The Spring Festival, also known as Chinese New Year, is the most important traditional festival in China and takes place in January or February. The festival begins on the First Day of the first lunar month and ends on 15th.

Spring Festival is a very important occasion for the Chinese people, and it is a time for families to be together. So no matter how far away people are, they will try their best to go home and spend the festival with their families.

TOPPublic holiday

Spring festival is an official holiday in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

In mainland China, most people will have 7 days off.

In Hong Kong and Macau: The first three days is celebrated as New Year Holiday. The New Year's eve will be included if one of the three days happens to be Sunday.

Spring Festival is also observed as an official holiday in Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.

Chinese New Year 2010 starts from Feburary 13 to Feburary 19.

TOPLegends of Spring Festival

Spring Festival is also called Guo Nian in Chinese. Guo means pass over and the Nian or "Year" in Chinese refers to a mythical beast that will bring bad luck.

An ancient Chinese legend tells of a big horned monster called Nian who lived at the bottom of the sea all year, but came out on Spring Festival Eve. Nian would come to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. Therefore, all the people would flee from their home to remote mountains to escape the danger.

One Spring Festival Eve, villagers of Taohua (Peach Blooms) Village were preparing to flee, closing the doors and windows, some were pulling cows and sheep and the whole village was scared. An old beggar with a stick and a bag in his hands came to the village to beg, his grey hair and beard fluttered with the wind. But no one has time to care about a beggar except for an old woman who gave him something to eat and suggested that he in the mountains to get away from Nian.

The old beggar smiled and said: “Lady, if you let me stay one night in your house, I will get rid of Nian for you.” The old woman was surprised and looked at the old beggar carefully and found that the old beggar, with white hair and ruddy complexion, was hale and hearty and that there was something different about him. She still tried to convince him to flee to the mountain but the old beggar only smiled without reply. Having no alternative, the old woman ran away to the mountains leaving only the old beggar in the house.

On the stroke of midnight, the monster Nian rushed into the village, but immediately found that there was something different in the village. He quivered all over on seeing the red paper glued on the door of the old woman’s house. The house was well-illuminated by candlelight. Nian scowled at the house for a moment and howled fiercely to throw himself at the house. Approaching the door gate, he heard fireworks explosing. At that moment, the door was opened and the old beggar dressed in red came out and burst into laughter. Nian turned pale with fright and took flight with great haste.

The next day villagers came back home and were very surprised to find everything was in good condition. At that moment, the old woman suddenly recalled what the old beggar said and told the other villagers. Villagers rushed to the old woman’s house to see what had happened. There was red paper glued on the door, the fireworks in the yard were still exploding and all of the candles were alight. They then understood that the Nian was afraid of color red, the sounds of fireworks explosion and the light.

Wild with joy, villagers celebrated the coming of the New Year and the good fortune. They all dressed up with new clothes and hats, greeting with each other. The ways to get rid out the Nian spread from mouth to mouth and became prevalent quickly. From then on, every Spring Festival Eve, every family would glue red paper with couplets written on them, and stay up late or all night (Shousui) to wait for the New Year's coming, lighting lanterns and setting fireworks.

On the first day of New Year people like to visit friend and neighbors (Bainian) with a present.

TOPSpring Festival Celebration

Chinese New Year Celebration is the most important celebration of the year. Chinese people may celebrate the Chinese New Year in slightly different ways but their wishes are almost the same; they want their family members and friends to be healthy and lucky during next year.

Chinese New Year Celebration usually lasts for 15 days. Celebratory activities include Chinese New Feast, firecrackers, giving lucky money to children, the New Year bell ringing and Chinese New Year Greetings. Most of Chinese people will stop the celebrating in their home on the 7th day of New Year because the national holiday usually ends around that day, however celebrations in public areas can last until the 15th day of New Year.

House Cleaning

To clean houses on the New Year Even is a very old custom dating back to thousands of years ago. The dust is traditionally associated with “old” so cleaning their houses and sweeping the dust mean to bid farewell to the “old” and usher in the “new”. Days before the New Year, Chinese families clean their houses, sweeping the floor, washing daily things, cleaning the spider webs and dredging the ditches. People do all these things happily in the hope of a good coming year.

House decoration

One of the house decorations is to post couplets on doors. On the Spring Festival couplets, good wishes are expressed. New Year couplets are usually posted in pairs as even numbers are associated with good luck and auspiciousness in Chinese culture.

People in north China are used to posting paper-cut on their windows. When sticking the window decoration paper-cuts, people paste on the door large red Chinese character A red means good luck and fortune, so it is customary to post on doors or walls on auspicious occasions such as wedding, festivals.

Waiting for the First Bell Ringing of Chinese New Year

The first bell ringing is the symbol of Chinese New Year. Chinese people like to go to a large squares where there are huge bells are set up on New Year’s Eve. As the New Year approaches they count down and celebrate together. The people believe that the ringing of huge bell can drive all the bad luck away and bring the fortune to them. In recent years, some people have begun going to mountain temples to wait for the first ringing. Hanshan Temple in Suzhou, is very famous temple for its first ringing of the bell to herald Chinese New Year. Many foreigners now go to Hanshan Temple to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Staying up late ("Shousui")

Shousui means to stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve. After the great dinner, families sit together and chat happily to wait for the New Year’s arrival.

New Year Feast

Spring Festival is a time for family reunion. The New Year's Feast is "a must" banquet with all the family members getting together. The food eaten on the New Year Even banquet varies according to regions. In south China, It is customary to eat "niangao" (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) because as a homophone, niangao means "higher and higher every year". In the north, a traditional dish for the feast is "Jiaozi" or dumplings shaped like a crescent moon.

Setting Firecrackers

Lighting Firecrackers used to be one of the most important customs in the Spring Festival celebration. However, concerning the danger and the negative noises that lighting firecrackers may bring, the government has banned this practice in many major cities. But people in small towns and rural areas still hold to this traditional celebration. Right as the clock strike 12 o'clock midnight of New Year's Eve, cities and towns are lit up with the glitter from fireworks, and the sound can be deafening. Families stay up for this joyful moment and kids with firecrackers in one hand and a lighter in another cheerfully light their happiness in this especial occasion, even though they plug their ears.

New Year Greetings(Bai Nian)

On the first day of the New Year or shortly thereafter, everybody wears new clothes and greets relatives and friends with bows and Gongxi (congratulations), wishing each other good luck, happiness during the new year. In Chinese villages, some villagers may have hundreds of relatives so they have to spend more than two weeks visiting their relatives.

On the first day of the new year, it’s customary for the younger generations to visit the elders, wishing them healthy and longevity.

Because visiting relatives and friends takes a lot of time, now, some busy people will send New Year cards to express their good wishes rather than pay a visit personally.

Lucky Money

It is the money given to kids from their parents and grandparents as New Year gift. The money is believed to bring good luck, ward off monsters; hence the name "lucky money". Parents and grandparents first put money in small, especially-made red envelopes and give the red envelopes to their kids after the New Year's Feast or when they come to visit them on the New Year. They choose to put the money in red envelopes because Chinese people think red is a lucky color. They want to give their children both lucky money and lucky color.

TOPSpring Festival Taboos

There are traditionally many taboos associated with the New Year Festival, but in recent years some of them have been discarded, especially among urban populations in larger cities. Examples of typical New Year taboos are the following: on the first day of the new year, a woman may not leave her house, otherwise she will be plagued with bad luck for the entirety of the coming year; a married daughter is not allowed to pay a visit to the house of her parents as a visit from a married daughter on this day is believed to bring bad luck to the parents, causing economic hardship for the family; the act of sweeping on this day is associated with sweeping wealth away, therefore Chinese people do not sweep their house on this day.

During the New Year Festival season (from the 1st to 15th of the Lunar New Year) the following taboos apply: the cry of a child is believed to bring bad luck to the family, so parents do their best to keep children from crying by whatever means possible; the act of breaking tools or other equipment during this period is associated with a loss of wealth for the coming year, therefore tradesmen and business people in general take great precaution to avoid damaging their tools and equipment; a visit to the hospital during this period is believed to bring illness to the person in question for the duration of coming year, therefore visits to the hospital are avoided except in cases of extreme emergency.

TOPSpring Festival Food

Chinese New Year Foods are very important to Chinese people. All family members come together to eat at this time. Chinese New Year foods are not only delicious but it is traditional to eat certain foods over this festival. Chinese Dumplings, Fish, Spring Rolls, Nian Gao are usually seen as delicious and eaten at this time.

Chinese Dumplings: Chinese Dumplings look like silver ingots. Legend has it that the more dumplings you eat during New Year celebration, more money you can make in the New Year. Almost all Chinese people can make dumplings, first mix the dough, second make the dough into wrappers by a rolling pin, third fill the wrappers with pork, beef, vegetable, fish or anything else can be used as stuffing.

Fish: In Chinese, Fish sounds like "save more". Chinese People always like save more money at the end of year because they think if they save more, they can make more in the next year.

Spring Roll: People like Spring Roll because they are nutritious and delicious. Spring Rolls contain pork and vegetable. They can be easily taken on picnics. They get their name because they are traditionally eaten during Chinese New Year Celebration.

Nian Gao: In Chinese, Nian Gao sounds like "getting higher year by year". In Chinese people's mind, the higher you are, the more prosperous your business is. Main ingredients of Nian Gao are sticky rice, sugar, Chestnuts, Chinese date and lotus leaves.

TOPSpring Festival Greetings

Chinese New Year Greeting

TOPSpring Festival Travel Tips

Traveling China during the Spring Festival time has both advantages and disadvantages. It is wise to weight up if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

The main advantages are:

1. Most of the Chinese will be at home with their families and there will be less people at tourist attractions.

2. It is a great opportunity to observe the local customs locals.

3. You will be able to see authentic celebrations such as fireworks Dragon Dancing, Lion Dancing, NiuYangge (traditional dance in northern China) and other interesting celebrations.

Disadvantages:

1. Public transportation is very crowded

2. Northern China is extremly cold and most of China is cold.

Some tips on traveling China during Spring Festival

1. Trains will be crowded during the period of Spring Festival, so try to avoid travelling by rail if at all possible.

2.Arrange your itinerary beforehand, and make reservations for flights and hotels in advance.

3.Collect as much information on Chinese New Year celebrations in the city you are going to stay, such as firework shows, temple fairs and other celebrative activities for the locals.

4. Learn enough about cultures of Chinese New Year, and get familiar about what Chinese locals will do during the festival.

5.Chinese New Year usually comes on the coldest days of the year in China, so tourists are advised to bring enough warm clothes.

6.Chinese people prepare a lot of luxurious and delicious food during Spring Festival, what they eat is rich in calorie, and people may get sick by having too much Chinese New Year food. It’d better to prepare some medicines in advance, and try to have a good control of the temptation of the delicacies.

TOPSpring Festival Temple Fairs in Beijing

Baiyunguan Temple Fair of 2010

Time: February 14-19
Venue: Baiyunguan (The White Cloud Taoist temple)
Location: Baiyun Road, Xicheng District
Transportation: Buses 46,48,114 and 308.

Chaoyang Temple Fair of 2010

To be started at the exact day of Westerners' Valentine's Day, Chaoyang Temple Fair 2010 will be featured with a romantic theme, and it is about to create a lovely and romantic environment for the participants. Wonderful performance will be introduced from Greece, and lovers are able to participate in some interesting activities during the fair.

Time: Feburary 14-19
Venue: Chaoyang Park
Location: Chaoyang District
Admission: 10 yuan
To get there: Bus routes 31, 302, 705, 731, 750, 752 or 852 to Chaoyang Park (Chaoyang Gongyuan).

Changdian Temple Fair of 2010

Time: February 14-18
Venue: Taoranting Park (Joyous Pavilion)
Location: Northwest to the Taoran Bridge, South 2nd Ring Road
Transportation: Take Bus No 14,40,59

Dongyue Temple Fair of 2010

Time: Feburary 13-20
Venue: Dongyue Temple (Beijing Folklore Museum)
Location: 141, Chaowai Avenue, Chaoyang District 朝阳区朝外大街141号
Transportation: Subway Line 2, Chaoyangmen Station, use Exit A, walk another 5 minutes in eastern direction along the avenue.

More Beijing Temple Fairs
Take a Chinese New Year Celebration Tour With Beijing Locals

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