surplus every year. Various kinds of meat, vegetable, and seafood are made into dishes with auspicious meanings. Dumplings are indispensable for northerners, while rice cakes for southerners. The night is spent enjoying this feast along with cheerful family talk and laughter. Read more Chinese New Year Foods.
Giving Red Envelopes – Best Wishes through Money
From newborn babies to teenagers, luck money will be given by seniors, wrapped in red packets in the hope of dispelling evil spirits from the kids. CNY 100 to 500 notes are commonly sealed in a red envelope, while there are big ones with up to CNY 5,000 especially in the rich southeast regions. Besides a small disposable amount, most of the money is used to buy the kids toys, snacks, clothes, stationery, or saved for their future educational expenditure. Read more about Red Envelope.
Send Greetings and Red Envelopes through Wechat
With the popularity of instant messaging apps, greeting cards are seldom seen. From the morning to the midnight of the New Year's Eve, people use the app Wechat to send various text messages, voice messages, and emojis, some of which featuring the New Year's animal sign, to exchange greetings and good wishes. Digital red envelopes are becoming considerably popular and a big red envelope in a group chat always starts a happy grabbing game.
Watching CCTV New Year's Gala – 20:00 to 0:30
It is undeniable that the CCTV New Year's Gala is China's most watched television special, despite the declining viewership in recent years. The 4.5-hour live broadcast features music, dance, comedy, opera, and acrobatic performances. Although the audience becomes more and more critical of the programs, that never stops people turning on the TV on time. The delightful songs and words act as a habitual background to a reunion dinner, for after all it's been a tradition ever since 1983.
Setting off Firecrackers at 0:00
There is New Year bell on the TV gala at 0:00, but you can hardly hear it since there would be loud bangs of firecrackers, from 0:00 to 0:30 and even later. Chinese people have by long tradition set off firecrackers, originally to scare away the legendary monster Nian which emerges at midnight. In recent years, many urban areas have a firecracker ban or set special area or period for fireworks, to prevent accidents and threats to air quality.
Half-month Visiting Relatives – from One Family to Another
After a day at home, people start to visit relatives from the second day of the New Year. The married couples go to visit the wife's parents' home on the second day. The following days will be spent in various relatives' houses. For some extended families in rural areas, half a month is barely enough to visit everyone. People bring gifts to one another's homes and give red envelopes to the kids. That's a ritual. Get inspired by more Chinese New Year Gift Ideas.
Folk Shows and Temple Fairs – Lasting to 15th day of 1st lunar month
In urban areas, there are bustling temple fairs with religious worship, costume performances, games, and local snacks. Some locations have lantern fairs, offering great night fun. In rural areas, more authentic folk shows are likely to be seen, including the yangko dance and stilt walking in north China and dragon and lion dances prevailing in southern regions. See Best Temple Fairs in Beijing.Day-by-Day Festivities Schedule
Chinese New Year Activities
What to Eat – Priority of the Festival
In China, an old saying goes 'Food is the first important thing for people' while a modern saying '3 pounds' weight gain atevery festival.' Both show the Chinese people's love of food. There probably are no other people quite like the Chinese who are so passionate and fastidious about cooking. Besides basic requirements of appearance, smell, and taste, they insist on creating festival foods bearing auspicious meanings and bring good luck.
New Year Menu from a Chinese Family
Dumplings
– salty
– boil or steam
– symbol of fortune for its shape like an ancient Chinese gold ingot
Fish
– salty
– steam or braise
– symbol of a surplus in the year end and good luck for the coming year.
Glutinous Rice Balls
– sweet
– boil
– round shape standing for completeness and family reunion.
Spring Rolls
– both sweet and salty
– fry
– appearance like a gold bar and stuff with fresh veg meaning a fresh start.
Travel during Chinese New Year
Prepare for crowds
The 40 days around the festival is a huge peak travel period, when all migrant workers and students are on their way home, contributing to an amazing volume of 3 billion passengers.
Symbol of Chinese New Year
The dragon is popular symbol for Chinese New year. It is a symbol of strength, goodness, and good luck, and supernatural forces. The dragon is said to be a mythical combination of many animals. During New Years, one of the main events is a large parade down the city streets. As part of this parade, people dress up in dragon costumes and dance down the streets. These costumes are made of brightly colored silk and decorated very extravagantly. Some of the dragons are 100 feet long. Men and boys perform intricate dragon dance with one person manipulating the head of the dragon and the rest moving the body.
A Chinese New Year celebration would not be completed without fireworks. There are many beliefs about why fireworks are used. One is that the noise wakes up the dragon who will fly across the sky to bring the spring rain for the crops. Another belief is that the noise of the fireworks is supposed to scare away all evil spirits and misfortunes, preventing them from coming intor the new year. In fact, gunpoweder was inverted in china over 1000 years ago for that very purpose. Firecrackers are thrown at the feet of the dragons in the parade to keep them awake for the celebration. The dragons are believed to sleep the rest of the year. Chines new year is not only celebrated in China. Anywhere there are Chinese people, there is a Chinese new year celebration. The specific activities of the celebration often vary depending on the region, but the basic principles are the same.