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Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in some countries and territories where there is a sizeable Chinese population. Since Chinese New Year falls on different days of the week each year, some of these governments opt to shift working days in order to accommodate a longer public holiday.
- Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year celebrations in East and Central Asia, such...
- Rabbit
Zodiac Hare, showing the tù (兔) character for Hare. The...
- Chinese New Year Film
A Chinese New Year film (simplified Chinese: 贺岁片;...
- Red Envelopes
A red envelope, red packet, hongbao or ang pau (traditional...
- Lantern Festival
The emperor decreed that people should do the same thing...
- Lunar New Year
Apr 3, 2024 · Chinese New Year, annual 15-day festival in China and Chinese communities around the world that begins with the new moon that occurs sometime between January 21 and February 20 according to Western calendars.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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Feb 12, 2021 · Chinese New Year celebrations have already begun, with millions of people marking the start of a new lunar year. The Spring Festival is the most important in the Chinese calendar and...
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- Day of The New Year
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- Animals of The New Year
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The Mandarin Chinese name of the holiday is Chūn Jié,[a] which means "Spring Festival". This is why it is often called the "Spring Festival" by Chinese speakers of English, even though the holiday always occurs in the winter months of January or February.[b] Its name is written 春節 in traditional Chinese writing and 春节 in the easier writing now used...
Chinese New Year always starts on a new moon, when the Moon is between the Earth and Sun and it looks all dark in the night sky. Because new moons happen about every 29.53 days but the year set by Pope GregoryXIII is 365.2425 days long, the Chinese holiday moves to different days each year. The Chinese calendar adds a 13th month every so often to k...
In the past, the Chinese emperors did not number their years from one place. Instead, they gave names to eras (groups of years) any time they wanted. Since they still changed its number at every new year festival, the first year of a new era might only be a few days long. One example of this is the "1st year of Kaiyuan" during the Tang, which laste...
The Chinese used to keep time using 2 different lists of characters, known in English as the 10Heavenly Stems and the 12Earthly Branches. The stems were the 10 days of the week under the Shang dynasty, each with its own sun and a special gift to different dead family members of the king. The branches were parts of the almost 12-year path that Jupit...
Chinese tradition said that the Chinese calendar began during the 60th year of the reign of the Yellow Emperor in 2637 BC, with New Year celebrations beginning in that year. As far as we now know, it's much less old than that. Parts of the old ways of counting time given above are at least as early as 1250 BC, during the Shang times. Most of it was...
Mainland China
People in China usually try to be together with their family for at least the first few days of the holiday. Because of the large number of Chinese people and the many people who work away from their hometowns, all this "spring traveling" (chunyun) is the biggest movement of people in the world every year. Houses are cleaned completely. In former times, sacrifices were made to the gods and dead family members in the days before the holiday. A "reunion dinner" happens in the evening of the las...
Taiwan
In Taiwan, most events and traditions are the same as those in China. The most important special event is the Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival, where fireworks are shot straight into the people watching the show. Being hit is supposed to bring good luck, but this used to be very unsafe. Today, people wear special hard hats (helmets) and thick clothes to protect them from the fire and fireworks. Another special event is the "Bombing of Master Handan" in Taitung, where people throw firecracke...
Philippines
Chinese New Year is a national holiday in the Philippines. People do not get money without working, but anyone who does have to work on the "special non-working day" gets 130% of the usual pay. Binondo—sometimes considered the world's oldest Chinatown—sees a lot of traditional celebrations, such as lion and dragon dances.Its people also try to pay back any money that they owe before the New Year. In 2001, Davao City stopped letting people use fireworks because its people were hurting themselv...
Most traditional customs have to do with getting more good luck for the new year and staying away from anything unhappy. People hang up decorations, especially pairs of Chinese poems (couplets) on either side of their doors. Some put pictures of Taoist gods on the doors to scare away bad things. Live plants suggest growth, and flowers suggest comin...
The reunion dinners on the day before Chinese New Year are often the largest and most expensive of the year. Some families use special and expensive foods to gain face; others use meaningful foods to bring luck. Jiaozi (a kind of dumpling) are common in northern China. People think they look like the old Chinese silver bars and hold luck inside. Eg...
Feb 4, 2010 · Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in China. Tied to the Chinese lunar calendar, it begins on the new moon that appears between January 21 and February 20.
Jan 31, 2022 · What is China's Lunar New Year and how is it celebrated? Year of the Tiger. Each year is associated with one of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. This year is the Year of the Tiger....
