Happy Chinese New Year!

Chinese lunar new year is coming, wish you all the best in the new year!

Why do people celebrate Chinese New Year?

Although there are many interesting legends and stories explaining the start of the Chinese New Year festival, the main two reasons for the festival are:

To celebrate a year of hard work, have a good rest.

To wish for a lucky and prosperous coming year

To enjoy the time with families and old friends

Chinese people believe that a good start to the year will lead to a lucky year. Chinese traditionally celebrated the start of a new year of farm work, and wished for a good harvest (when most were farmers). This has now evolved to celebrating the start of a new business year and wishing for profits and success in various vocations.

How do the Chinese celebrate the festival?

The main traditional celebrations of the festival include eating reunion dinner with family on New Year's eve, giving and receiving lucky money (in red envelopes), set firecrackers in the morning of the first day, wearing new clothes, and decorating houses with red couplets.

More modern celebrations include watching the CCTV Gala, sending instant message greetings, and cyber money gifts.

Different places celebrate the festival with different ways. Some places will play dragon dances to expect good weather and good harvests.

What to eat during this festival?

Certain foods are eaten during the festival (especially at the New Year`s Eve dinner) because of their symbolic meanings, based on their names or appearances.